CPM vs. CPC for Chiropractors

When you buy traffic for your chiropractic website, you sometimes run into the option of choosing either a CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) plan.

As you might guess, the difference is that with CPC you pay ONLY when a prospect clicks to go to your page, while with CPM, you pay when your ad is shown 1000 times, no matter what happens. There are pros and cons to both.

In terms of outside forces meddling with your budget, CPC leaves you more open to click fraud, while CPM gives your paid traffic provider an incentive to show your ads as many times as possible. Neither of these phenomena should be feared, but they do happen enough to make considerations. To help save budget with CPM, you need to make sure you are laser-focused in targeting what audience your ad is being shown to, down to the location, demographic, and even time of day.  All it takes is forgetting to check off one little box and your ad may be showing hundreds of thousands of times in Nigeria.  As an example, if your practice can only really serve a 25 mile radius, hone that in as exactly as possible. 

However, if you do lockdown CPM, then you’re effectively getting a flat rate for traffic, no matter how many clicks you can get.  If you can write a dynamite ad for your chiropractic website, and control all the variables for your ad audience, then CPM may be your best choice. Just make sure you test both before making a final decision.