Pay Per Click

Google’s AdSense program is probably the best affiliate program on the internet today. With it’s content scanning algorithm to adjust advertising and the fact it takes in to account the users location as best as it can, it has proven to be one of the highest converting click through programs to date.

In this article, I hope to help you maximize your revenue earning potential with Google’s AdSense by teaching you about how to display your ads, creative effective ads, and how maximize your click through rates.

Color Scheme

There is a couple different ways to handle your advertising color schemes. Some webmasters believe that they should keep the advertising as low-key as possible, these webmasters normally make the background and border on the ads to the same as their website. Often they do this in hopes that the user will not realize it is an advertisement. The other thought is to try and use colors to draw the users eye and force them to look at the advertising. I’ve read quite a few websites that analyze colors in advertising and how people react to different colors, they believe by selecting certain colors you can influence the click rate. I personally run several sets of advertising on my website, and it has been my experience that more colorful advertising seems to convert better. However there is many more factors involved, such as location of the advertising.

Location of AdSense Advertising

Almost every webmaster will agree that you can maximize your revenue and click through rate by the location of your advertising. Google’s AdSense website suggests that you keep your advertising, “above the fold.” Above the fold, means it doesn’t require the user to use their scroll bar to see the advertising.

Keeping the advertising to the left of the page, such as in the navigation bar can also be a very important factor in converting those users. People read from left to right and you want the first thing they see to be your advertising.

The final tip for article location is inline advertising, ones that are integrated in to lists, and content. Many websites have bulleted lists or link farms, with the Google AdSense advertisings at the top of that list. This can often fool the user in to thinking it is part of your list, but may anger some users. I personally like to put a block of advertising in the middle of my articles, or near the end, so the user must read around or beside the advertising. This makes it more noticeable, and much harder to ignore.

Text or Graphical Advertising?

AdSense offers you the ability to put graphical ads, text ads, or a mixture of the two. Graphical advertising in general seem to yield far worse click through rates, I believe that users are used to viewing banners for so many years, that it is ingrained in internet society just to ignore them now. AdSense seems to have far fewer advertisers using graphical ads also, which may lead to empty advertising space on your website, if a graphic can’t be provided.

Importance of Content

Making money on AdSense can only be done with content. If you don’t have quality content, you aren’t going anywhere. When you post the AdSense advertising code on your website, when it is viewed, the Google MediaPartners bot comes to your website, scans the website, then creates advertisements based on the content it scanned. Content reigns supreme when it comes to AdSense, the better your content, the more it will pay off! If you can have an average page of 300-500 words with a very specific subject you are going to do well on AdSense, try to keep your subject very tight and don’t expand on too many subjects on one single page. This will keep targeted advertising on your pages, which should convert far better for a user that is looking for a specific subject!

Try to keep your articles under two pages in length, if you have longer articles, break them apart and make two pages. This will help by giving the website more advertising space, and hopefully if you have a user reading, twice the exposure!

Keywords , Relevant and Targeted Advertising

Sometimes no matter how hard you work at keeping a nice subject based article, you just can’t get the keywords picked up for the kind of advertising you want to see. A prime example of this is with my own name! My name is Ken Dennis, often due to my last name, a page will return AdSense advertising about “Dennis the Menace” and though I am a bit of a menace, so are those kind of advertisings! There are two ways to handle advertising that doesn’t match your content. The first way is to change your article, or add more keywords that will sway the advertisements in a different direction. The second way is to go in to the AdSense website and ban the websites that you don’t want to see. Ad Filtering can be very helpful, and taking out ads you don’t like or support can help increase your click through rates.

Google AdSense Search Engine

AdSense let’s you install a Google search engine on your website, this allows users to search the world wide web, or just your website. This is an excellent way to help your users find the information they want inside your website, and it provides you with even more advertisings based on the keywords the search for. Even when they leave to do a search, all the advertisements if clicked are credited towards you! So not only does the search engine provide you with functionality, it provides you with one more revenue source, with targeted advertisements based on EXACTLY what the user searches for!

Ken Dennis http://KenDennis-RSS.homeip.net/

Pay per click search engines are a great way to get targeted traffic quickly. The only problem is that as the search terms get more popular, the price of each click through rises.

It is very sad to watch your top ranking fall off the first page into obscurity as the cost per click rises out of your budget.

