Things to Check Before Joining a Pay Per Click Program

Before spending any money with a pay per click search engine, be sure they can answer the following questions:

• How many searches a month are performed at the search engine?
  
• What major search partners or affiliates does the search engine have?
  
• How many searches are generated each month by the search partners or affiliates?
  
• Is it possible to opt out of having your listing appear in the results of the affiliate sites?
  
• What fraud prevention mechanisms are in place?
  
• What is the procedure for filing a "fraudulent clicks" report?
  
• Will an account be credited for fraudulent clicks discovered?
  
• Is it possible to opt out of having a listing appear for searches originating from specific countries?

Is there a posted terms of service for search partners or affiliates. Look for search engines that have very strict guidelines for dealing with their search affiliates. This is important because you want to be sure the search engine is working hard to prevent fraud among its affiliates.

You should start with the minimum investment and see how the search engine performs in terms of the traffic it delivers and how well that traffic converts into paying customers.