Pay per click advertising has significant benefits for SMEs. That's the message from marketing professionals such as Lucy Whittington, director at Inspired Business Marketing and expert contributor to Marketing Donut, the new marketing advice website aimed at small firms.

?There are very few ways to advertise that you can control as tightly as pay per click (PPC) advertising,? says Whittington. ?With pay per click, such as GoogleAds, you can specifically pinpoint the audience and you can be in complete control of your budget. You are only paying for clicks to your website from your ads.?

That's in sharp contrast to other forms of advertising where businesses have to pay regardless of response levels. Pay per click also offers accurate targeting which helps to maximise results.

?You can choose how much you want to pay, where in the world you want to advertise and where on the web you want to advertise,? explains Whittington. ?You can choose the times of day you want your ads to be seen and what keywords and phrases you want your ads to be shown against. For a small business that has a tight advertising budget it's ideal as you can be very niche with your targeting.?

Other key benefits of pay per click include its immediacy and its flexibility. Ads can be switched on and off at any time. ?You can get started in minutes,? says Whittington. ?So when you launch a new product, service or special offer, you can have ads running for it almost straight away.?

What's more, she says, pay per click advertising helps to level the playing field for SMEs. ?For a small business, you can compete on exactly the same page as your competition, regardless of their size or marketing budget.?

Whittington does have some words of caution for the uninitiated, however. ?You'll probably have to test out different ads and key phrases before you hit on the best ones for your business. To hit the ground running, you might want to pay an expert to set up your campaigns for you to make sure you don't miss any tricks.? It's also vital that SMEs make sure their website has relevant content and landing pages for their ads before they start advertising.

In addition, small firms should keep a regular eye on the performance of their PPC campaigns and make adjustments accordingly. The good news is that pay per click ads are totally transparent in terms of measuring the results. ?It's clear to see which ads are working, and which aren't. You can set up 'goals' on your website for sales or enquiries and quickly see where to spend your PPC budget,? says Whittington. ?I can't think of another advertising medium where you can see results and make adjustments so easily and quickly.?