Pay Per Click Resources
How exactly does Pay Per Click work?
Pay per click advertising (PPC) is one way to advertise on the Internet. In this model, advertisers are charged when their ads are clicked on by users. Pay per click ads that display on search engine sites are triggered by specific keyword phrases that a user enters when performing a search (see Keyword Research). The ads display in the “sponsored ad” area. The three biggest networks are Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter. Pay per click advertising is also available through content websites, blogs and advertising networks.
Associating an ad with a keyword phrase involves bidding on the keyword, known as the cost per click (CPC) model. The bid price, the competitiveness of the keyword and the quality of the ad all affect where the ad will display on the page. Associated with Pay Per Click is Cost Per Impression (CPM), where the advertiser pays for every 1000 times an ad is displayed. See our article CPM For Advertising for more on this topic.
Assuming you are working with a fixed budget, be sure to place a daily limit on the amount you want to spend in your PPC campaign. Of course, ranking high in search engine results is the free way to get more traffic, but involves more effort through Search Engine Optimization.
PAY PER CLICK RESOURCES
Pay Per Click Applications
SpyFu
SpyFu has several software offerings to help you build keyword lists. It allows you to see what similar websites are using for keywords in their organic search and AdWords campaigns. Although this is advertised as a way to spy on your competition, this type of information can help you run a better ad campaign, even if you have no interest in your competition. They have a free as well as a subscription service. Note that data may not be available for all sites.
Learning About Pay Per Click
askHowie.com
On this site, you can search through questions and answers about AdWords from the author of AdWords For Dummies
ClickEquations
This company really understands the ins and outs of paid search campaigns and produces an advanced product for search professionals. For those of us that can’t afford the product, it also offers free webinars on important paid search topics that you may not find elsewhere.
Google AdWords Learning Center
AdWords has a free in-depth Learning Center that provides a wealth of information on how pay per click works in a series of short lessons. Much of what you learn here can be transferred to the other search engine ad networks.
Perry Marshall’s AdWords Course
Perry Marshall is an expert in AdWords and offers coaching, courses and free email newsletters. He is the author of the highly recommended book, The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords, which is sold at his site.
Taming The Beast
This site has free common sense tips for using pay-per-click advertising.
PPC Rockstars Podcast
You’ll find in-depth PPC information in these podcasts from Webmaster Radio. The host interviews PPC experts who discuss strategies, optimization tips, analysis and latest developments in AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN.
Yahoo! Search Marketing Tutorials
Not to be undone, Yahoo! also has lots of free tutorials ranging from audience targeting to analytics.
Pay Per Click Through Search Engines
Google AdWords
Google AdWords is the most well-known PPC service. When you sign up for an AdWords account at Google, you can use their free keyword research tools to determine the best keyword phrases on which to bid. See the resources on Keyword Research for more on this.
Microsoft AdCenter
Microsoft AdCenter comes in third as the most used search engine PPC program, after AdWords and Yahoo!. Some experts say it is a viable place to advertise as a higher percentage of its users are seeking to purchase something when compared with the other two. This may be an unsubstantiated claim, however, but it may be worth trying them out.
Yahoo! Search Marketing
The Yahoo PPC service is similar to Google AdWords. Even though more people use Google to search, the bottom line is which pay per click service provides the best return on investment. It’s possible that Yahoo PPC or even MSN are better for your products and services than AdWords.
Other Pay Per Click Networks
AdBrite
AdBrite is a well-known advertising network that displays ads using a PCP and CPM model. Similar to Google, their ads use an auction for bidding on keywords. As with all of the networks, they provide ways to target your ads to the appropriate audience.
Bidvertiser
Bidvertiser is an advertising service allowing you to place ads in their content network. You can browse their categorized directory of websites and choose where your ads are placed. You pay only when your ad is clicked.
Chitika
This ad network is another alternative to AdSense. It is often used on blogs and should work well on any website.
Pheedo
Pheedo provides advertisers with a network of publishers for displaying their ads. Pheedo charges on a CPM (cost per impression) basis.
Pay Per Click Coupons
Save money by trying out a few Pay Per Click networds for free. This site. CDF Networks, lists the current offers.
