Article provided by: Halstatt Pires

Search engine optimization can take a long time to show results. The Google sandbox alone can delay optimization results by 6 to 8 months. So , what can you do to get traffic while you wait? Pay-per-click [PPC] campaigns fill the time gap. This article discusses the basics of PPC advertising.

What Is A PPC?

A PPC search engine allows you to bid for placement in search results. Search engines such as Google , Yahoo , MSN , AOL and most others bolster their organic search results with sponsor advertisements. If you search on Google , links in blue across the top and the little ads down the right side of the search results are PPC listings. In one form or another , similar listings appear on every major search engine.

How Does It Work?

When you use a PPC , you will bid for placement in the search results under particular keywords. Instead of optimizing your site to appear high in the listings , you simple pay for the position. While this may sound great , keep in mind you are paying for the listing and have to watch the return on investment closely.

To get started , you must open an account with the PPC in question. The two biggest PPCs are Google Adwords and Overture. You will need to register with the PPC , provide a credit card number and , depending on the PPC , deposit money into the account. Next , create ads with a title , body text and link to the landing page of your site. The title of each ad should correspond to a particular keyword you want to promote. If at all possible , include the keyword in the actual title. Finally , you will be asked to bid on placement in the search results.

Bidding for placement is not as simple as it my sound. Ideally , your ad should be in the top 3 , but never below the 10th position. This has to be balanced , however , by the return on investment of the campaign. If you sell a product that produces a $10 dollar profit per sale , you probably cant afford to pay $.90 per click. If your site converts 1 visitor out of every 100 into a sale , you will spend $90 for every sale. Obviously , that is going to work out very well. The one caveat to this situation is a business with reoccurring revenue.

If you site charges clients a reoccurring monthly fee , you can bid in excess of your immediate profit margin. To do this safely , you must determine how long the average customer will stay on your site. For example , if you make a $10 profit per month and the average customer pays for 5 months , the total profit is $50. In this situation , you can spend $20 or $30 to obtain a customer and still turn a profit. To properly manage a PPC campaign for a reoccurring charge site , you must recalculate the profit per customer ever week to protect yourself.

PPC Cons

Why not just use a PPC campaign instead of pursuing search engine optimization? There are a number of reasons. First , you are paying for each click with a PPC , which requires a budget and may impact your cash flow. Second , PPC bidding is competitive and that translates into higher costs , so much so that a profit may be hard to make. Third , many people simply do not click on PPC ads with the figure being as high as 20 percent. Fourth , you run the risk of having people click on your ads with no intention of buying , whether they are just browsing or are trying to exhaust your advertising budget.

PPCs definitely have a place in the online marketing field. Manage your campaigns with an eye for detail and you should fine.

Halstatt Pires is with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing and advertising company comprised of a search engine optimization specialist providing meta tag optimization services and Internet marketing consultant providing internet marketing solutions through integrated design and programming services.

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