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Pay-Per-Click Advertising (or PPC) is used by internet marketers for a couple of different reasons.

PPC is the quickest way to drive traffic to your web site. When you first create a web site, it can take the search engines a couple of months to find and index it on their own. With Google Adwords, you can have visitors to your web in as little as 15 minutes (assuming your ads are highly targeted and your keywords are not competitive).

PPC virtually eliminates the couple of months waiting period. Getting people to your web site will allow you to test and tweak various elements of your web design and sales copy.

Affiliate marketers often use PPC to drive traffic to a merchant’s site. The affiliate ID is embedded in the ad so they get credit for any sales they’re PPC ad helped generate. In this case, affiliate marketers do not need to have a web page - they can use PPC to advertise and promote products. When somebody clicks on an ad, they are taken directly to a merchant’s web site.

Ranking high in organic search engine listings takes time (and a lot of SEO work). But if you choose less competitive keywords, you can get a first page listing on search engines thanks to your PPC ad. The more people that see your PPC ad, the better chance you have of getting qualified buyers to your site!

As you can see, PPC offers many advantages to the internet and affiliate marketer. It’s necessary skill for serious internet marketers.

Need help learning PPC? Check out these resources …

Google Cash eBook (by Chris Carpenter)

The Definitive Adwords Guide (by Perry Marshall)

Adwords Coaching by Perry Marshall

PPC is short for Pay-Per-Click Advertising. Have you ever noticed the links on the right side of a page when you search for something in Google? Those are PPC ads.

PPC Ads are also called “Sponsored Links”. The links at the very top of the page (in yellow) are also PPC ads - only the difference is that these PPC ads are the best performing ones. While you can buy your way into the listing on the right, you can’t for the listings on top in yellow. Google chooses the best performing PPC ads and highlights them in yellow.

Yahoo and other search engines also display PPC ads on their search pages. And although the terminology is a bit different between the search engines, the process is basically the same.

You can think of PPC ads as billboards on the internet. Somebody has created an ad in hopes that somebody passing through the search pages will see it and choose to act on it (or click on it for more information).

When somebody clicks on a PPC ad, they are taken to a web page that offers more detailed information about a product or service. This page is usually a sales letter intended to convert that visitor into a buyer.

Here’s how PPC works. An internet marketer signs up for an advertising account (which cost a small fee). After the account is created, they create a PPC ad for a certain set of keywords. Every time somebody searches those keywords, your PPC ad is displayed. And when somebody clicks on that ad, the internet marketer pays the search engine a fee - hence the term, Pay-Per-Click.

The internet marketer determines how much they’re willing to pay for each click. The more competitive a keyword is, the more you’ll have to pay. Only 8 PPC ads usually show on a page, and often times there’s more than 8 people with PPC ads competing for a first page showing.

PPC ads are ranked on search pages based on performance and the amount of money you’re willing to pay per click. So competition for some keywords are tough.

Competition and other factors can sometimes result in your PPC ads not being displayed.

But even if you get your PPC ad to show for certain keywords, you will have to make it compelling enough for people to want to click on it. Writing good PPC ads, requires copyrighting skills. You want people to click on your ad so that you can direct them to a web page with good sales copy that will convert them into buyers.

If your PPC ad is not written well, or it’s targeting too broad a market, it may end up costing you a lot of money on wasted clicks.

Writing effective PPC ads doesn’t come naturally for most of us. It’s a skill that can and must be learned. One of the best resources I’ve seen that teach skills is an eBook called, Google Cash (and is one of the best eBooks I own).

Google Cash walks you through setting up PPC campaigns with Yahoo and Google and teaches you step by step how to create great PPC ads. There are over 200 pages and videos in this eBook that show you step by step how to create PPC ads that work.

Most people understand that Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns are a good way to start driving traffic to your web site immediately. But, a lot of people struggle to create PPC campaigns that actually convert visitors into buyers - so they end up spending a lot money.

One of the primary reasons for this is that a lot of people don’t take the time to do keyword research or learn how to write good PPC ads.

Google Adwords makes it so easy to get up and running in as little as 15 minutes that it’s hard to hold off creating ads until the research is done. Let’s face it - we all tend to assume we know what our keywords are.

But jumping in and creating ads before doing keyword research is the first step toward wasting a lot of money with PPC. And failing to learn how to write good ads is the second step.

Effective PPC ads require the same copyrighting elements as any good sales letter. You need to have a catchy headline. You need to highlight benefits (not features). You need to target the people already looking for that solution or information (as opposed to trying to target everybody).

Really good PPC ads also incorporate the primary keyword in the headline and ad itself. Why? Because keywords used in search strings appear in bold in the results. This makes them stand out more. And the more your ad stands out from the competition, the better chance it as of getting noticed.

Another good PPC strategy is to clearly communicate to your potential visitors what they will get if they click on your link. This isn’t the time for cute ads or plays on words that others may not pick up on. Make it clear what’s on the other side of that ad - and you’ll get more targeted visitors (and waste less money on clicks).

The use of negative keywords, substituted keywords, display URL, stated price, and more also affect the success of PPC campaigns.

If you want to get the most for your advertising dollars and covert more visitors into buyers, taking time to learn these strategies and other little secrets are critical.

And one of the best eBooks I know on the subject is called, Google Cash by Chris Carpenter. This eBook is written by a guy who makes his entire living through affiliate marketing using PPC campaigns.

While Perry Marshall is considered the definitive Adwords guru, Google Cash is like the PPC for dummies book. Chris studied under Perry Marshall and mastered the material so well, that he wrote his own eBook based on his knowledge and experience. And best of all, Google Cash also includes tips for Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture).

Without a doubt, the textbooks for teaching you how to create effective PPC ads are Perry Marshall’s Adwords book and Google Cash. If money is tight (or you want an eBook that cuts to the chase, so to speak), I would start with Google Cash.

Trying to run PPC ads without some kind of training will only waste your money. Google Cash has played a huge role teaching me to create better PPC campaigns - and I highly recommend it to everybody else wanting to successful PPC ads.

Perry Marshall also offers Adwords coaching - for those who feel they need more personal help.