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The New York Times provides a good comparison of paid search with other big advertising favorites, such as the Super Bowl.

I've always said that search gets you an audience larger than the Super Bowl, for the cost of a Yellow Pages ad.

Lot's of basic information on how paid search works, the last paragraph has a testimonial the whole search industry can be proud of.

Ask Ray Allen, a former ad agency executive who is now the president of American Meadows, a wildflower seed supplier in Williston, Vt. "I used to spend millions of dollars of other people's money on TV, radio and newspapers," Mr. Allen said.

He now spends about $300 a day to buy search terms like "wildflower seeds" and "hummingbird garden" from Google and Overture to advertise his own company, reaching a national audience of potential customers.

"Never in the history of media," he said, "has a small business been able to have that much reach."

Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant and considered one of the world's most respected and interactive search engine marketing experts. Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian.

You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com.