Pay per click

Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites, such as blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an advertisement to visit the advertisers' website. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. When a user types a keyword query matching an advertiser's keyword list, or views a webpage with relevant content, the advertisements may be displayed. Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to or above the "natural" or organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a webmaster or blogger chooses on a content page. Content websites commonly charge a fixed price for a click rather than use a bidding mechanism.


PPC advertising is rapidly becoming one of the most popular forms of Internet advertising today. Productive PPC advertising depends mostly on how the ad is structured, but also which services you use. Here are 6 steps to productive PPC advertising.

Step 1: Choose the Right Provider

Make sure you choose the top PPC ad programs available. Google, Yahoo, and MSN are among the top. If they’re too expensive, there are some good secondary advertisers out there, like Kanoodle and FindWhat, but do your research first.

Step 2: Write Your Ad

Target your customer carefully by using keyword phrases. You will have to bid for these phrases, so choose carefully to make sure you don’t get into an extensive bid war over it. Then, write your ad with as few words as possible--boil it down into the most important things that will get people to your site.

Step 3: Keyword Placement

Get your keywords in the title--that’s the most important place--and use words like “instant,” “Free,” and “discount” whenever possible as long as they apply. Make sure it’s not just a collection of keywords, though---productive PPC advertising give the customer good information.

Step 4: Know the Category

PPC ads fall into one or two of three categories--keyword, product, and service. Know which you need to use.

Step 5: Track Responses

Make sure you know how your ad is performing. Productive PPC advertising is going to cost you a few bucks, so make sure it’s working.

Step 6: Keep Ads Fresh

If anything changes about your business and the ad has bad information, you should change it as quickly as possible--it’s just part of good business.