One way to get around this is to team up with a few of the “competitors” you find bidding on the same term. The idea is that if 10 people agree to cooperate to create a new page listing their ten web sites prominently, sort of like another search results page (which you can call a directory of top 10 sites in your topic), you can pool your resources and pay to get this page listed as the top search result for your desired keyword.

This will price the top ranking spot out of the budget of other bidders for the keyword and ensure a top ranking for this page.

Provided you make the description of the new page interesting, most surfers will definitely click on the top ranked listings in each search and see all ten of your links.

So while you have to share the top ranking with 9 other webmasters, you are assured that you won’t be squeezed of the top search results page by the thousands of other people trying to bid for the same keyword.

Cooperate with some competitors for an unfair advantage over the rest.

About The Author

Terence Tan is the founder of HugeAffiliates.com, a website dedicated towards the development of Multi Level Affiliate Programs as an alternative system of business. Visit http://hugeaffiliates.com to learn how MLAPs can multiply your affiliate referral commissions.

(Please feel free to to freely reproduce and distribute this article, so long as it is reproduced in full, including the hyperlinks, and no modification is made).

terence@hugevoice.com

Paid Search Advertising (also Pay-Per-Click, PPC) has gained a significant influence in the search engine industry over past couple of years. Whilst a traditional search engine optimisation still remains the online marketing strategy number one, more and more e-marketers discovering the potential of online advertising campaigns. Properly designed and managed, PPC campaign can deliver highly qualified visitors to your online shop.

1. Quick Overview

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Search Engines are built on the similar principle as auctions. The difference is that you bid on keywords — terms people use when they search for stuff on the internet.

The concept of PPC bidding is rather simple: you buy (= bid on) keywords that relate to your product. The highest bidder gets placed at the top of the search results, the second highest bidder gets the next listing and so on. Every time someone clicks through to your website, you pay the amount you bid on that particular search term.

Advertising with PPC search engines basically gives you three key advantages:

? Cheap and Highly Targeted Traffic

With bidding on keywords that relates to your product or service, you actually pre-qualify the type of visitors you wish to attract. You determine how much you are willing to pay (bid) for the click and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. This implies that PPC search engines can cheaply direct qualified visitors to your website.

? Fast Exposure, Immediate Profits

Traditional search engines usually take few weeks (sometimes even months) to list your website. If you are having problems to get your website indexed by search engines or if you would like to get a quick results from the search engines then PPC is the best alternative. Most of PPC search engines will set your website live within a couple of hours (maximum few days) and the impact on your site traffic and sales is practically immediate.

? Guaranteed Top Position

Search engine optimisation is the classic method of getting your website on the top of search results for free. Simply said, the process of optimisation involves choosing keywords that are directly related to your website and placing them meaningfully within your pages. However, as easy as this sounds, for an average webmaster this is usually a quite daunting task without any guarantee on the success. This again brings me to PPC as the best solution to gain high rankings on the search result list. Often, by spending just few cents per click, your website can get to the top three positions within 24 hours!

The best-known and most popular PPC Search Engines are Google AdWords (www.google.com/ads) and Overture (www.overture.com). Advertising with those two industry leaders will get your website lots of exposure and traffic. Furthermore, top 3 listings in Google AdWords and Overture appear on an extensive network of sites (including Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista, Excite, and many others) so you can reach up to 80% of all active Internet users. However, at the same time be prepared that their top listings tend to be rather expensive and you need to pay quite a bit.

Generally, the more popular keyword you choose for bidding the higher is the price. You can start your bid from 1 cent per click and finish paying $5.00 (or more) for very competitive keywords.

2. Designing Successful PPC Campaigns

The golden rule of PPC bidding is: “Attract highly qualified buyers and keep your bids as low as possible”. Since you are paying for each single visitor landing on your website obviously you wish to maximize the effectiveness of your PPC campaign. Let’s take a look at some basic guidelines to help you optimise your campaign and ensure your ROI:

? Determine your bid cost

The calculation of the bid cost (also cost per click) requires a rather complicated formula. For the purpose of this article I mention just a baseline that helps determine how much you can afford to bid:

* Firstly, you need to know the conversion rate of your web site. That means how many unique visitors you need to close one sale. For example, if you need 50 visitors (= clicks) to close 1 sale then your conversion rate is 2%. If your bid is 10 cents per click than one sale has $5 of bidding cost.

