Last week I talked about the different ways to market yourself over the web. Aside from social networks, blogging and having a home page; there are several other ways to attract potential clients.

This week we will take a closer look at the Pay Per Click method of advertising.

With Pay Per Click, the advertisement is ‘hosted’ at a website that has something in common with the service you would be advertising.

A great way to get started with your click ads is through Google Adwords or Yahoo. Here is how it works:

• You create your ads

You create ads and choose keywords, which are words or phrases related to your business.

• Your ads appear where they get the best results

When people search on Google or Yahoo using one of your keywords, your ad may appear next to the search results. Now you’re advertising to an audience that’s already interested in you.

• You attract customers

People can simply click your ad to make a purchase or learn more about you.

One of the great things about GoogleAdwords and Yahoo advertising, is it works well for even a limited advertising budget. You pay only if people click on your ads. There’s no minimum spending requirement – the amount you pay is up to you. You can, for instance, set a daily budget of five dollars and a maximum cost of ten cents for each click on your ad.

• Target the right user in the right context

Another great feature is Google’s contextual targeting technology that automatically matches your ads to webpages in the search engine network that are most relevant to your business simply by recognizing your key words in your ad. For example, an ad for a digital camera may show up next to an article reviewing the latest digital cameras.

Another option is BidVertiser. Bidvertiser offers a similar program as GoogleAds and Yahoo except the automatic keyword site matching is not available. After creating your ad, you can select from a list of sites where you would like your advertisement to appear.

When using pay per click advertising, it is very important to keep a close eye on your ‘conversion‘ visitors. These are the folks that have a second action after clicking on your ad.

Some examples of second actions are:

• Visitor registers and leaves contact information
• Visitor makes a purchase
• Visitor completes a sales inquiry form

By keeping your conversion rate high, it offsets the cost you pay for each click as each click is now even closer to being a potential sale.

Google and Yahoo both provide conversion tracking to assist you with managing your pay per click campaign. If you decide to go with a different provider, and you can’t install a program such as Google analytics, it is important to keep a detailed spreadsheet to monitor the results of clicks vs. website activity.

It shouldn’t take you very long to realize whether or not the pay per click advertising model is right for you.

Bottom line:

Pay-per-click is such an important basic Internet marketing tool very few businesses can afford to ignore. If you remember to focus on conversion and return on investment, rather than clicks, you can have a very successful Pay Per Click marketing campaign.

photo credit: cam_rich345