Once upon a time in Internet Land, you could submit your web site to the search engines, and customers had no problem finding you.

Things have changed. Today, with billions of pages, and many of the once free search engines going to fee models, your chances of being found in the search engines is pretty slim unless you can devote yourself full-time to search engine submission.

Factor into this the fact that search engines won't accept affiliate pages, and your chances of being found are non-existent.

If being a search engine guru just doesn't appeal to you, then pay-per-click search engines may be just the thing.

To get started with pay-per-click search engines requires some preparation. Once you get everything set up though, this is a very easy promotion method for you to maintain.

You will need to create a text document or spreadsheet of your information so that when you are ready to begin your submissions, you can cut and paste your entries, saving you time.

The first thing that you want to do before you sign up with any of the pay-per-clicks is to create a good description and list of key words you want to purchase.

It is very important that you select the right key words or you are wasting your time.

There are, however, some very good tools that you can use to help you select your key words. Here are an excellent site for helping you select your key words: Overture Search Engine Suggestion Tool - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion

Once you have selected your key words, write your description of your product or service. I would recommend that you go to one of the pay-per-clicks, or several, and use some of the key words you have selected to help you find sites you will be competing against.

Read some of their descriptions. Which ones make you want to buy their products? Don't plagiarize, but incorporate the elements of these descriptions in your own.

Also, by searching through a pay-per-click, you'll be able to see bid amounts (to help you decide how much to bid), you'll also find out if your key words are as targeted as they should be.

Don't rush this process. By taking the time to select the right key words and write a good description, you increase your chances of getting more targeted traffic.

Now, once you have a good description and key words, it's time for you to begin to submit your site to the pay-per-clicks.

Just as each site is different, so are the pay-per-clicks different. You will need to select the ones that you think will work best for you based on your site.

Here are a couple of good places you can find pay-per-click search engines:

http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com http://www.payperclickguide.com

This next site offers 100s of pay-per-clicks, but they also offer some pretty neat tools to help you track your campaign as well as bid management: http://www.searchenginespayperclick.com

Once you've selected the search engines that you want to submit to, make sure that you track your campaigns and manage your bids.

Here are a couple of free tools you can use:

http://www.positionguardian.com/ http://www.ppcsaver.com/

I recommend you track your progress for at least a few days before making any changes. When you do make changes, change only one thing at a time. That way you can find which element of your campaign is not working.

Once you're getting sufficient click-thrus and sales, you'll have a easy to use promotion system that takes only a few minutes a day to maintain.

About the author: Jinger Jarrett is the author of "10 Ways to Promote Your Business for Free", and the free ecourse, "How to Really Start Your Business in 30 Days." Get your free copy of her ebook by subscribing to her newsletter. Send a blank email to [email protected] or [email protected] to get the ecourse.