All new online entrepreneurs who have started their own business or are planning on doing so have a question of how to bring potential customers to their website fast. Well this is what I have to say--pay per click advertising on search engines will bring you traffic almost instantly once your keywords and descriptions are approved.

Many recommend Google Adwords for pay per click (ppc) advertising, but I personally found Yahoo to be more effective with my budget and conversions. I've used both of them to advertise my site in the past and Google cost way more per click than Yahoo. While my average cost per click for Yahoo was around $0.60 per click, Google cost me over $1.50 per click to be positioned on the first search page. Why am I so eager to come up on the 1st search page? Majority of search engine users don't look past the first page. You will see the difference in number of impressions for being on the 1st page and being on 2nd and 3rd page.

Don't bids, positioning, and conversions all depend on the keywords? Yes, keywords play a major role in positioning and conversion rates, and depending on the keyword competitiveness, you can pay less per click. However, less competitive means that the keywords you are using are not popular--but of course they may be very targeted. With those keywords, don't expect to receive so much traffic. But don't get me wrong...by the time you reach 100 clicks, you may actually 2 or 3 customers. It's so hard to find effective but less used keywords by competitors, if you don't come up with the 'right' ones, Google will limit your campaign, slowing down your advertising process--practically pausing your campaign. You got to be smart with Google Adwords.

Why is Yahoo! Search Marketing my personal favorite for ppc advertising? Lower bids, higher positioning, and higher conversion rate. While I was spending $100 daily on Google advertising, getting zero conversions (keywords selected by Google's Jumpstart program), I was spending $50 daily on Yahoo getting a conversion rate close to 1:25 (keywords selected by Yahoo's Fast Track program).

Many say that if you have a higher advertising budget (around $200 daily), you will see results from Google Adwords. However, not so many merchants on the web can afford to spend that much a day. If you spend that much daily and make enough sales to justify the cost of advertising, and give me a dollar in profit, I would consider doing it. I guess everyone should try it at least once to see how it goes--"You never try, you never know."

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