Pay per click advertising is still one of the quickest and effective ways of promoting your business online. Some call it keyword auctioning, and if people are bidding high prices to get on the major search engines and other top web properties, then you know it's a profitable place to be.

Many potential advertisers make the mistake of thinking that since they "just ignore the PPC ads" themselves, that others do too. However, as Google's recent record profits show, many people do see the ads and click on them.

While some advertisers have difficulty converting click throughs to sales, many others do. For them, PPC advertising is a blessing. It is possible to get a paying customer at your web site for 5 cents. While it's nice to have high organic search engine rankings, those rankings may not be achievable for some time even with the help of an SEO company. PPC ads can be live in a matter of minutes.

Today, the major pay per click advertising programs are offered by Google and Yahoo. Google's program called AdWords delivers targeted pay per click ads via its own search engines and a host of partner sites. Yahoo owns Overture which has a selection of specialized ppc advertising programs. These PPC advertising programs offer the best quality traffic for most website marketing campaigns.

Planning and Writing Skill is Needed

To produce effective PPC ads you must bid on the right selected keyword phrases, write persuasive, moving ad copy and have a well written page to have them click through to. The bid price on some keyword phrases is mind bogglingly high, so good judgment is necessary now. If you know how to attract the prospect and deliver them seamlessly to a solution they need, you'll be rewarded with a good sales rate. This writing skill can be used for other text type advertising placements on web sites other than Google, MSN and Yahoo.

Tip: A custom prepared PPC campaign by an SEO professional is still the best approach to pay per click.

Self Managed PPC Campaigns

Are self-managed PPC advertising campaigns a wise decision? Well, if you have some writing skills, understand consumer psychology and have lots of time, you may save money. In my experience, clients tend not to be efficient enough to do it themselves, although their knowledge of the customer and the products features and benefits are helpful. Some SEO consultants have good experience in this field and have learned the time and money wasting lessons. They also have a system of filtering out the poor performing ads and enhancing the good ads.

PPC advertising is all about relevance, particularly with Google AdWords. If your ads don't get clicked on enough, they will be removed.

If your advertising needs are high and you have to find click-throughs cheaper than $5, it may be wiser to use the services of an SEO consultant. However, if you want to pursue it on your own, this article discusses how the PPC programs work and some of the techniques SEO consultants use.

Pay Per Click Marketing has Matured

This industry has undergone consolidation with Google and Yahoo's program still standing. Mamma.com is also available but doesn't have the reach of the two PPC giants.

1. How Does PPC Advertising Work?
2. Good Targeting and Timing
3. Finding the Right Keywords
4. Writing Your PPC Ads
5. Writing Your Ad Titles
6. Top PPC Pay Per Click Programs

How Does PPC Advertising Work?

Basically, you the advertiser pay a rate you specify for every visitor who clicks through from the search engine site (or their affiliates) to your web site. It's simple and quick. Each unique keyword phrase (e.g., digital cameras) has its own bid price. You set the budget. With a credit card and a web site readied, you're on your way to advertising on the web's top sites in no time.

Overture offers numerous PPC subprograms. Overture has renamed its products many times which has made it confusing for some advertisers and thus discouraged new advertisers. Google as well, has created some special capabilities in AdWords that are worth using. Both have introduced tracking and return on cost statistical features which can be very beneficial to those who don't have their own e-commerce team.

Good Targeting and Timing

As you know, search engines return a list of web sites relevant to a person's keyword search. High rankings in the free (organic) search results is an exceptionally valuable achievement. However, with tens of thousands of web sites all competing for a keyword phrase ranking, it is difficult to rank highly for multiple keyword phrases.

PPC advertising on the other hand, allows you to get your web site listed on the results pages of an almost limitless number of keyword phrases. That kind of reach is incredibly powerful.

