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Pay per click advertising (PPC) has been around for several years and has evolved into one of the main Internet marketing tools. PPC can generate immediate traffic to your website. If you spend enough, you get top placements from a search on your key words or key phrases. You simply place a bid that relates to your advertising statement. Clicks from users can occur as soon as the ad is activated. You only pay when that click occurs and the user is taken to your website

The bad news is that an estimated 30% of all clicks are fraudulent and there has been serious criticism of the major search engines for not controlling click fraud. After all, search engine companies earn virtually all of their income from this source. It is anticipated that to overcome this problem that "cost per acquisition" (CPA) could eliminate click fraud, because advertisers will pay for actions instead of clicks. This form of advertising may well become the most dominant form of online advertising. However, this does not mean that PPC is dead- far from it. It will be around for a long time yet and a well-managed PPC campaign can still be the most effective online advertising method, achieving an excellent return-on-investment. Some PPC engines provide conversion measurement tools to measure how the click campaign is working.

Naīve marketers can get caught up in bidding wars over particular words and phrases, ending up with high rankings, but no greater result other than high cost. Niche terms will always be more cost effective than generalised keywords unless the latter is very specific and not too commonplace. Another trap is that some search engines offer management features such as `autobid` that will automatically increase your bid amount to maintain a particular rank. This can have very expensive consequences. Conversely, PPC can be a bargain if you can find keyword `niches` for which there are only low competitive bids. In this way, you can often get traffic to your site for a fraction of the cost of any other form of paid advertising. You might consider using one of the more sophisticated PPC tools that have been developed to shortcut the process. An example is Speed PPC that is getting excellent reviews in affiliate blogs and seems relatively simple to use. It also allows you to do a lot of things automatically that otherwise would require time and effort.

There are of course, other factors. PPC guarantees traffic, but not sales. Your website has to provide the information the user needs and stimulate action. If this element fails, PPC can prove expensive. The user must find themselves on a landing page or website which answers their needs and speaks to them in an appropriate tone of voice. You need a well written, well designed website which speaks directly to your target market.

PPC could hugely increase to the traffic you get. No one can become a super affiliate overnight, but If you ensure your PPC campaigns are absolutely focussed, your website has relevant and up-to-date content and is targeted precisely to your potential market, then it has much to offer.