Google boasts a democratic system for search engine marketing where any user, large or small, is given an equal chance to set their budget, begin bidding on keywords and win the targeted traffic they desire. But is it really that simple?

No, it’s not. While anyone can do it and everyone wants to do it, competition in pay per click advertising can be fierce. In some markets, the big boys have limitless budgets versus the smaller guys who have to be smart and economical to get traffic and conversions from their campaigns. But don’t quit yet. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) not only can send you good targeted and relatively inexpensive traffic, but there is also an opinion that for Google ranking it does matter if the site is also advertised through their programs. Maybe a little bit, but still does.

In many ways, paid search is like the Gold Rush. It attracts a lot of businesses and service providers who are encouraged by results and eager for profits. Many search programs are launched quickly with the abundance of tools offered by search engines like Google and Yahoo!, but are soon after forgotten. Leaving your program untended is often the precursor to failure for many smaller players in the paid search market, and because of this many campaigns prematurely fall off. Keep in mind what seems like failure often means learning in SEM, so get used to it.

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