Have you heard about "Pay Per Click" Search Engines?
Wondering what they are?

Pay Per Click, also known as PPC, is fast becoming a popular way to get placed in search engines. Basically you pay an amount that will allow you so many click-throughs from your indexed listing. When the click-throughs are used up, your listing disappears. The most exciting feature of the PPC is that your listing will be seen on high traffic search engines.

The bidding is based on Key Words and the system is setup so that your bid will place your listing in the top 10 and against other bidders. So if you are bidding on the word "dog" because your site sells designer dog collars, some one else can bid slightly more for the same word. This would make their listing appear before yours. Obviously, the search engines make more money if they incite a bidding war between you and your competition.

Here is an example of a PPC bid. Let say the PPC has a minimum of a $10 bid and the click through rate is $.01 per click on the Key Word "dog". That will afford you one thousand click throughs for people searching for something using the key word "dog". That is like buying 1000 unique viewers to your web site. You can bid any amount. The more you buy the more traffic you get. You can also adjust the click through rate in your bid to get an advantage over your competition.

When applying for different search engines with different rates and key words, it can get a little confusing. There are services available on the internet that will help manage multiple listings for a fee. However, unless you are planning at a minimum of $500 per month in listing expenses I would concentrate on one search engine at a time.

What to Look Out For
There are many PPCs available and new ones starting all the time. Due diligence is always a good practice before spending any money. Check and make sure that the Search Engine you are applying for will do good relevant search. If surfers can't find what they are looking for, they probably won't come back. Look for Pay Per Click Search Engine Guides that rate the various search engines. Be aware, some PPC search engines offer clickers money to click through their results. These are not real clicks throughs.

Here is a useful guide to start with PPCA