If all advertising were this easy, ad agencies would be out of business. That's because pay-per-click campaigns are exactly what they sound like. You place your pay-per-click ads on a website, and when customers click on your ads, they are directed to your site and you pay a small fee to the site that brought them to you. The benefits of using pay-per-click advertising in your search engine marketing campaign are:
1. There are no hidden fees. You don't pay for placing pay-per-click ads, you only pay per click.
2. You use keywords in your PPC advertising to attract the market that you desire.
3. You control what brings users to your site by choosing keywords that describe your products or services.
4. You pay as you go in pay-per-click campaigns rather than spending money up front as in traditional advertising.
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Start with search engines and set your own budget for pay-per-click campaigns
Set the price of your ad in your pay-per-click campaigns. Many pay-per-click providers allow you to set the maximum amount you will pay-per-click or per day. The more you bid on your ad, the higher up in the search directory or on the page, your ad will be placed.
I recommend: Yahoo and
Google offer pay-per-click ads right on search engine results pages.
Choose keywords that are highly relevant to your website content
Create your pay-per-click ads consisting of a headline, a description of your business and a URL that directs users to the right page for the ad description. To find the right keywords for your pay-per-click ads, consult several websites that allow you to research keyword results for free.
I recommend: Wordtracker provides the most popular keywords for your website to improve pay-per-click campaigns and allows you to research niche opportunities that haven't been used by your competitors.
Keyword Discovery compiles keyword search statistics from hundreds of search engines to tell you the search phrases people use most to find products and services.
Manage your pay-per-click campaigns
Pay-per-click management software allows you to manage your ad campaign from one interface rather than going from one search engine to another.
I recommend: BidRank software simultaneously manages keywords across various accounts and search engines.
PPC BidMax software helps you to build a keyword list, manage keywords and automatically monitor your keyword bids and URLs at all major pay-per-click search engines.
Place your pay-per-click ads where you want them
With pay-per-click campaigns, you often have the option to bid to have your PPC ads appear on other sites in addition to the search engines. The search engines will then place your pay-per-click ads on sites that fit your keywords. Beware though. Some sites may not be good places for you to advertise, for instance, competitor sites or conflicting information sites. The way to get around this is to choose the specific sites where your pay-per-click ads will appear.
I recommend: BidVertiser allows you to browse sites where your pay-per-click ads can appear and lets you choose from among those sites.
Turn your pay-per-click campaigns over to the pros
If you don't have time to manage your pay-per-click advertising, hire help. You can either turn the whole campaign over to pay-per-click management companies or you can hire a consultant to help you learn the ropes.
I recommend: SEO consultants routinely handle PPC advertising campaigns, so check the
SEO Consultants Directory for expert help.
Customer Magnetism provides pay-per-click advertising management.
Related Resources from Business.com
Comments
Is any content on this page inappropriate? To let us know, please 