* Secondly, you need to know your profit margin. If your profit margin is high enough to justify the cost you can consider increasing the bid and getting a higher position for your ad. This way you may increase the number of clicks through your website and acquire more sales.

* Finally, calculate if the extra sales justify the extra cost and adjust the bid accordingly.

? Focus on highly targeted keywords

As mentioned earlier, PPC Advertising can deliver cheap and highly targeted traffic to your website. To use this advantage to your benefit it is important to choose wisely the keywords you wish to bid on. The key is to be specific. For example, instead of bidding on “skin care” you can consider bid on “anti ageing herbal treatments”. More targeted keywords attract more qualified buyers. It is easier to convert them into paying customers because they found exactly what they were looking for. This strategy is also a big money saver — more specific keywords tend to be less expensive than the general ones everybody is biding on.

? Customize your advertisements

You will attract more attention from qualified buyers by writing ads specifically for each of keywords you bid on. Speak directly to the type of visitor you want to serve. For example, instead of writing an ad for “pies” you can write “home made meat pies”.

When tailoring your ads to a specific audience, be also sure that you direct your visitors to a page on your website where it’s easy for them to buy these items.

? Use less popular PPC search engines

Overture and Google AdWords are clearly the PPC market leaders. However you can still benefit from the less popular ones such as:

* FindWhat http://www.findwhat.com

* Espotting http://www.espotting.com, (biggest PPC engine in UK and European market)

* 7search.com http://www.7search.com

* Kanoodle.com http://www.kanoodle.com

* Enhance Interactive http://www.enhance.com

* Sprinks http://www.sprinks.com

Bids on these less popular PPC search engines are much cheaper and you can purchase your listings for as little as one cent per visitor. Even though you may not get the same exposure as you would get with Overture and Google, you still generate a decent amount of traffic. And while you only pay for actual clicks to your website, you never waste your money.

? Choose the best position for your advertisement

To be listed first on the search results is not always a smart move. It certainly helps to attract lots of visitors, but may cost you lots of money at the same time. People usually visit first 5 top listings before making a final decision about their purchase. Therefore, it is more profitable to have lower ranking for highly competitive keywords.

3. Managing PPC Advertising Campaign

You have designed a killer selling ad copy, chosen highly targeted keywords, calculated the maximum you can afford to bid on each of search terms and determined which spot on the search results you wish to secure. Yet, there is no guarantee that your ad always remains on your desired position.

The key to managing the desired position is to adjust your bids correctly in accordance to the PPC market conditions. It’s like monitoring shares on the share market — to get the best deal you need to constantly watch prices and react immediately to any change.

The main factor influencing the price of the bids and your position are your competitors. Let’s make few examples of bidding strategies you can consider using in your PPC campaign: assuming, your maximum cost per click is $1.00 and your goal is to secure position #3 at the most effective cost.

(a) Maintain Target Position

Your aim is to target the position #3 however your ad appears on the position #10. Knowing that the current holder of the position #3 pays $0.51 per click you can improve your position and take over his place by bidding $0.52. This strategy sometimes tends to drive up the keyword prices so be aware you don’t cross the limit of spending $1.00 per click.

(b) Remove Bid Gaps

Overture defines the bid gap as “the difference between the amount you are currently paying for a click and the minimum you could be paying to still remain above your next highest competitor in the search results.”

For example: You pay $0.70 per click and your next highest competitor pays $0.60 per click. You can pay just $0.61 per click and still be placed above your competitor. By closing this bid gap you save $0.09 per click which in 1,000 clicks is saving of $90!

(c) Control your Maximum Cost per Click

As mentioned earlier in this article, the calculation of your maximum bid cost (cost per click) requires you to collect a list of statistics about your website. Based on our assumption, you are willing to pay maximum of $1.00 per click. Therefore you should not pursue any positions where the bids are over your $1.00 limit. Wait till the price falls under $1.00 to prevent any possible losses.

To get the most accurate bidding results without having to baby-sit your advertising campaign, I would recommend relying on one of the automated bid management software available on the market today. In general, those tools constantly check your bids and adjust them accordingly to maintain your desired position so that you don’t have to be alert 24/7.

