If you've been having trouble with website traffic to your site and raising its search engine rankings, then stuffing your site with keywords may not be much help. Most successful online businesses use pay-per-click advertising to guarantee a spot on the top of the SERPs, but a lot of us don't know how effective pay-per-click can be. "Web Analytics" author Avinash Kaushik says that PPC advertising is still effective in most situations, and he adds that PPC is an essential part of SEM, or search engine marketing. When pay-per-click advertising is combined with ethical but effective SEO methods, it can mean high click-through and a very successful ad campaign.

Pay-per-click can be very effective when you're using keywords that are highly competitive. Some companies are lucky enough to work in smaller niches where there's scant competition, but the majority work in niches where the best keywords are hotly contested. If you own a business online, budget is probably one of your top concerns- and you don't want to spend your marketing dollars to pay for services that won't boost your search engine rankings. If a keyword search produces thousands of results, you will have a much harder time getting your website to the top of the SERPs.

By using pay-per-click advertising lets you bypass this obstacle, and promote your business on the first results page. PPC results are called "sponsored listings" on Google and all the other big search engines. That means when a potential customer is searching on one of your keywords, your ad will show up on top of the "organic" results, or on the right sidebar of the page. PPC ad position is given according to the amount you bid on your keywords. For instance, bidding higher than normal on a particular keyword may earn you the #1 or #2 position in the sponsored results, and paying less earns you a lesser placement.

PPC advertising can be a valuable part of your marketing campaign, but as with any other kind of business strategy, it can take time to sharpen your skill and attract good leads. Before you start, do some research on what keywords people use when they purchase products and services similar to what you offer. Consider using different phrases and keywords that may attract website traffic, and determine the cost per click using any of the various tools obtainable from the advertiser. Whether you go with Google's AdWords or a competitor, there are definite benefits to using PPC advertising.