The only way to guarantee top search engine rankings for your keywords is paid advertising. Google and
Yahoo (formerly Overture) both offer pay-per-click (PPC) programs that will certainly draw more attention to your site.
But you must carefully analyze and target your keywords before creating a pay-per-click ad. If not, you'll get clicks from people who are not qualified customers. But you will pay for their clicks.
I have tried both PPC programs, and I'm still working on refining my keywords. At
first, about half the paid clicks to my site
were from people trying to sell me something instead of buying services from me.
So I added "negative keywords" (keywords from visitors I don't
want to click to my site) such as "free web design," "help wanted" and
"cheap web design."
Both Google and Yahoo give you ROI (return on investment) calculators to figure if the "good" clicks bring in enough money to make up for the non-productive clicks.
PPC programs let you bid, according to a budget you set, for top search engine placement on your keywords. Google says it lets you:
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Reach people looking for your product or service. |
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Fully control your ad budget. |
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Easily create and edit your ads. |
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See your ads on Google within minutes of creating them.
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Yahoo says you'll:
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Advertise only to customers who are already interested in your products or services.
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Pay only when users click through to your site.
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Set your own cost-per-click. |
You decide the price you're willing to pay for each person who clicks on your listing. You don't pay for impressions (as with banner ads) where a person sees your ad but doesn't click on it. You pay only for those
interested enough to actually click through to your site.
Google's current cost-per-click (CPC) pricing lets you choose a maximum: from
as low as 5 cents USD per click. In addition, you set a daily budget you don't want to go over. You get a three-line ad, linked to your site, that appears in the right column when someone searches for your keywords.
You can change the ad yourself as often as you wish. That's a good thing because you'll soon see which words get the most effective clicks, and you'll likely want to
experiment with your ad text.
Yahoo requires a $5 deposit in advance, but Google bills your credit card once a month after clicks occur.
In my experience, both companies do a fine job of tracking the clicks and getting your ads to appear.
For my keywords and my type of business, Google turned out to be more cost-effective.
But I recommend you try both for a few months, because what works for
me may not be what works for you. 
Please let me know if you want to try a pay-per-click program for your business.
