Pay-per-click search engines allow you to bid for keyword placement within the search engines. For example, if one of your pages focuses on the topic of "Digital Cameras," you can bid for the #1 (or any other #) placement on the first page of search results.

What a nice time saver! But there's a catch, of course. The most popular keywords are very expensive.

So your best strategy is to work the niches. Bid on hundreds of less popular keywords related to your content. And keep in mind: You do not always have to bid for the #1 placement. Slightly lower placement is usually much more cost effective.

Submitting to PPC engines (pay per click search engines) is a quick way to get visitors to your site. However, make sure you know how much each visitor is worth to you before you submit. If you are using any of the PPC search engines like Overture (GoTo.Com), FindWhat , Ah-ha.com or Kanoodle you can save a considerable amount of money by monitoring your bids.

Example: Your bid for "your keyword" is $0.65 and you hold position 3 with that amount. Your next competitor bids $0.33 for position 4. That means that you still would be listed under position 3 if your bid were $0.34 (i.e. you are paying $0.31 too much for your listing).

You can save a lot of money by finding pricing gaps and lower your bids while still maintaining the same position. A very useful tool for monitoring your bids and making sure you do not pay too much for PPC visitors is available through Calgary, Alberta based www.msseo.com.

In addition to monitoring your placement and bids you should be aware that there is a significant amount of fraud going on in the PPC business. Many PPC search engines have affiliate programs and partnership programs. These search partners often generate bogus clicks to inflate their commission. Popular keywords with high bids are the most popular targets for this, but anyone can be a victim of fraud.

This is mainly a problem with the smaller pay per click search engines. The leading PPC search engines mentioned previously on this page has safeguards in place to protect you from dishonest affiliates but it never hurts to track and verify all clicks on your own so you can spot fraudulent activity.

Carmen is the VP Client Relations of Ms. SEO Inc., a Calgary based Search Engine Optimization & Internet Marketing Company. Ms. Seo Inc. works with their sister company Ms. Hype Inc., a Calgary Web Design Company, and their parent company Cre8 Hype Solutions Inc., a Calgary based Internet Marketing Company, to offer their clients a powerful online presence.

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