We all like to save money, and even though I’ve mentioned in the past how you can lower CPCs, I thought I will share a couple quick and simple ways you can make the money you’re spending on search work a little harder.

Paying By Credit Card: Most people try to get on an invoicing plan with the search engines whenever they can, but I try to stick to credit cards as often as possible.  Why?  Because the credit cards I use pay me in points, and those points can be used for all sorts of other work expenses.  If you’re budgets are big enough those points could even pay for some or all of your corporate travel!

Bing Cashback: Bing literally pays people to search by using cash back incentives when the people buy from a PPC ad.  This works by the advertiser giving a discount on a product, and Bing using that discount to entice people to save money when they’re looking to purchase items you carry.  The best part for advertisers is a percentage of your PPC spending from Bing gets deposited into a cashback account that you can use for those discounts.  So sign up, and encourage people to save.

Fraud Credits: Click fraud is inevitable, and most engines will give you a monthly credit back for some click fraud.  Most of the time they see it up front and don’t even charge you for it.  However, it does happen, and when it slips through the cracks you can file a claim to get some money back.  This post about click fraud shows you how.

Have your own ideas?  Share them in the comments, and help others put their money to work!