Did you know that Forbes magazine has reported that pay per click ad sales are expected to increase to at least an astounding $8 billion by the year 2008? Pay per click though still unfamiliar to many, will be around for a very long time. One of the search engine giants to capture a lion's share of this market is Google through its Google Adwords service. A few ebooks like Google Cash and The Definitive Guide To Google AdWords provide basic and advance knowledge on releasing the incredible power of pay per click campaigns especially as this applies to businesses and affiliates around the world. Big businesses are still the largest group to benefit from incorporating pay per click in their advertising budgets but, home-based businesses and affiliate program promoters can benefit too if they understand how to use this tool.

Pay per click search engines provide a way for you to basically buy your way to the top of search results for any keyword you wish. Pay per click advertising works thru a bidding process, and your ads appear in the results pages of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves. With Google Adwords you bid on the keywords you want to focus your ad on. For example if someone were searching on "gourmet coffee", if you're the highest bidder for "gourmet coffee" you receive top placement for that phrase and depending on the search engine, the top 3-5 bidders for that phrase also receive placement on the first page of unpaid search results.

With Google Adwords the "ad campaign" is everything. When you sign up with Google Adwords you have unlimited campaigns at your disposal. I enjoy promoting affiliate programs and in the past I spent a lot of time deciding which keywords I would bid on to attract buyers to my affiliate programs. The only tool I use right now is Ad Word Analyzer which saves tremendously on time and gives me an overview of my keyword and/or keyword phrase as it was searched on the top two pay per click search engines Google and Overture ( now called Yahoo Search Marketing ).

Now that you've done your research and you've collected your keywords and/or keyword phrases, you'll need to open an Adwords account.

1. To do this go to https://adwords.google.com/. There is a one time sign up fee of $5 and your username and password are emailed to you.

2. Now you can log into the system and select "create a new campaign". Give your campaign a name that will also allow you to create multiple campaigns.

3. Before creating your first ad, I recommend that you print out Google's set of guidelines, ebooks such as Google Cash cover this area as well. Since most of you are probably promoting affiliate programs, it's important that you notify Google of this by simply adding "aff" at the end of your ad text.

A few tips to keep in mind:

a. To keep your ad targeted, make sure your keyword or keyword phrase is in the headline.

b. Put your keyword or keyword phrase in the text of your ad.

c. In promoting your affiliate program, make sure you're linked directly to the owner's website thru your affiliate link so that you'll get the credit and the cash!

Now you can submit your ad and start tracking your campaign over the next few days. If you're not happy with your ad's performance you can make changes such as targeting other keywords or increasing your bid a little at a time. Adwords is flexible in allowing you to make changes within Google guidelines of course, to make your ad campaigns successful.

Pay per click is here to stay and it offers a high level of assurance that your ad is reaching your targeted audience. With the proper management and a clear vision, pay per click specifically Google Adwords, can provide you with well targeted and economical advertising on the internet.

As mentioned earlier pay per click ad sales are expected to increase to at least $8 billion by 2008, with Google Adwords, the right resources and a little effort on your part, you can also benefit from this increase and find yourself with a significant supplemental income each month or a fulltime "leave my 9-5 job" income. The sky is truly the limit with pay per click.