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Overture, now part of the Yahoo Search Network, was the originator of the use of PPC, or Pay-Per-Click advertising. Overture forcasted that the web was quickly becoming the easiest and most convenient way for shopping and that very quickly Internet advertising was going to hit an all time high.

For an online consumer to visit one web site rather than another, that web site has to be extremely prominent. Yahoo created a service that takes targeted consumers to any advertisers website,causing higher traffic and an increase in sales. Yahoo's Pay-Per-Click program puts your company's advertisement directly in front of qualified buyers as they search the Internet. Using keywords that describe the product or services they are shopping for, Internet users have highly relevant ads on the same page as their search results. Internet advertisers incur no costs for displaying their ad until a shopper actually clicks on it, hence the term "Pay-Per-Click". That click, by the way, can cost as little as a few cents, or $10, $20 or even $50 dollars. But it delivers buyers right to an advertisers "front door".

Any company or Internet business owner can increase their websites targeted visitors using Yahoo's Search programs. That means that whether you are in charge of 1 web site or 50 or just recently bought a 5 page affiliate site, you can start using Yahoo's PPC services today. The rise in traffic and visitors that you will get simply equates to more buyers seeing your pages and your service. Even a small percentage of conversions, combined with a high traffic volume can equal a substantial sum of money for your business.

Achieving a constant and, substantial flow of visitors should be the goal of every company-big or small. Both new and return visitors are the life blood of any business that wants a share of the billions being spent online.

Although Pay-Per-Click may have begun with Overture, today Yahoo features many of the same principles as Google's Pay-Per-Click service, Google Adwords. They are alike in their use of keyword and keyphrase searching to determine which ads will show in the results. When a potential buyer types in a keyword or keyword phrase to search for a product, the search engine puts out the results over several pages. On the right side of the results pages, and sometimes near the top, you will notice the small "box-ads" of advertisers that have placed "bids" on specific keywords and keyword phrases.

As an example, lets say you have a wholesale car parts website. You would choose keywords that trigger your advertisement show when targeted consumers type words such as Buick wheel covers. Don't forget that any individual word or phrase can cause your ad to be shown. You'll probably want to stay away from blanket search terms such as foreign automobiles unless you're Costco and have a Geico sized advertising budget.

To have your ads display higher on the results page you only need to bid a penny or two more than the advertiser above you.

Generally, ads that are seen first are clicked in greater numbers, but sometimes "more" isn't always a success. If an advertiser isn't converting a decent percentage of clicks into sales, a few popular search terms can be the cause of a very high-cost campaign-very very fast.

To come as close as possible to guaranteeing a successful PPC campaign requires work. But Pay-Per-Click has taken the pressure off of needing a first or second page "natural" search result, at least short-term. Some of the time you would have spent with optimizing should now be used for testing, testing, testing.

Using a wholesale automobile parts website as an example again, we can learn that the general search term tires and wheels brings back 51,200,000 results. It's far too general of a term. But by optimizing the term using just basic research, for example Lexus tires and wheels Austin Texas, not only are the results cut down by over 90%, but the number of advertisers shrinks as well-lowering the cost per click dramatically.

Practicing even the most rudimentary keyword homework can decrease the number of yourcompetitors, step-up your exposure, dilute the potential for false or blind clicks, and save your company loads of money. The outcomes you can accomplish by doing real examination and investigation will be even more sizeable.

Real analysis, actual scrutiny of your ads and their click-thru rates and the discovering of hidden "gems"- niche keywords with little competition, may sound difficult and time consuming, but the tools available today make it easy. Here is one resource for free keyword tools, no-cost software and links to dozens of additional sites with ongoing give-aways and free utilities. And finally, with all the press and buzz surrounding Google these days, why the furtherance of Yahoo's Search Solutions? I've never suggested not using Googles services; still, it's easy to do what everyone else is doing. But with so much competition for online spending, it is now a requirement to try and seperate your company from your competition. Yahoo/Overture is a good place to begin. Companies big and small have used Yahoo! Search since the late 90's and have prospered.

While Yahoo cannot match the sheer volume of Google searches, that also means a few less competitors and a few cents less per keyword. And it does seem true that when you're Number Two, you try harder, as Yahoo's account team is bending over backwards for your business.

When you add those up, it equals more than just good sense. It equals dollars and good sense.

Jon Heller is the President and CEO of HellerNetWorks, a Small Business Internet Marketing firm based in Palm Springs, Ca. The creator of numerous respected and high traffic Alcoholism, Addictions and Mental Health Support portals, Jon founded and developed SoberRecovery.com and the Treatment-Directory.com, managing them until their sale in early 2006. An award-winning Journalist, Jon has recently returned to writing, while maintaining a small, exclusive client base that he consults on Internet Content, Traffic and Marketing.