Some things are free

Some aren’t.

Pay-per-click, if you’re willing to pay, is a very effective way to ensure performance. There are places out there that will list you if you're willing to pay. Not only that, some traffic agencies are using third-party pay-per-click traffic to fulfill their traffic delivery commitments. So pay-for-position search engines are getting a lot of attention these days.

What’s effective about pay-per-click engines is the predictability factor. With adjustments of keywords, appropriate bidding, and a calculator, you can set goals to buy the best keywords at the least cost. Then you can apply this knowledge base to the big seven engines (AltaVista, FAST, Northern Light, Google, Excite, Inktomi, Go-Infoseek) and the big five directories (Yahoo!, LookSmart, Lycos, Open Directory Project - DMOZ, and Snap) for generating more of the same quality traffic.

These programs are frequently described as pay-for-performance, pay-per-click, pay-for-position, or pay-for-placement. Basically, they let advertisers choose their own positioning in the search results by paying for placement. The highest paying advertiser's web site appears first in the results. Lower bidders follow. Then these advertisers each pay the performance engine the amount of its bid whenever a customer clicks on the advertiser's listing in the search results.

Below are the benefits:

Benefits

• Your web site is instantly ranked number one (or two or three, depending on your bid) in the engine database.
• You only pay your bid amount when a user visits your web site.
• You can add or remove keywords at anytime.
• You're ranked high in an engine where users are searching for your specific product, service or information, therefore get highly qualified traffic.
• You can start, stop, or re-start whenever you like.
• The cost of entry is low.
• You get your web site title and description display text exactly as you want it.
• You can test various titles, descriptions, and positions.
• Changes are usually instantaneous.