When promoting a competitive product, pay per click (PPC) advertising has become almost essential. Most affiliates stand to profit using the right keywords during their PPC campaign. Although PPC traffic is not cost-effective for any an all niches or businesses, it is surely worth giving it a try.

To be successful with PPC is definitely more than just putting up an ad and getting high volumes of traffic to your site. Very important factors are the words of your ad, your landing page and the amount you end up paying.

This article will focus on how to pay less than your competition and how to outrank them at the same time.

Google has a unique system of ranking their ads. Now its possible to be on the top even if you're paying the least per click.

If you dont know yet, let me tell you how: You have to make sure that your ad has the highest click-through rate. Yes, its as simple as that.

Now to increase your ad rankings and decrease your "per-click" costs, you have to do two things.

A. Start with a big bang At the launch of your campaign you should spend more than your competition.

B. Regularly evaluate your ads to increase your click-through rate.

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(A) Start with a big bang!
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One of the worst mistakes you can make at the onset of a PPC campaign is to start cheap. The reverse is actually true. You should be committed to spend more than your competition in the beginning.

Thats right, start with a big bang. It is of the essence to spend the most on PER CLICK in the beginning. Let me tell you why:

When you do this, Google is forced to put you on top. This gives you the best exposure on Googles front page. Your click through rate should be very good in no time.

Once your click-through record looks good you can start decreasing your "cost per click" without losing your rank.

In case you had started with a low cost per click, your ad will show far down on the page. This hinders much exposure and it could take months to build up a significant click-trough rate.

Your time is valuable and you should not waste it unnecessary. It is critical to forecast whether your campaign will be successful. Now you can quickly assess if you need to put the brakes on and get back to the drawing board.

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(B) Keep on testing!
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The next method to get to the top and pay the least is to always test your new ads.

Google allows you to run two ads at the same time for the same keywords. They will automatically rotate your ads, one after the other. You need to frequently tweak the ad with the lower click-through rate.

Change the headlines, body or domain name area until you have an optimal response. You can get a lot of ideas from you competition, but dont copy their phrases.

You will notice that once more your click-through rates will increase. Now you can decrease your "cost per click" and still have that top position.

To sum it up:
Doing these two things you will become the king of Adwords, even if you're in a niche with enormous competition.

A last word of advice:
Keep monitoring your Adwords spending, your daily limit should be limited to an amount you can afford losing. With Google in a short period you can gain a lot or lose a lot.

Stay focused and be rewarded!