What is PPC?
PPC SEM allows your adverts to appear in the "Sponsored Listings" positions as well as any SEO activity on the Search Engine.  This provides your business more control over where you appear in relation to competitors, how your business presents itself in its ad and which keywords and topics it appears against.

The cost?
Your business will be paying only when clicked on, dependant on your relevance, current Click Through Rate (CTR), and the allotted Cost Per Click (CPC) your business is prepared to pay.

The audience?
With the keywords selected, less competitive terms can be chosen to account for the niche market who already have your business in mind who wish to enquire or convert:

• A generic and more expensive list of keywords, allowing your business to be introduced when the user is in the decision process.
• A keyword list devoted to your products, offline adverts, promotions, activities, and the list goes on.

As well as the control your may have with terms on the search engine, an option of content activity is provided where the ads can appear in sites relevant to the activity's target audience.

Scale of importance?
With the marketing world becoming increasingly digital, Search Engine Marketing is currently its fastest growing area, with predictions of growth carrying through to and beyond 2010. Search is the most specifically targeted advertisement of all off and online marketing. It allows the business' potential and existing customers to find them and use their services, as well as advertising the business to those using search for their soon-to-be-completed decision process. It also proves to end a purchase path when users have observed offline activity of some other type and wish to enquire further.

In conclusion
SEM allows a business a controlled way to advertise in the fastest growing area of digital marketing in one of the most specifically targeted ways, leading to the completion of the purchase path as quickly as possible.