Typically, it takes 3-6 weeks for a new website to be indexed by the major search engines and even after it is indexed it may take some time to reach a high position on the results for the keywords you are targeting.

Until your site starts getting free traffic from natural search engine listings one of your tools could be paid inclusion. If you need to boost traffic to your site, you can use "paid inclusion" to advertise specific offers or your website in general.

What Is Paid Inclusion?

When you do a search on Google, MSN and other search engines you will see ads inserted at the top and on the right hand side of the results. Every time a visitor clicks an ad, the search engine charges the advertiser a fee. The profit from paid inclusion is how search engines generate revenue.

Many of these paid inclusion programs also allow regular websites to display ads. A webmaster places code supplied by the paid inclusion program on their website where they want the ads to appear. The paid inclusion program matches the ads that would be most appropriate based on that websites content and the keywords that advertiser is targeting.

In exchange for sharing space on their webpage, the search engine pays the website a portion of the revenue generated from those advertisements. If you are interested in generating revenue for your website by placing ads on your own website, check out CPC campaigns in the "Best Picks" section of this ebook.

Most paid inclusion programs are based on a bidding system. You specify how much you are willing to pay per click for each visitor you receive from a specific search term.

Naturally, ads with bids higher than yours will appear first. You will want to bid a fair price to get listed high enough get clicks but you want to also want to bid low enough to be able to make a profit. This is when the stats on your reports with your affiliate program play a big role.

For example, lets say you are using paid inclusion to promote a specific offer. You are paying an average of 21 cents per click on the search engine. According to your revenue reports with your affiliate company, you are averaging 34 cents in revenue per click. Therefore, you are making a profit of 13 cents per click. Sometimes offers do great with search marketing. Sometimes they just don't. Usually it takes a little trial and error to see if this type of marketing will work well for a specific offer.

Many people mistakenly think that they need to bid high enough to be listed in the number one position on the search results. That is simply not the case. In fact, a few studies have suggested that the #3 position actually receives the most clicks. Either way, if you want to appear in the #1 position be prepared to pay a premium price. As an affiliate it is very difficult to make profit if you bid that high.