It took a while before I jumped on the pay per click bandwagon.  I wasn't a fan of paying for advertising, particularly when search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo have been providing plenty of free traffic to my websites for years.

However, once I learned and understood the benefits of Yahoo's pay per click program (formerly Overture) , I figured I'd give it a try.  So far, I have been pleasantly surprised with the traffic I've received and how easy it is to manage my account.

Not to mention, it's getting harder and harder for newer websites to land top search engine rankings in places like Google and MSN, so pay per click is becoming a more attractive option to webmasters who desperately need traffic.

Where Will My Site Show Up?

If you use Yahoo's pay per click program, your site will show up at the top of the search results pages for MSN, Yahoo, AltaVista and many more search sites.  The traffic potential is tremendous....especially if you bid on the top 3 spots.

Try it now.  If you go to www.msn.com and do a search for "home employment", those sites in the box at the top of the results page are people that are paying for their site to be listed there.  These people are participating in the pay per click program.

• You can set your daily budget (never spend more than you want)

• Only pay when your site receives traffic

• Very targeted traffic since you pick the keywords you want your site to show up for

• Extensive reporting tools

• Great research tool that shows what keywords people are searching for

• Free conversion tracker to see how your traffic converts into sales

The Key to Success with Yahoo's Pay Per Click Program

Many people get discouraged over pay per click advertising because they quickly discover that certain keywords they want to bid on will cost them anywhere between $2.00 and $5.00 per click.  The average webmaster can't afford to pay that kind of money.

The trick to finding success with any pay per click program is to bid on keywords that are less popular.  Now of course this means that these terms won't bring you as much traffic as some of the competitive phrases, BUT if you bid on hundreds of "lesser searched" keywords then the traffic begins to add up.

For instance...even though one keyword may only bring you 3 hits per day, if you bid on 90 different keywords that bring 3 hits per day, that's a total of 270 visitors per day.

Here's an Example...

Let's say you have a site about home employment.  Well, the last time I checked, a #1 ranking for the keyword "home employment" would cost you $1.50 per click for the #1 spot. That's a lot of money for each visitor if you're just starting out.

Well, if you use Yahoo's research tool (this will be provided when you sign up), you'll find that the keyword "jobs from home" will only cost you .33 cents for a number one spot.  That's a big difference if you look in terms of total cost.

So the point is, don't go after those competitive terms, use Yahoo's research tool to find those "gems" that aren't searched for as much and will cost you much less.  I don't pay more than .10 cents for most terms because I only bid on less competitive terms.

So not only am I getting relatively cheap traffic, but I can also be confident that these people actually want what I have to offer since I only bid on terms that are relevant to my site.

Just Try It!

If you're a little leery of paying for traffic, just test it out. Take advantage of Yahoo's daily budget feature and set a daily spending limit to an amount that's comfortable for you.