Engaging in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has its benefits and its drawbacks. So, what is PPC advertising and how can it benefit your business?

Businesses, especially small businesses, are looking for new and less expensive ways to advertise their products and services. Placing ads in print and on television is a terrifying prospect for most small business owners. But, with the advent of the Internet, there is a new, fast growing approach to advertising that businesses can use to bring their services closer to the public without selling the farm.

PPC advertising is becoming extremely popular with small and large businesses alike. This technique is used in search engine marketing that allows an advertiser to only pay a fee whenever someone clicks on their ad. Usually, good placement on a search engine is done through a bidding process. If you research your keywords and are confident these keywords will drive visitors to your site, you can bid high for the words and this will put you on top of the search engines. However, you don't have to bid really high; you can start small and increase your bids as you start to make some money. If you are just starting out, it may take a while to find the right keywords, it's pretty much trial and error for a while. Just make sure your ad copy will do the job when you get people to click. You want to be able to close the deal when customers come to your website.

Pros of PPC advertising:

1. You don't have to be a genius in computer and technology to be able to run this ad campaign.

2. Immediate results are seen after a few days.

3. No need to make your website conform to the SEO rules.

4. Nothing to lose even if you do not top the pages of different search engines. You only pay when someone clicks your ad and your can choose how much to pay each day.

5. You can use any search engine available.

6. You can choose any keyword you like that is relevant to your product or service.

Cons of PPC advertising:

1. Fixed payments every month to the search engine you choose.

2. Pay for each click received by your ad. Sometimes, those who click are competitors or people playing pranks. Unfortunately, PPC ads are easy to identify. They show up as sponsored ads or Google ads on the side of the pages.

3. If you are unable to pay for the fees per month your ad would be removed from the page.

4. This type of advertising should be used on a short term basis, because it can become hard to manage.

5. Pay-per-click pricing can be costly over long periods of time; therefore, short term ad campaigns are the most effective.

How can PPC advertising increase your traffic, leads and sales?

PRE-QUALIFIED, TARGETED TRAFFIC.

All visitors to your website are already interested in your of your product. PPC advertising brings your customers to you for a lesser cost.

INSTANT EXPOSURE, IMMEDIATE PROFITS.

PPC advertising enables you to get desired results fast. Your ad will appear on the search engines almost immediately, so customers will see your ad right away.

CONSISTENT TOP LISTINGS.

Make sure all of your keywords are integrated into your website. This will get your website on top of the sponsored search results for free. Search engines crawl through every website looking for keywords. You just have to choose the right keywords related to your site and business and place them within your web pages. After this, you are done, the process is almost automatic.

PPC advertising enables advertisers to control their advertising campaigns. Each advertiser effectively targets their audience and sets their own price per click. PPC advertising networks provide a platform that can identify the desired audience by geographic setting, topic and industry. These networks have a list of websites of the publishers where the ads will be placed.

Most search engines provide tools to check how the pay per click limit is working for certain advertisers. If the keywords still have a lot of competition, is it still listed among the paid search lists or does it generate sales? Of course, the advertiser who made the highest bid is the one on top of the page of the search engine. These networks also provide protection for the advertisers against click fraud. This advertising set-up allows advertisers to set a daily budget for their ads so you pay less for unnecessary clicks. The advertiser will never go over his budget.

What Are Important Are The Keywords And Phrases:

In PPC advertising you need to select at least ten "very specific" keywords that will give you the best chance of drawing customers to your site. Then, write your ad creatively but honestly. Tell the truth about your product or service and do not lie. You will always want to present your product in the most positive light. This is a good thing if your product or service performs as advertised, but what if it didn't? Dissatisfied customers are worse than no customers; negative reviews and word of mouth will affect your credibility and this will drive customers away. It is also important to make the ad clear. Do not use vague language, and include important details like the price.

Plan a budget for your bids and stick to it. Do not overbid, you will only lose your money, but, don't bid so low that your ads won't show up. Check your profits against your spending; if you see no progress, then you will need to try new keywords or drop your ad campaign.

More and more advertisers have been using PPC advertising and it will continue to grow faster than any other online advertising technique. From revenues of $2.6 billion in 2004 to $5.5 billion in 2009, cost per click will dramatically go up as well from $0.29 to $0.36. PPC advertising is new to Internet marketing andwill continue to grow in the years to come. For advertisers, this means increased revenues with fewer advertising expenses, savings, more sales, good return of investment (ROI) and highly effective ad campaigns in the days to come.