Beginner's Guide to PPC Search Engines (Part 1)

Pay per click (PPC) advertising via search engines has become extremely popular with businesses of all sizes, due to the booming search market and the massive growth in online sales over the past few years.

According to ComScore Networks online consumer spending for the 2004/5 financial year is expected to top USD 66 billion dollars, up 25% on the previous year. That’s right, 66 BILLION dollars! A large chunk of that expenditure will come from leads generated via pay per click search engines.

If you’ve been thinking about trying out PPC engines but are confused about the different models available and the costs involved, this article will shed some light. I will also explain the newly launched PPC products offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly operating under the Overture brand).

Below is a current list of the most popular pay for performance search engine advertising models:

·         Yahoo! Sponsored Search – Pay Per Click

·         Yahoo! Content Match – Pay Per Click

·         Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search – Pay Per Click

·         Yahoo! Search Submit Express - Paid Inclusion

·         Yahoo! Search Submit Pro - Hybrid Paid Inclusion / Pay Per Click

·         Google AdWords - Pay Per Click

·         Google AdSense – Pay Per Click affiliate program

·         Looksmart LookListings - Pay Per Click

 
You will find that some of these will provide better results than others. I’m not going to recommend one over another here because results vary widely and really depend on your site content, your market and your budget. But below is a brief description of each product offering and the minimum cost involved.