Paid placement or pay-per-click is a type of ad campaign in which a cost per click is attached to relevant key words or phrases which are typed in by the searcher on a web search engine site. A pay per click campaign is easy to implement, by the use of Google, MSN, Yahoo and other search engines. The purchaser simply identifies keywords which apply to and are listed on his or her web page and contracts with the search engine site for traffic to be directed to the web page. This is done by the use of small ads prepared by the merchant. When the searcher types in the relevant key word, a standardized ad form is returned on the search results page.



The higher the agreed upon pay per click price, the nearer the top of the list of like ads it appears. The merchant pays according to the per click price negotiated when the searcher or potential customer clicks on the ad link that will take them to the landing site page belonging to the merchant.

It is easy to see that pay per click advertising is a way of increasing the volume of web traffic to your site, while some aspects at least, of search optimization apply in order to keep and convert the prospective customer.

Elaborate and sometimes profitable methods have been proposed and used to take advantage of the paid placement feature on the internet. Conversely, a few perhaps unethical merchants have used the tactic of clicking on a competitor's ad repeatedly in hopes of depleting the advertising budget for the period.

However, the advantage of the pay-per click is also apparent. It's fairly inexpensive and is easily controlled as to the frequency of ad insertion and the amount of dollars which are to be attributed to a particular ad campaign. So, with a relatively small outlay of cash, the merchant can launch an ad campaign that will reach thousands if not millions of users.

When determining the potential for an effective pay per click campaign, the merchant must choose keywords and phrases carefully, using only those that have a demonstrated relationship with the web page. It is definitely not necessary to pay the higher pay per click prices which would be required of the most popular search key words. It is far better to pay 5 cents per click for the second ranked ad than 50 cents per click on the first placed ad. Either way, the visibility is going to be about the same.

While the keywords are extremely important, it is also wise to remember that the customer needs to find the response which he's looking for in the web page to which he is directed.

A pay per click campaign is an effective way of building a successful web site for your product. When combined with good search engine optimization techniques, the merchant's business can gain increased revenue, a higher conversion rate and a loyal and steady customer as well.