Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisements are priced on a per-click basis. The ads are triggered by the keywords typed in by the end user, instead of paying each time the ad is shown. Done properly, this can be an effective way of driving highly-targeted traffic to your site.
Google Adwords Select
Google AdWords are little text ads that appear along side or above the results on Google search results pages for Google Web search, Google Groups, and the Google Directory. Additionally, your ads could appear on the search and content sites and products in the Google Network. Google's own Gmail also displays AdWords ads. Ads for email are placed by Google computers and relate to the discussion in the email.
Probably the best part about pay-per-click advertising is there is no waiting around. Instant gratification. Qualified visitors to your web site, no matter what your budget.
Another nice feature is that it will automatically adjust your bid so you pay the lowest price necessary to maintain your position. You can also very easily test the effectiveness of different wording, because Google allows you to create multiple ads per campaign.
Unfortunatelly, there are several downsides. Some consumers will ignore “sponsored sites”. Also, costs can be an issue, especially in a bidding war. And finally, your add might be resctricted or droped altogether if it drops below a certain click-through percentage.
We do not recommend this program as an alternative to search engine optimization, however, it is an effective way of supplementing your traffic building efforts by allowing you to target highly competitive keywords, and keywords that generate low volumes of highly relevant traffic.
Adwords Select costs $5.00 to get started.
Overture (formerly GoTo)
Overture invented the concept of PPC search engine listings. They have partnered with a large number of search engines and portals, which display Overture ads above regular search results. Current Overture partners include Yahoo, AltaVista, MSN, Lycos, and Ask Jeeves. It used to include AOL, but Google recently took over that contract. Still, their reach is the widest of the PPC search engines.
You can bid for rankings and choose the description and title you want. This generates highly targeted traffic for your web site. If your listing isn’t pulling well, or is ranked lower because of a higher bidder, you can adjust your bids and listing at any time. The key to a successful Overture campaign is find keywords with good cost/click ratios.
Overture has $20.00 monthly minimum spend, and they charge
$50.00 to open an account.