Search engine marketing is now a normal component of most marketing plans. If it's not a part of yours, you should consider it. Paid search has the benefit of being quick to setup, provides immediate exposure for your brand and when done right, can be very cost effective. Search volume as a whole is on the rise following a downturn at the start of the financial crisis. Yahoo and Bing are gaining market share against Google. It seems there has never been a better time to go ahead and run a test campaign.

First, a little background. Paid search marketing is the process of buying keywords that are relevant to the product of service you are offering. You bid on each keyword based on how much you're willing to pay for someone to click on your ads. Ads are created to show whenever someone searches for your keywords and these ads offer the information necessary to prompt a user to click and visit your site/landing page. The engines use an auction-based model to determine how ads will rank against one another (and show in the results page) based on factors such as maximum bid, relevancy, quality score and other proprietary criteria.

One of the benefits of paid search is that your ads can be in front of users at the exact moment they are doing research or looking to make a purchase. Well crafted ads will stand out from the competition and help you make more sales, acquire more leads, get more downloads or whatever your goal may be.

Your campaigns can be targeted to reach local customers, a national or even international audience. You have complete control over where your ads are seen, what language they are in, what time of day they are shown, how much you spend etc. This level of control allows you to create highly targeted campaigns that reach your intended audience.

A paid search campaign also gives you the choice of running ads in the content networks. Next time you check your email or read an online newspaper, notice the image and text ads that say sponsored by Google somewhere on the page. In content, ads can be text, static images, flash and video giving you numerous ways to engage your customers. The search engines have partner sites from many different verticals. Normally, you don't get to choose the individual sites and in other cases you can do just that - picking the sites that are most appropriate for your business.

The most appealing aspect of paid search is the ability to track and measure results. Using web analytics or another conversion tracking method, you can see exactly how your dollars are being spent. Quick access to reports lets you see how each campaign, ad or keyword are performing. Use this information to change bids on keywords, test new ads, test different landing pages - the possibilities are endless! You can always find a way to make small, incremental improvements, which over time, add up to increased ROI.

A note of caution: This may sound easy on the surface, but using the help of a professional Internet marketer can go a long way to reducing the learning curve. There are many best practices to conducting keyword research, competitive analysis, ad copy-writing, organized testing, campaign architecture and of course, optimization of results. It is true that anyone can setup a campaign in about 15 minutes, but not anyone can make it work. It's always best to consider the services on an Internet marketing expert when entering unfamiliar territory.