PPC, paid online advertising, has been enjoying a steady increase in popularity over the past few years. Whilst it has always been reasonably prevalent, particularly as a subsidiary marketing platform, more traditional outlets have usually been favoured by the major brands. But whilst the global economic slowdown may have impacted some advertisers' budgets, it hasn't dented the benefits of online advertising, far from it in fact.

In the UK Internet advertising now accounts for 23.5% of the entire market. According to the latest official statistics, collated by the cumulative acronyms of IAB, PWC and WARC, television now languishes in second place with a mere 21.9%. So what can we attribute this reversal of fortunes to? The proliferation of digital television and the diluting of major channels? Possibly. The inherent costs of creating and then distributing a television advertising campaign? Very likely. The ease and immediacy of creating, maintaining and developing an Pay Per Click ad? Almost certainly.

On the Internet, advertisers are customarily charged for each click their ad receives. This in turn provides greater control, allowing you to set budgets and ensure that each campaign is targeting the right people. With television, newspapers and even, to a certain extent at least, magazines, it is hard to know exactly who will get your message. Whilst the audience may be vast, their receptiveness to whatever you're promoting may be significantly inhibited. Online there are no such problems.

Major advertisers may well buy space on major websites, just as you would in a newspaper or magazine, but even these often work out cheaper than their offline counterparts. The real beauty though of online PPC advertising is that it is a free market. No matter how niche your company, no matter how small your budget you have the opportunity to promote your website and boost traffic.

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft each offer their own Internet advertising platforms. With their domination of the search market, understandably Google's AdWords (and AdSense - used on websites) dominates the market. Microsoft currently power Facebook's paid ads as well as those on their Bing search engine, whilst Yahoo also have all angles covered and will, if the competition commission allows it, soon be taking charge of Microsoft's advertising.

Setting up an account is easy enough to do too. There are no long-term tie-ins to sign or hefty upfront fees, all you need is a basic understanding. To get the very best out of your foray into online advertising you may well want to employ a professional PPC management company. This way you can benefit from the very best exposure online, without having to invest the substantial time and effort (or risk) needed to perfect your own advertising skills.

Whilst the setting up of an account may be straightforward, the maintenance and optimisation takes some effort. There have been numerous horror stories of people with limited understanding wasting thousands of pounds on their PPC campaigns. To really succeed you need to understand keywords, negative keywords, landing pages, ad text content and broad match. It might sound like a lot of jargon, but it could help you get noticed online without wasting thousands on erroneous clicks.

With more people now using the Internet than ever before, the growth of Pay Per Click as an advertising platform looks likely to continue. If you have an online presence and are looking to get in more traffic, then it seems like the most logical step. It's targeted to the searches you want, meaning that only people looking for your services will find it, not any old Joe Bloggs (John Doe for our American friends); therefore it is the most focused and adaptable advertising medium currently available, bar none.

So if you want to reach a potential audience of millions, with a budget that only stretches into the hundreds, the Internet provides a fantastic opportunity. Whilst big businesses have been quick to pounce on this emerging format, small start-ups still have the same chance to utilise it. Don't go in expecting instant success, it takes time to develop a fully optimised campaign and a little understanding too. But there's no reason you shouldn't be competing with the big boys in no time at all.