A Pay-Per-Click search engine
(also called Pay-Per-Ranking engine) allows you to place your site at the
top of their results almost immediately. This comes at a price, though.
The idea is pretty simple. You put in a "bid" for how
much you're willing to pay per click-through on certain keywords - the
higher your bid, the higher you appear in the results for that keyword. A
click-through is when a searcher clicks on your link in the engine and comes
to your site. Regardless of whether this searcher purchases anything or not,
you pay for them to come to your site.
The advantages of this type of system are obvious:
they drive users to your site starting almost immediately and the amount of
traffic can be fairly high with those visiting being likely to be looking
for what you offer (these are targeted users). Some PPCs even send results
to Yahoo! and other big directories (GoTo/Overture is an example of this).
In the short run this is a good marketing tool and
useful to those impatient to get their site noticed quickly. Usually, you
log into a PPC engine, open an account and deposit money into it. Then you
put in your site information along with your bid for certain keywords, which
will drive people to your site. This bid is what you are willing to pay for
EVERY click-through you receive; so even $100 can go fairly quickly if
you're in a high-traffic area of the 'Net.
Try to stick with the better-known names in PPCs and
be wary of those that offer their surfers incentives to click on links -
this is not conducive to "targeted" traffic. Also watch the engine's use-
ability and function. If it isn't easy to use, nobody is using it and you're
wasting your time signing up there. You can rarely get your deposit back
from the search engine once it's been made.
Below is a list of popular pay-per-click search
engines in alphabetical order. Many are not listed here, obviously, but I
thought I would list a few and touch on some of their finer points to show
you how a PPC can be used effectively.
Brainfox (
):
This is a great search engine with lots of neat bonuses for the users.
Searching for exactly what you want is easy and you can jump around the
search results as you wish- giving the user total power. I suspect that this
will get more and more popular as time goes on and this use-ability will
only enhance your listing here.
Overall, especially in the short run, Pay-Per-Click
engines are a useful tool for marketing online. They require a little money
to be used effectively and many require daily or weekly policing to ensure
that you are not outbid and therefore ranked too low. The trouble can be
worth it, though, as you drive more and more visitors (usually targeted!) to
your site. As an alternative to getting listed in regular engines and
directories, PPCs are very viable.
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Aaron Turpen is the proprietor of Aaronz WebWorkz, a
full service web company for small business. Aaronz WebWorkz provides a
weekly, ad-free newsletter full of small business tips and online tricks!