The more sophisticated tools allow you to set your daily budget to prevent spending more than it is efficient for your business. Below I have listed the main features you should be looking for when choosing the bid management software for your campaign:

* The ability to create and identify targeted keywords and phrases that convert leads in sales.

* The ability to set the maximum amount your want to bid.

* The ability to fix bid gaps so you don’t pay more money than is necessary

* The ability to set your desired position.

* the ability to compile comprehensive reports on your keywords, bidding cost, bid position and current bid for each keywords.

* The ability to monitor competitor’s activity by checking competitors ranking and current bids.

If you would like to download a demo version of bid management software, there is one available for free at website http://www.keywordbidmaximizer.com/bidmaximizer. It will help you to better understand the whole process of designing and maintaining PPC campaigns so you always manage to cost-effectively allocate your budgets and increase your revenue.

Paid Search Advertising presents an excellent opportunity to immediately address your offers to the proper online audience. Focus on identifying highly targeted keywords that convert for your website. Calculate your bids so your sales justify the cost. This way you will maximize your return on investment and ensure your website’s success with PPC advertising.

About The Author

Ivana Giardi is Marketing Director at Apex Pacific, developer of smart internet marketing solutions to help companies increase sales and profitability online. If you would like to learn more about Paid Search Advertising, visit Apex Pacific at www.apexpacific.com or email Ivana at marketing@apexpacific.com.

What was once such a good thing is now a rip-off and a sham!

I’m talking about pay-per-click search engines, and how they’ve become a really bad investment!

There are two reasons for the deterioration of pay-per-click search engines: high bid prices and out of control click fraud.

A few years back, you could get popular keywords at a halfway decent bid price. Nowadays, even moderately popular keywords are ridiculously high.

How high? Well, let me give you an example, using the most popular pay-per-click search engine: Overture.

Let’s take the popular keyword phrase, “home business.”

At the time this article was written, Overture’s top bid for the keyword phrase “home business” was an exorbitantly high $2.28. Just to get on the first page, it would cost you $0.61, which would place you last at number forty.

Now let’s just delve inside the numbers for a moment, shall we? I’m not going to even bother breaking down the number one bid price, because quite frankly, it’s obvious the top spot is reserved for and controlled by the high-rollers.

So, let’s break down bid number forty. The bid price of $0.61 means that for every 100 visitors Overture sends to your website, it’s going to cost you $61.00. Now, here’s where the numbers really get interesting.

According to the so-called experts, a decent conversion ratio is right around one percent. In other words, one out of every one hundred visitors to your website converts to a sale. I happen to know for a fact that most websites don’t even come close to converting one percent. However, that’s a subject for another day.

Using the very generous one percent conversion ratio, here’s the problem. Unless you’re selling a big-ticket item and making $100 or more per sale, it’s impossible to make any real money with pay-per-click search engines. You just can’t do it!

For example, if you’re selling a $20 e-book and you’re paying $61 to get one hundred visitors to your website, with a one percent conversion ratio, that means your website is making a measly $20 for every one hundred visitors. That leaves you $41 in the hole. Even, if you were selling a $50 product, you’d still be $11 in the negative.

And even if you cut the bid price in half and made it $0.30, there’s still another problem. It’s called click fraud and it’s a major problem among all of the pay-per-click search engines.

In a nutshell, click fraud is what occurs when someone fraudently clicks on your ad over and over again, without any intention of responding to your offer. Click fraud hurts advertisers by driving up the cost of each click because many online advertising programs adjust the price of each click based on the popularity of a particular keyword and the number of competing advertisers.

And depending on how popular your keyword is, it can take just a few minutes to register hundreds or even thousands of clicks. Click fraud can quickly deplete your pay-per-click account and leave you with nothing to show for your expentiture.

At the present time, the pay-per-click search engines seem to be powerless to stop click fraud. To their credit, Google even admitted as such.

In a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google acknowledged, “We are exposed to the risk of fraudulent clicks on our ads. We have regularly paid refunds related to fraudulent clicks and expect to do so in the future. If we are unable to stop this fraudulent activity, these refunds may increase. If we find new evidence of past fraudulent clicks, we may have to issue refunds retroactively of amounts previously paid to our Google Network members.”

