what are pay per click search engines?
Because it is a relatively recent phenomenon, many online business owners do not understand the meaning of the term “pay-per-click advertising,” nor do they realize its enormous potential for increasing their online presence and bringing more traffic to their websites. Even those who understand basic search engine marketing techniques sometimes fail to make the distinction between pay-per-click (hereafter, PPC) ad campaigns and organic search engine optimization.

Pay-per-click (PPC) search engines are those that offer the marketing option called "pay-per-click" to users. PPC advertising is the placement of a small ad on the search results page for a specific keyword or keywords in return for a specified payment when a visitor actually clicks on the ad. Advertisers pay nothing to appear on the results page per se; they only pay the amount they have agreed to (or bid for) when someone actually clicks on their ad and is taken to the landing page on their website. The term "pay per click" means just what it says: the advertiser pays each time a visitor clicks on the ad.

If you were a New Jersey Solar Installer, how much would you pay to get someone in your state searching for "Home Solar System" to your website? Currently, the cost is between $1.00 and $1.50, charged to you only when the searcher clicks on your ad and arrives at your website. Exciting? It's called "Pay-Per-Click" and it can be a golden opportunity -- or a huge waste of money depending on how much you know.

When you enter terms in a search engine you are presented with two types of results: organic listings and sponsored links. Some of these, the organic listings, appear because Google believes those websites to have the content you are looking for. Other listings, the sponsored links, appear because the advertiser has offered to pay the search engine when their ad is clicked.

Buying Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising is set up through the "Advertise With Us" link on most search engines. The basic concepts you'll need to be prepared for are:
Campaign: Choose a name for your advertising campaign.
Daily Budget: What is the maximum you are willing to spend per day?
Geo-Targeting: Do you want you ads to appear only in certain geographic areas?
Content Match: Do you want your ads to appear on other websites and inside personal emails, or just on search engine results?
Keywords: What keywords and phrases would you like to bid on?
Advanced Keyword Features: Negative keywords refer to words to exclude. For example a PV installer does not want the ad to appear if the search contains the word "Thermal." For the keyword phrase "home solar system", exact match will only display your ad if it has only those three words in that order.
Conversion Tracking: By adding a bit of code to webpages the search engine can report where, on your website, the customer goes.
Your Ad: You will then write your ad. The text and title of your ad is the most important aspect of your advertising campaign

Pay-Per-Click Strategies .
Creating a pay-per-click advertising program is easy. Managing an effective program however, can take years to master. The campaign needs to be set up such that prospective customers and only prospective customers click on your ad. If you're selling home solar PV systems in San Diego then you can't afford to pay for clicks from people looking for commercial systems, solar hot water systems, or PV systems outside your area.

onversion tracking is one of the most important tools, but can be difficult to do well. It requires that you set up "goals' for people who come to your site. Common goals include clicking a "Buy Now" button, entering their email on a "Contact Us," or "Newsletter" page, or downloading a white paper or "site evaluation" worksheet. When a person reaches this goal then the click is deemed to be a conversion.

The Pay-Per-Click Challenge
So what would it mean to your business to suddenly have a flow of targeted, ready-to-buy customers to your website? This is the tantalizing promise of pay-per-click that can be accomplished with careful planning and a serious commitment to follow up. There are some advantages and some disadvantages to being at the top of the list? What you say, and where you say it make a huge difference in terms of click-through and conversions.

The most important aspect of effective pay-per-click advertising, however is the most basic: know how to use the reports and pay close attention to all aspects of your campaign.