By Michael Peterson

Nothing is more frustrating to an eBusiness Professional than to put together an advertising campaign and have it fail. I have spent millions of dollars on Pay Per Click advertising since 2004 and I have had a few losers along the way.

Google Adwords has cost me a lot. I can't deny it. I have lost tons of money on Google Adwords only to have marginal returns at best. At one time I swore by Google Adwords, but not anymore.

In recent years I have struggled time and again to make Adwords profitable but in any niche that I go heavy into, I have struggled to make Adwords work for me. I'm just being honest.

I'm lucky to get a 3:1 return on Adwords traffic. I promised myself that when I found a better source of traffic, I would tell the world. Well, I'm keeping that promise.

In 2004, I sold a $47 product and I could get clicks for $.35 cents each and converted one out of three people. Those days of Google Adwords converting that way are over and done.

Now that same campaign would cost me $1.85 – 2.30 per click!! That's the price of fame people. Google Adwords became the method of choice and now, you can't get the same click for under $2.00 no matter what you do.

Yahoo and Bing (Microsoft Adcenter) aren't much better to be completely honest. I have struggled with both since 2006 and neither of them have been able to provide me the kind of traffic I could rest assured would be there day after day.

You can come up with the best products and services on the market but if you can't get traffic to your offers, you don't make a nickel. That's reality. If your advertising costs you as much as you're making, then you're working for the advertising company.

While I'm happy for Google, the average eBusiness Professional now has a harder time promoting products. On the one hand you have higher costs for advertising and on the other, price pressure from a tough economy so getting more money per customer isn't really an option.

The only answer is to find alternative means of advertising. I think Microsoft Adcenter made a fortune off of unhappy Google Adwords customers hoping Bing would rescue them from their traffic woes. It never happened.

At last check, those same keywords would cost me $1.65 - $2.05 with Bing! So much for a more competitive choice! I'm sure glad Bill Gates gets to give away 65 Billion dollars but that doesn't help me feed my family!

So when people ask me about getting traffic now, I no longer recommend Google Adwords or Microsoft Adcenter (I NEVER recommended Yahoo and never will) but instead I send them over to a one main place that has tested over and over again to be better than Google Adwords hands down.

The Internet Ad Center (See the link below)

Why do I recommend the Internet Ad Center? Because unlike Google adwords, they have a "closed" network of sites that they keep private arrangements with. They operate "under the radar" and have been a great value by comparison to Adwords.

It took me a while to gain confidence in this interface so I took my time. Now I can say without question that a private network is better than the Adwords/Adsense model.

Unlike Google Adwords which is fed by both Search and Content (Adsense) sites, the Internet Ad Center uses a private network of sites (100,000) that are not visible to the public and can't be manipulated and the big thing is this … less click fraud.

With the advent of Google Adsense and similar programs, everyone and their brother put up sites with less than high quality genuine traffic. Sure they would get you clicks but the quality of the site that the click is coming from makes a world of difference between a real customer and a fake click or a random surfer.

I don't mind paying for a click from a real person who is searching for a solution but I don't want to have my ad on some random page just created to make the owner of the site money with Adsense and not really be targeted to my target market.

In dozens of categories, I've seen consistent results from the Internet Ad Center because from what I can tell, the network of sites they allow ads to run on are authentic content sites and not just put together to generate "adsense revenue" as so many Google sites have been.

These sites have to pass traffic and quality tests that you don't have to pass to be on the Google network and I like that it's a private network. You cut down on click fraud this way in my opinion.

Your competitor can't necessarily find your ad and deplete your ad budget and other wonderful tactics that work on Google Adwords, Bing, and Yahoo as well. Instead, the network protects its advertisers and after 4 years, I wont use any other network.

If you're looking for a place to test advertising, you may wish to see what I mean. I have been able to capture clicks for keywords that on Google would cost $1.85 - $2.10 for just $.45 per click and they are real people with authentic interest. I can live with that.

If I have to pay for clicks, I want them to be real people who have a real interest in what I have to offer. That's why I use the Internet Ad Center and recommend them so highly.