Pay-per-click Problems and Alternatives

I'm going to tell you what I think is wrong with Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and what my advice as a professional SEO is for alternatives.

Problems:
COST: With all the advertisers out there bidding up the price of keywords, it could run you as high $4+ for each click. That's pretty pricey for a small business. If you get 100 people to click the link in your ad, that's a cool $400. The thing to look at there is if those clicks bring you enough sales to justify that kind of ad budget.

CLICK FRAUD: Some reports estimate the percentage of fraudulent clicks that advertisers pay for as high as 40%! Don't think it's happening? Remember Enron?

NO-ACCOUNTABILITY: Since the search engines ask you to "trust them" when it comes to invoicing you for the clicks on your ad, it rings true that there is a HUGE margin for fraud. They are not required to provide any backup for their figures. That's right, no backup. If anyone else invoiced you for 100 items, you'd expect to receive the 100 items or ask for proof that they were actually sent to you. Hence, Google has agreed to a $90 million settlement in a class action lawsuit. Surprised?

So what's the alternative? Organic SEO and perhaps paid inclusion in directories.

Take the money you save from dropping that PPC campaign and pay a professional to optimize your site for the search engines, push your content out to your market, and garner those incoming links. While search engines make their money off ads, they cannot ignore a popular web site with good, relevant incoming links.

A couple engines offer a paid inclusion, some are pricey, others are not. They are worth looking into.