Is Pay Per Click (PPC) a forgotten model to earn revenues out of web traffic? I believe that if an idea can create value, it shall be available forever. Let me try to know how effective PPC may be for a website by describing what it really is, in my point of view.

I think of PPC as a concept, wherin a merchant advertises on a website, and the website owner gets paid for every click that is directed to a possible commecial value. The volume of traffic that is redirected to the merchant translates to a possible sale. The concept is like advertising in a billboard, the more people sees the merchant's site or offerings, the higher is the possibility it may get an inquiry or an interest on the products and services being offered.

However, PPC is now more of an ecompassing program. PPC revenue is derived by the number of clicks or redirection to the mechant, plus the possible purchase opportunities that it can generate. In this case, the website owner gets paid for the performance it provides the merchant. If a netizen clicks through the ad banner on the website, and didn't materialize into a sale - then the merchant has no cost to pay in terms of a commission on the sale. But on the other hand, the merchant as an advertiser in the website - taking advantage of the website's traffic - pays a price per click, providing a small revenue to cover cost of the website owner. We call this fixed-rate PPC.

There are arrangements wherein the website owner is afforded an over-riding commission on the increase in sales of the merchant. It somehow acts like an advertising agency, developing an ad campaign across search engines and social sites in which the website owner shares on the advertising budget of the merchant, and a contract price is established based on revenue results. PPC plays an important role in as far as feedback and market information gathering is concern. These information is very valuable, and may have to be paid for by the merchant; hence, the over-ride commission it entails. This is an example, of bid-rate PPC.

But do you really mind if its fixed-rate PPC or bid-rate PPC you are availing of? I find it to be just a function of cost-efficiencies for the merchant. For the website owner, on the other hand, the quickest accounting is best.