In conclusion, because of unreasonably high bid prices and rampant, out of control click fraud, I consider pay-per- click search engines a really bad investment, and recommend you stay away from them!

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net.

Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net

There are millions of web sites trying to get listed in the top 20 spots of the major search engines. That amounts to a lot of competition! I say if you can’t get listed at the top, indirectly get to the top.

How do you do this? Look up the top 20 web sites on the major search engines under the keywords and phrases people would find your web site. The key would be to then advertise on those web sites.

The most expensive way would be to buy ad space on those web sites. If you don’t want to spend any money, you could use the ten strategies below. These strategies may not apply to every web site.

1. Participate on their discussion boards. You could post questions, answer other peoples questions, and join in on conversations. Just include your signature file and link at the end of your messages.

2. Ask the web site owner if they would like a free ebook to giveaway to their visitors. You could have them link to your web site or include your ad in the free ebook.

3. Submit content to their web site. You could write articles for their web site and include your resource box and link at the end of the article. If they publish it, you’ll indirectly be at the top of the search engines.

4. Write an excellent article review of their web site, products or services. Then publish the review on your web site. E-mail the web site owner and tell him or her about it. They may link to your web site so their visitors read it.

5. Ask the owner of the web site if they would want to trade advertising. If you don’t get as much traffic as they do, you could throw in some extra incentives.

6. Propose a cross promotion deal with the web site. You both could promote each others products or services together in one package deal. This means a mention and link back to your web site.

7. Give the web site a testimonial for their product or service. Include a little text link for your web site with the testimonial. You never know; it could end up on their ad copy.

8. Post your advertisement on their free classified ad section on their web site. You want to be sure you have an attractive headline so they will read your ad.

9. Post your text link on their free-for-all links page. You want to go back and post your link regularly so it stays towards the top.

10. Sign their guest books. You could leave a short compliment about their web site on their guest book. Just include your signature file and link at the end of your message.

Kim Beardsmore operates a successful marketing business from home and is a mentor to others who wish to run their own home business. We are looking for people to join our expanding team of work-at-homers. If you are serious about earning money and are willing to work, then we can help you grow a profitable business. http://free2liv.com/?refid=indrctly-567885698

Why do people search on search engines? Let’s confess this seems like a basic question, right? People search because they are looking for something. Complicating that question are these questions. For what are they looking? Why are they searching? What compels them to act?

Plus, how does all of this relate to Internet and pay-per-click marketing?

Let’s reason that searches can be broken down into two classifications: factual and emotional. Factual or informational searches occur as people look for general facts and information about a particular subject matter. Findings from this type of search may or may not cause the person searching to respond or act.

Here’s a fact or truth for you. Human needs and feelings drive emotional searches. When a person’s emotions are activated, an individual is more likely to respond to gathered information by taking action. So, where does this awareness lead us and how can we relate it to Internet and pay-per-click marketing?

People search for three reasons:

? To gather facts or information, an informational search.
? To satisfy a need or desire, an emotional search.
? To solve a problem, an emotional search.

Did you catch those three reasons? You may not realize it, but these three reasons will be the keys to effective pay-per-click ad copy and ad click-through and conversion success.

Let’s now review a typical search process. Suppose you’re contemplating buying a personal digital assistant (PDA). First, you search the Internet for product selections. After locating suitable options, you search for product reviews to determine the most appropriate choice. After narrowing your choice to one or two PDA’s, you search for product sources, prices and availability. As you continue searching, you gradually become emotionally involved as the fine points draw you further into the process. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have continued searching for more details.

At some point, the motive for your search changed from informational to emotional. Why did you look for a PDA to begin with? Oh, you are stressed. Your daily life is chaotic! You have a time management and organizational problem and you perceive a personal digital assistant may solve it. Emotional elements were under the surface of your search all along!

Very simply, two things can happen in a search engine search. The search initiates as a fact-finding task and at some point the factual search transcends to an emotional level. Or, the search commences to fulfill an emotional desire or to solve a problem causing emotional discomfort. The more emotionally involved a person becomes, the more likely he or she is to respond or act by converting the search into the acquisition of a product or service.

As a smart Internet or pay-per-click marketer, you should apply this insight to reach your target audience. Consequently, you capture your target market by satisfying emotional needs or solving emotional problems. You begin by utilizing targeted keywords and targeted ad text. Consider what the following words or word pairs denote: learn, tip, help, solution, idea, how to, how would, discover. They express an ability to identify and solve a problem.

