PPC Search Engine Programs

Although some PPC campaigns require editorial review before they go live, others will review ads only when an issue is brought to their attention. Even with editorial review, a pay per click marketing campaign can be active within 3-5 business days or even sooner.
Google AdWords offers some automated bid structuring which helps initially, but soon you will want to manually manage your bids. Learning how to do this will take time --looking through the forums and asking the right questions of the right people will help. Conferences like Search Engine Strategies, AdTech, Webmaster World's PubCon and eComExpo offer sessions and seminars on best practices and how to manage search engine marketing campaigns.
PPC bid management can be "tricky" in programs such as Google AdWords. Although, setting up a campaign is fairly easy managing it can be frustrating if you don't know what you are doing. Figuring out where the "sweet spot" position is for your industry and what keywords to target can be difficult. In some engines, knowing what dollar amount to set as the maximum or minimum and how it will affect your position is not always straight forward. Some things are learned by trial and error and only over time will you become a pay per click expert.
Google AdWords is considered by many to be The King of all PPC search engines. It provides sponsored listings on the Web's top portals and search engines, including AOL, Netscape Netcenter, Earthlink, CompuServe, Shopping.com, AT&T, Ask.com and others. Perhaps its best feature is the Keyword Tool which allows subscribers to see exactly how often people search for a particular word or phrase and an estimated cost per click. There is also a tool called Content Match that allows subscribers to broaden their consumer reach within G-Mail and sites that signed with Google to share PPC advertising space on their sites. Geotargeting allows you to target customers searching for local services, which is especially beneficial for small businesses that lack a large web presence but want to establish branding. Google AdWords is best suited for those willing to pay top dollar for quick results.
Yahoo! Search Marketing still maintains a large portion of the search community and should not be ignored. Yahoo offers many tools to help you manage your site including a forecast tool that will estimate the number of clicks you receive based on your maximum cost per click.
Rounding out the big three is MSN adCenter. Where adCenter differs from the competition is they encourage users to select target audience demographics that they want to particularly seek out.