Pay per click represents a new age of targeted advertising. Instead of broadcasting a message or promotion to an enormous mass of consumers, users are pre-selected to receive ads by the keywords they enter into a search engine.

Google and Yahoo offer 2 types of advertising programs across their networks. You're surely familiar with the first option which simply lists sponsored links to the right of the search engine results (commonly known as the Search Engine Results Page, or SERP). Advertisers pay for this exposure on a per click basis, only paying for users who click on their link. Since this model is easy to track and is entirely results based, it represents a huge improvement over other Internet advertising offerings such as banner ads and directory listings.

There’s also a second vehicle for paid advertising that isn’t as well known: advertisers can show pay per click ads on Google and Yahoo’s content networks. Content, or contextual advertising places ads on space that companies essentially lease across the Internet. It works like this: Google and Yahoo pay a fee to site owners for each click generated; in turn they charge advertisers based on the same bidding system used on the search engine page. Ads are served to relevant sites that match up with the advertiser’s keyword list. Since the site owners have little to lose (they take in money with no risk, the only drawback being that they have a minor commercial presence on their pages) the program has a wide reach. Google estimates that their search engine and content network combined reaches 80% of the Internet. You’re probably used to seeing these ads displayed on the margins of your favorite news, entertainment, and sports websites.

So what’s the benefit of the content network for advertisers? Well, until recently, savvy advertisers were somewhat wary of the program’s payoff. While the network had an exceptionally broad reach, advertisers had little choice about where the ads appeared. This was especially problematic for large, recognizable companies that were image conscious about brand and also obviously did not want ads displayed on competitor’s sites. Additionally, advertisers were forced to submit the same keyword bid they maintained for placement on the search engine page. This lead to high cost per click (CPC) rates while the wide scope of the program tended to diminish conversion rates. Together, those two factors obviously brought about cost per conversion rates that were a little high for most people’s tastes.

But Google has made significant changes in the content advertising program that make it much more attractive. First, they’ve allowed advertisers to submit a list of “do not display” websites to prevent ads from appearing in undesirable places. Second, they established a separate bidding systems that allows advertisers to set different bids for content ads. These two changes have given advertisers more control over placement and cost, and many who were hesitant to advertise on the content network are now getting their feet wet.

Check it out for yourself, Google has reams of information on implementing a content advertising campaign.

In depth analysis. It’s something we all need from time to time.

No, I’m not suggesting you head in for a serious bout of psychoanalysis (although if the thermometer can’t jumpstart itself in the next few days, you might want to keep your options open) or asking you to brush up on Freudian theory. I’m talking about any and all advertising you do. It needs analysis.

One of the great benefits of search engine pay per click (PPC) advertising is that it provides layers and layers of data related to your campaign. Advertisers can access and quantify their results in real time, making additions and alterations on the fly. Google and Yahoo provide an ever-increasing arsenal of tools that help advertisers determine just what the heck is going on with the money they’re spending. You know, analysis.

Here’s the deal with advertising on the Web these days: it’s not about page views or total traffic. It’s not about volume and it’s not about branding. It’s about results. In fact, that pithy little phrase happens to be Google’s official motto for their pay per click AdWords program. Conventional wisdom, with a huge assist from the media-at-large, constantly refers to bulk traffic as the primary indicator of Website success. While traffic is certainly needed for any successful site, what really matters is what that traffic does after arriving. How long do they stay? What key pages do they view? Do they buy anything? What actions do they take? Do they leave follow up contact information? No matter the nature of your business, you want to drive your audience towards a successful outcome on your site. This is known in the PPC industry as a conversion. If you sell Beanie Babies, you want to sell as many units as possible. If you’re a software firm, your product probably isn’t for sale directly off the Web – so you’ll want to turn your prospect into a lead by enticing them to leave their contact information. And since you can measure the exact number of successful outcomes generated by your campaign, you can judge your exact return on investment (commonly known on ROI).

In the past few years, web analytics programs like Click Tracks, Webtrends, and Urchin have allowed PPC advertisers to peer under the hood of their campaigns. Advertisers are able to work with hard numbers to determine if their advertising dollars are paying off. Needless to say, the true performance of traditional advertising mediums such as television, newspaper, and radio is much more difficult to measure.

The phrase “Web traffic” is synonymous with “captive audience.” What do you do with your captive audience once they arrive to your site from a PPC ad? After all, you’ve paid your tithe to Google or Yahoo to get them there, so you’d better take advantage of the situation.

The early years of the Internet were about siphoning and cajoling as much traffic as possible, getting your number of “hits” as high as possible. But from here on out even if the “hits” keep on coming, Website owners need to take their battle plan a step further to capitalize on all the virtual folks strolling around their virtual storefronts.

The week before Thanksgiving, when the turkey is defrosting in your refrigerator and you’re trying to figure out how to squeeze Auntie Lorraine in at the end of the dining table, the nation’s retailers begin to bombard us. On radio, television, and in newspapers across the country, it’s impossible to avoid the chatter about post-Thanksgiving sales.

Traditionally, there has been only one way to join in on these “Black Friday” festivities. You must awaken at 4:00 AM after eating the biggest meal of your life. You must slug 5 cups of coffee and drive erratically to the nearest big box store. Then, shivering all the while, stand in line with complete strangers in the pre-dawn darkness. As the clock strikes 5:00 AM, prepare to claw your way into the entrance and down the aisles to seize the digital camera or IPod you’ve been dreaming of. Enjoy!

Luckily, back in the early 1990s Al Gore invented the Internet, and the average consumer no longer has to put up with the overblown theatrics of Thanksgiving weekend sales. While some discounts are limited to in-store purchase, most retailers have realized the true value of leveraging their Website to drive holiday sales.

So how can you take advantage of your Website to get in on the action?

In the last month, we’ve written a lot about Website optimization, often referred to as search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a truly effective way to rank higher in the search engines, and reach users who are interested in your products and services. However, there are no shortcuts to excellent SEO. To rank high, you need many pages of quality content, a sufficient number of inbound links, and a logical internal navigation structure. In essence, you need to be one of the best sites on the Internet for your particular mix of keywords. That doesn’t happen overnight.

So while you’re working on improving the optimization of your site, consider starting a pay per click (PPC) advertising campaign. PPC ads appear on the right hand side of major search engines like Google and Yahoo, and are a great way to drive traffic for keywords that are relevant to your business. To start, you select a list of keywords that represent the key components of your business. Then, write specialized ad copy that matches up with them, and select the amount you’re willing to pay for a user to click on your ad. It’s a “pay to play” system where you only pay if a prospect actually clicks. In this way, it’s a much more efficient and targeted advertising program than many forms of traditional media. You’re only showing ads to consumers who have a demonstrated interest in your product and you’re only paying when the user chooses to click over.

The best part about PPC advertising? You can set up a campaign and start running ads instantly. So if you’re sorely in need of holiday traffic, you can have a campaign up and running pronto. Major PPC advertisers like Google and Yahoo offer an array of tools to monitor and measure the results of your PPC campaign. This is important, because you want to keep the campaign on budget while making sure your click charges are justified by back end sales from the PPC effort.

PPC advertising can be a boon for consumers and retailers during the holidays. It’s an effective and efficient way to get your message out. And who knows, in the course of sifting through the wide world of Internet retail, maybe you’ll find a nice Christmas or Hanukkah gift for Auntie Lorraine. Word has it she has her eye on an IPod Nano.