Let’s now take a moment to summarize the first secret or fact of Internet and pay-per-click marketing:

You must understand that people who “search and convert” are emotionally driven to satisfy a need or solve a problem and you must target your keywords and ad text with emotional content to motivate action.

Let’s confess this lesson may seem as basic as Marketing 101. However, many savvy business owners miss what may not be as obvious as one would think. Take a look at some ads on Overture or Google AdWords. You’ll be surprised to learn how many misinformed advertisers are wasting money!

About the Author

Chet Childers is a successful Internet marketer utilizing the power and quick response of pay-per-click marketing to increase website visibility and profitability. Click http://www.ThePayPerClickMarketer.com and enroll in our e-course, “Discover Tips and Secrets for Pay-Per-Click Marketing Success,” or visit http://www.ChetChilders.com.

Forbes magazine has reported that pay per click ad sales are expected to increase to at least $8 billion by 2008.

The three fundamental core elements that form the basis of a successful pay per click ad program are constant monitoring, analysis, and refinement.

Pay per click search engines offer a way to buy your way to the top of search results for any term you wish. With proper management, and a clear focus, pay per click search engines can offer some of the most well targeted and economical advertising on the Internet.

Pay per click advertising works through a bidding process, and the ads appear prominently on the results pages of search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The highest bidder for a particular word or phrase receives top placement, and depending on the engine, the top three to five bidders also generally also receive placement on the first page of unpaid search results.

Fundamental questions to be addressed when formulating a pay per click search engine strategy include the following:

When is the top pay per click bid necessary for highest conversion, and when will bidding for a second or third place position create a more attractive return on investment (ROI)?

How can you keep your PPC bids from cannibalizing your search efforts on other (non pay per click) search engines?

What percentage of your pay per click budget should go to each search engine?

Does either Google Adwords or Overture work better for your particular product or service? Or, perhaps neither one is appropriate from a return on investment (ROI) perspective.

It is of critical importance to focus sharply on identifying the search terms that convert most frequently for your particular site, eliminating those that don’t perform, and most importantly, calculating and maximizing your return on investment.

The cost structure of pay per click is action-driven and each time a user clicks your ad, the pay per click engine deducts the amount of your current bid from your account. Pay per click offers a high level of assurance that your ad is reaching the proper target.

Pay per click campaigns, however, are not perfect. Without CONSTANT monitoring, you sometimes risk incurring advertising costs that can spiral out of control, focusing on terms that don’t convert well for your product or services, or falling way down in position during a bidding war.

PPC advertising can be a great help to a site’s success, but only with very close supervision and a thorough knowledge of the unique characteristics of each PPC search engine.

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This article is freely available for reprint provided that the resource box at the end of the article is left intact and the article is published complete and unaltered. If you are using this article on a website or e-book, please make sure that the link in the resource box is live or clickable.
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Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business.

Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.

Pay per click or search engine optimization, which one should you use? Many view PPC marketing as a colossal waste of money while others disdain search engine optimization. In reality, the two marketing strategies form a perfect marriage.

Pay-Per-Click - PPC

PPC marketing is a love it or hate platform. For the “love it” crowd, PPC marketing is a way to get instant exposure and feedback on site designs. In a matter of minutes, you can start receiving traffic and adjusting your site to convert the traffic at the best rate possible. For those in the “hate it” crowd, bids are to high and one never knows how may of the clicks are fake and worthless.

Search Engine Optimization ? SEO

As with PPC, seo marketing has its proponents and detractors. Those who love it look at the free traffic and glorious profitability of a site that converts the traffic at a decent rate. Detractors view seo as an unnecessary waste of time since it can take a year or more to get high rankings, particularly on Google. Detractors also argue that high listings are subject to changes in the search engine ranking process, which means you can lose your rankings.

So, who is right? In truth, both sides make accurate arguments. PPC is expensive and click fraud is a monstrous problem. Seo produces free traffic, but it takes along time to get to the top and rankings are subject to the whims of search engine ranking changes. The truth, of course, is both marketing platforms should be used whenever possible.

