Yahoo! Sponsored Search (formerly Overture)  is a form of search engine marketing that lets you create ads that appear in search results on Yahoo, the most visited site, and other sites in the Yahoo! distribution network. 

Yahoo! Search marketing operates in the same way as most Pay per click advertising model.  To better understand PPCs, click here.

There are three steps to your Yahoo! PPC campaign.

1.  Choose your keywords.  

     For help in choosing your keywords, download Wordtracker free.

2.  Create your ad. Your ad consists of a title, the text copy and the URL you

     are promoting. Titles may be up to 40 characters long and descriptions

     up to 70 characters.

3.  Set the price you are willing to pay for the ad

Sponsored Search is based on a pay-per-click pricing model. You set your bid-or the maximum amount you're willing to pay each time your ad is clicked. Bids start at $0.10.

The amount you spend on Sponsored Search is based on two things that you control:

Your daily budget

Your maximum bid (the amount you're willing to pay for a click on your ad.

     Note that you pay only when your ad is clicked, not when your ad is simply shown.

Your bid and ad quality affects your ad rank in search results.

Yahoo! has a new ranking model, unveiled last February 5, 2007 where your ad's rank is determined by a combination of your bid and ad quality.

Your bid is the maximum amount you're willing to pay when your ad is clicked. You will never be charged more than this amount. Ad quality is determined by an ad's expected performance (based on various relevance factors considered by Yahoo!'s ranking algorithms) and historical performance (click-through rate relative to the ad's position on the page).

Specify a budget that fits with your business goals.

Sponsored Search allows you to control how much you spend. You can specify a daily spending limit for your overall account, as well as for each individual campaign, to help you manage within your budget.

To help you determine how much you want to pay per click and per month, use your account features to get an estimate of the number of impressions and clicks you may receive each month for your selected keywords. By typing in different bids, you can see how increasing or decreasing your spend may affect your estimated average impressions and clicks.

Set a deposit amount that supports your daily budget.

To open a Yahoo! Sponsored Search account, you will need to determine a deposit amount. Although $5 is the minimum deposit required, for maximum convenience and campaign continuity. Yahoo! recommends that you choose a deposit amount that is equal to 30 times your budgeted daily spend. Your credit card will be charged the amount you set as your deposit each time your account balance drops below three times your daily budget.

Yahoo! Search has geo-targeting feature that allows you to choose whether you would like your campaign to be shown gloablly or just in specific areas.

Local targeting is particularly useful for:

Small businesses that want to target online users looking for local providers of goods and services.

Service-oriented businesses or individuals, such as plumbers or real estate agents

Regional businesses looking to target customers interested in products and services in a specific area

Large businesses that want to use online marketing to drive customers to their web site and/or physical store

     locations, or who want to do regional promotions

Seasoned Internet Marketers swear by the effectiveness of the Yahoo! Sponsored Search. Yahoo! being the most visited site. As of this writing, Yahoo is offering a 50 pound credit upon sign up. Click here to start with £50 credit in your new Yahoo! Search Marketing account.

For more Internet Marketing Techniques, click here.