Pay per click (PPC) management, like so many other forms of Internet marketing, is a very simple concept that can become quite complex.

When you sign up for PPC marketing, also known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), the search engines will place your business’ ad on their website and you’ll only be charged for the space when someone clicks on your ad.

When you first sign up with a PPC program such as Google AdWords, you’ll place a certain amount of money (called a ‘bid’) on particular keywords. These keywords are words or phrases that are pertinent to your business or industry. They could be the name of your company, a name of a product, or the name of the industry you’re in.

Thousands, and perhaps even millions of people are bidding on these keywords depending on the keyword; and the highest bid wins.

So if you place a bid for $0.15 on the keyword “Michigan florist” you might win the bid and your ad will show up first in the search engines listings and pages of ads.

This increases the likelihood that someone will click on your ad, go to your website, and buy your product or service.

Every time someone clicks on that ad, you would owe the search engines $0.15.

Simple concept, complicated execution; that’s what pay-per-click marketing is.

It’s an ad that usually consists of no more than two lines that you will fight incredibly hard for, and spend a bit of money on.

In order for PPC marketing to be effective, it takes extensive keyword research, creating and recreating the perfect ad, and constantly changing and changing again different ad strategies, different PPC networks, and continuously tracking those results.

It can be exhausting, not to mention the amount of time it takes.

First, become an expert so that you understand how PPC works and what might be the best strategies for you. Then, hire another expert that works in the field to actually carry out the work for you.