How to Make Pay-Per-Click Pay

SmartMoney magazine's Diana Ransom offers seven fundamental tips for making the most of your pay-per-click marketing dollar - from how to choose keywords, to monitoring results and writing ad copy.

"Among web marketers, it is the big debate: SEM versus SEO. Sound like just a bunch of letters to you?

If you owned a web site, you wouldn't think so. SEO stands for search engine optimization, a process that seeks to boost a site's traffic by helping it rise within a search engine's organic, or un-paid, search results. It is often seen as the Holy Grail for internet marketers, as people tend to click those links over their paid counterparts. However, the conversion rate--that is, the number of shoppers that turn from browsers to buyers--tends to be lower in organic search listings."