For most of the PPC engines, the advertising rules and listing procedures are straightforward. The highest bidder for a phrase gets top spot. Both programs have relevance requirements. That means you have to target the right type of searcher or consumer with the right keywords. Your ad must get clicked on regularly enough or it will be removed.

Generally speaking, before launching your PPC campaign you should take an inventory of the product and services categories you're interested in, along with the specific products and services you have to offer. Make sure these products and what you're going to say about them, is substantiated by your web site content otherwise your ad won't be allowed.

Finding the Right Keywords

Your search engine optimization consultant should help you target the right keywords. There are keyword suggestion tools you can use such as those provided by Overture, Google, Wordtracker, and another tool offered a British program called e-spotting.com. Through experience you'll see these keyword services can lack accuracy. I've found e-spotting.com's suggestion tool very helpful. Good keyword selection goes deeper than this because you must still filter out those ads that don't bring real paying customers.

Tip: Avoid bidding wars by searching for more specific multiword, targeted keyword phrases.

That means you'll have to find lesser-used, two or three-word phrases, many of which aren't suggested in the keyword suggestion tools. It takes skill and experience to cull out the good keyword phrases. Keywords can also be found in your web site transfer log files however, they will only show those keyword phases your site is already ranking high on. Both AdWords and Overture have keyword rules and they may not allow you to bid on keywords that aren't used very often, even if those keywords are highly productive in terms of profit.

Tip: Pause your campaign during those times when your top prospects aren't normally searching for your service or products.

Writing Your PPC Ads

The wording of your ad listing is a tricky matter because of the limited space you're given and the restriction on the wording you can use. Believe me, these restrictions do pose a problem and you'll be anguishing a little as you try to write an that works. You'll want to use natural promotional language in your ads, but you may not be allowed.

Not being able to use direct marketing type copy is an extra challenge as one Overture client said to me, "Overture is very picky and has a policy that doesn't allow me to implement my key words, which is very baffling."

Below is an example for the fictitious business, www.example.com. Notice there is no use of superlatives such as lowest and best. And you can't use promo punctuation such as ! and $ and, forget about excessive capitalization. Try and get you direct mail copywriter to conform to these rules!

New Automobile Price Quotes - Free all the Time. Save money at www.example.com.
www.example.com

Writing Your Ad Titles

The title (first line of your ad) is treated differently by different PPC programs, however, having your keywords placed in the title is a good decision usually. That's the golden rule of search engine marketing, use your customer's words to grab their attention. When you test different ad wordings, you'll discover which are effective. You have to learn quickly however, because you may not be allowed to bid on that phrase again, if your ads performance was particularly poor. Some of your competitors will be making offers to customers that you'd think would wipe all chance of profit, and their ad may make your well written masterpiece invisible in comparison. It is competitive, and you must be prepared to deal with the challenges that you'll face from your competitors.

Of course the words free, instant, and bonus, are attention getters. Call now, or get yours here, are calls to action to encourage readers to click through to your site. Each program has guidelines that you'll have to read. If you make mistakes, you'll be warned (disapproved) once, then ignored. They have no interest in your web master's problems or your manager's concern with legality of terms.

Your domain name listed below the title can influence the reader's perception of the quality and relevance of your ad. If your current domain name sounds unrelated or too promotional sounding, you might consider getting a new domain with a name that sounds a little more serious. An important thing to remember is how your value proposition to the customer can be conveyed in a few select words.

Having a search engine copywriter do this for you makes sense because they are familiar with the psychology involved, keyword choices, and the rules and regulations of the PPC programs. They also know what copy content is needed in your pages. Generally speaking, before launching your PPC campaign you should take an inventory of the product and services categories you're interested in, along with the specific products and services you have to offer.

The Top PPC Programs

There are numerous programs available. Those listed below are your best choices because they can deliver sufficient results for most campaigns. There are other programs available and you may find value in them depending on the type of product or service you're offering. You'll be happy to know that both programs have limited the maximum bid at $100 per click! Just in case you get a little carried away.