Pay-per-click campaigns can be incredibly effective traffic generators. Although achieving PPC search engine rankings is more difficult and competitive than when it began, the number of online users that employ search engines has grown substantially, so there is a significantly larger audience to be reached.

Many ecommerce entrepreneurs have employed pay-per-click ads and lost serious money simply because they didn't understand what they were doing. You can avoid blowing your budget by following some general guidelines in your PPC campaign:

• Chase the Tail
  Stay away from broad keyword phrases, and even single keywords. They're too wide-ranging to hit a targeted audience, and you're going to have significantly more competition bidding. For example, if you sell car insurance, bidding on the search term "insurance" will pit you against other car insurance agencies, as well as health insurance, life insurance, home owner's insurance, and the list goes on. 

• Read the Fine Print
  When you set up your PPC campaign, you're going choose not only your keywords, but also your estimated budget. Once your bill hits the specified amount, your ads stop appearing in the search results for the remainder of that budget period. This allows you to know exactly what your maximum bill will be. 
  
  It's very important to be aware that this is normally an estimated daily budget, not an estimated monthly budget.
  
  Don't just race through the set-up, plugging in numbers without paying attention to what they mean. If $1,000 is your maximum monthly budget, you want to make sure that you aren't topping out at $1,000 in clicks each day. Not paying attention is an excellent way to rack up serious charges that can sink your business in a matter of days or weeks.

• Make It Easy
  Don't just dump your visitors on your web site's homepage and expect them to do all the work. If they have to search around your site, you'll likely lose them. If they found your ad by searching for a particular product, take them directly to the page that sells that product. If they clicked on your ad promoting one dollar shipping, make sure the page on which they land highlights the fact that you provide shipping for one dollar. 
  
  It's also important to ensure that the information that caused the user to click on your ad is above the fold. (In other words, make sure it's immediately visible within the constraints of the monitor). Don't make users scroll down to the bottom of the page to find it, because they might not. You want to instantly reiterate the message that your ad promotes, and reinforce to visitors that they're in the right place.

By implementing good PPC practices, you can help ensure the traffic that you drive converts well, and that your campaign is profitable. Any E-Biz owner can benefit from a smart, well-run pay-per-click campaign. Just be careful to keep your ads and your marketing message focused, and you'll see a big difference in your bottom line.