Marketing Marriage

Every site is unique, but most should combine PPC and seo marketing as part of an overall internet marketing strategy. When starting out, the PPC campaign is critical for getting immediate traffic and tweaking the site to maximize conversions. At the same time, a seo campaign should be undertaken. As the site rises in search results, the PPC campaign should be fazed out for the relevant high listings.

PPC and seo marketing are not mutually exclusive. When married together as part of an overall marketing strategy, both platforms will deliver the goods.

Halstatt Pires is with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing and advertising company in San Diego, California.

The pay per click (PPC) search engines have created a new way for websites to advertise and increase traffic to their sites and it is very affordable. There are a variety of things about PPC search engines you should know so read the following suggestions and educate yourself on PPC advertising. Once you know how pay per click advertising works, you will be able to utilize this affordable advertising tool to increase your website traffic.

Tip #1 - PPC Search Engines

Also known as pay per click, these networks allow websites to place ads on their search pages targeting a particular keyword or keyword phrase. The website owner does not have to pay for the advertising unless a visitor actually clicks on the ad and is taken to their web page. Because of this, these search engines and advertisements are known as pay per click because you only pay when someone clicks on the ad.

Tip #2 - Bidding for Advertisements

Generally, when it comes to PPC advertising, you will submit your maximum bid for advertising based on the keywords you are interested in advertising for. You will then be listed on the search page when your particular keyword or keywords are searched for. However, where you rank in the bidding process will depend on whether you were the highest bidder, second highest bidder, and so on and so forth. For this type of marketing campaign it is important that you are close to the top, at least within the top four, so keep this in mind when bidding.

Tip #3 - Choosing a PPC Search Engine

Many search engines offer PPC advertising, but to get the most exposure you will obviously want to advertise with the larger, more popular ones. You can do some research online to find out which are the best and then submit your bid for the keywords you are interested in buying advertising for. Remember, the bidding process is more competitive with the larger search engines, so keep this in mind.

Tip #4 - Click Fraud

Since you pay per click with this type of advertising, you can run into a situation known as click fraud. This happens when your competitors click on your ad as many times as possible in order to run your account dry. This eats up your advertising budget and does not allow you to reach people who are really interested in what you are selling. If you suspect this is happening, inform the PPC search engine immediately as there are things that can be done to help you.

Tip #5 - Keywords

So you know the keywords that are the most used to search for your product, however they are really popular and you find yourself entering a bidding war on a small budget. Do not do this. Instead, switch to cheaper keywords. You will still get many hits and you won’t deplete your budget.

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Not long ago, Forbes magazine has reported that pay per click ad sales are expected to increase to at least $8 billion by 2008.

There are three fundamental elements that form the basis of a successful pay per click ad program and they are constant monitoring, response analysis, and refinement.

Pay per click search engines offer a way to buy your way to the top of search results for any term you wish. With proper management, and a clear focus, pay per click search engines can offer some of the most well targeted and economical advertising on the Internet.

Pay per click advertising works through a bidding process, and the ads appear prominently on the results pages of search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The highest bidder for a particular word or phrase receives top placement, and depending on the engine, the top three to five bidders also generally also receive placement on the first page of unpaid search results.

Fundamental questions to be addressed when formulating a pay per click search engine strategy include the following:

When is the top pay per click bid necessary for highest conversion, and when will bidding for a second or third place position create a more attractive return on investment (ROI)?

How can you keep your PPC bids from cannibalizing your search efforts on other (non pay per click) search engines?

What percentage of your pay per click budget should go to each search engine?

Does either Google Adwords or Overture work better for your particular product or service? Or, perhaps neither one is appropriate from a return on investment (ROI) perspective.

It is of critical importance to focus sharply on identifying the search terms that convert most frequently for your particular site, eliminating those that don’t perform, and most importantly, calculating and maximizing your return on investment.

The cost structure of pay per click is action-driven and each time a user clicks your ad, the pay per click engine deducts the amount of your current bid from your account. Pay per click offers a high level of assurance that your ad is reaching the proper target.

Pay per click campaigns, however, are not perfect. Without CONSTANT monitoring, you sometimes risk incurring advertising costs that can spiral out of control, focusing on terms that don’t convert well for your product or services, or falling way down in position during a bidding war.

PPC advertising can be a great help to a site’s success, but only with very close supervision and a thorough knowledge of the unique characteristics of each PPC search engine.

Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.