by : Michael Hopkins

You've probably heard a lot of talk about pay-per-click search engines lately.

The principle is pretty simple. Firstly, you open an account with the search engine. Once you have an account you can bid on relevant keywords to get a high ranking in the results when someone searches for those keywords. You only pay when your listing in the results is clicked.

The advantages of pay-per-click search engines are that you get highly targeted traffic and you get to decide how much you're willing to pay for that traffic.

Now pay-per-click search engines are great when your business is up and running. You know which keywords bring the best prospects. You can predict how many of those prospects are going to buy your e-book.

However if you're just starting out you may not be sure if investing in pay-per-click search engine ranking is worth it and you may not be sure which keywords bring in the most orders.

Well, the good news is that you can find out for free.

There are quite a few pay-per-clicks out there that will let you open an account for free AND they'll give you an opening balance to get started.

That means you've got the opportunity to try out pay-per-clicks and test your keywords without spending a dime.

Here are some of the sites that will give you a free opening balance (the amount on offer is in brackets):

• ($10)

• ($5)

• ($5)

• ($5)

• ($5)

• ($10)

• ($10)

• ($10)

• ($10)

• ($10)

• ($25)

That's over $100 worth of free traffic.

With keyword minimum bid prices starting at $0.01 in many cases, that could result in a lot of highly targeted traffic for free.

Just be sure to choose your keywords carefully. Make sure they're relevant to the e-book you're promoting. There's no point in attracting traffic that will not be interested.

And there you have it. Free targeted traffic with no strings attached!

By the way, it's worth noting that there are many more pay-per-click search engines that will give you a bonus when you open an account and deposit some money for bidding. Some of them offer up to 500% of your deposit amount. So, for example, if you deposit $10, they will add $50 to your account.

Try the free ones first. Then when you see how things pan out, you can start putting some money in.

Finally, always be sure to check what each pay-per-click engine is offering before you sign up. Things change fast on the Internet. A good place to find out everything about pay-per-click search engines is at .

I hope you find this tip useful. Please don't hesitate to contact me with your comments, questions or suggestions.