The days of free search engine traffic are over!

(And the reign of cheap search engine traffic has begun!)

Okay, that may not be quite the case *yet*, but you really

do have to work hard (or pay someone to work hard), to even

get close to guaranteeing a top 10 position on search

engines like Google.

Pay-Per-Click search engines, however, offer the promise of

guaranteed visitors, for the keywords of your choice.

Choose to pay per click wisely!

There are literally hundreds of pay-per-click search engines

available for you to spend your money. Only a few can

guarantee targeted visitors to your site, though. I've

listed the best pay-per-click search engines below.

Google operate a highly popular pay-per-click search engine.

Called Google AdWords, results appear on the Google search

engine itself, as part of the search engine listings (right

hand side).

Results also appear as part of AOL and Yahoo!'s searches and

other major content providers. This might change soon,

though. And, with it's recent launch of Google AdSense,

Google AdWords now appear on minor, but still relevant,

content sites.

Unlike other pay-per-click search engines, Google AdWords

doesn't always list the highest bid term first (see THE

BASICS OF BIDDING below for details). In Google's words:

'Getting great results in AdWords doesn't necessarily

mean spending a lot either. The AdWords system rewards

the best-performing ads.'

Verdict: Definitely consider signing-up to Google AdWords,

but learn how to make the most of your AdWords campaign

first via a suitable tutorial or learning resource.

Google AdWords - https://adwords.google.com/

Overture is the original pay-per-click search engine.

However, its popularity as a marketing tool has probably

been surpassed by the superior Google AdWords product.

Overture is also one of the most expensive, and competitive.

A quotation taken from their sign-up page:

'A $50 initial deposit is non-refundable and will be

applied to click-throughs or to the minimum monthly

spend. Each account has a $20 minimum monthly spend.

There is a minimum bid requirement of $0.10 per click-

through.'

Overture do have tough anti-fraud measures in place - always

evolving, obviously - so there is far less chance of

receiving so-called 'bogus clicks' using Overture.

And Overture has an impressive search engine reach, with its

results found in 'Sponsored Listings' in many search

engines.

You can currently choose from Fast Track or Self Serve sign-

up options.

Verdict: If you're serious about generating targeted traffic

to your site, but less bothered about minimum (or maximum!)

bid amounts etc. then you should consider signing-up with

Overture.

Overture - http://www.overture.com

Overture UK - http://www.uk.overture.com

Espotting is the self-proclaimed #1 pay-per-click search

engine in Europe. Its results appear on many major search

engines as well as well as thousands of relevant smaller

sites too

This is what is says at Espotting UK's sign-up page:

'Espotting Media can help you access targeted leads from

72% of the UK's online population... By ensuring that

your listings appear within our top 3-5 search results,

you will benefit from highly targeted leads from Yahoo!

Europe, Lycos, Kelkoo and Netscape and many more. '

It offers a Gold, Silver and Bronze service depending on how

'hands-on' you want to be with your pay-per-click campaign

(and how much money you want to spend!).

Verdict: A serious contender in Europe, worth considering.

Espotting - http://www.espotting.com

There are other pay-per-click search engines worth

considering. All of the pay per click search engines listed

below have considerable reach, and can guarantee visitors to

your site (often at a much cheaper cost than Overture etc.)

o http://www.enhance.com

o http://www.FindWhat.com

o http://www.kanoodle.com

o http://www.xuppa.com/ (formerly Bay9)

o http://www.7search.com

o http://www.epilot.com/

o http://www.goClick.com

o http://www.onesearch.com

o http://www.NetFlip.com

Using Overture as an example here, making a bid is simply a

matter of choosing the following:

* keyword

* title

* description

And as Overture recommends on its site, always repeat the

keyword in both the title and description to improve your

chances of a click. Overture also comes with a keyword

suggestion tool, available to Overture advertisers only.

Choosing your keywords, and the amount you are willing to

bid is also simple, but can take a lot of time.

This is because you need to research suitable in-demand

keywords, that cost little. Solutions to this problem

include using the paid-for version of Wordtracker - the

excellent keyword suggestion tool allows you to brainstorm

good keywords, and determine the current cost of the top 20

bids. You might also want to use bid management software.

Wordtracker

- http://www.wordtracker.com

Example of bid management software for Overture

- http://www.ppcmanagement.com/

Find more pay-per-click search engine tools and resources

(including keyword generation) here

- http://HowIPromoteMyWebsite.com/pay-per-click-tools.html

=> BUT BID CAREFULLY!

Make sure you don't spend too much money.

Clicks can add up quickly. It's probably worth investing in

some kind of bid management software, or at least worth

using the in-built bid management provided by search engines

like Overture.

Remember, you ONLY want your prospective customers to click.

And you must know the value of your visitor! (A rough guide:

Value = average earnings / average unique visitors .)

Try and make sure that the cost of a click never exceeds

this 'value' of a visitor.

One successful strategy is to bid low on many listings.

=> READ MORE...

You can find out a great deal more about pay-per-click

search engines from this excellent resource.

- http://www.PayPerClickSearchEngines.com/

And the online version of this article contains a variety

of sign-up offers for some of the search engines listed, as

well as details of Google AdWords learning resources, and

some useful pay-per-click search engine tools

- http://howipromotemywebsite.com/pay-per-click