Google AdWords

Brand name - one of the top destination sites on the web
Strong and growing distribution network not only from their own Google sites but also through affiliates like America Online, Ask Jeeves, Earthlink, Lycos Canada, Netscape, Compuserve, AT&T Worldnet and NYTimes.com.
Targeted Sponsored Links to Walt Disney Internet Group Web Properties - Disney.com, FamilyFun.com, Go.com and Movies.com.
Ads on AdWords Select are ranked on the page based on a formula of cost-per-click multiplied by the click-through rate which enables an ads rank to improve without costing more.
Automatically reduces costs to the lowest price needed to maintain position.
Signup process takes less than 15 minutes and ads go live instantly.
No minimum monthly spend and no monthly fees.
Advertisers have the ability to target advertisements to over 225 countries and 6 languages with support for 6 international currencies.
AdWords Select enables advertisers to specify daily budgets for their campaigns.
Only bills advertiser after a user clicks on their ad.
Can activate multiple ads per ad group to test the effectiveness of different creatives.
Advertisers can choose broad, phrase, exact or negative matching for keywords to trigger the appearance of their ad.
Offers advertisers a keyword suggestion tool
Publicly traded on NASDAQ: GOOG
Minimum bid .05
$5 setup fee


Recommendation

"Highly Recommended!!!" - One of the "Top" pay per click solutions based on a strong brand and one of the top destination sites that people know and trust. Plus a substantial amount of traffic not only from their own sites but also through affiliates like America Online, Ask Jeeves, Earthlink, Lycos Canada, Netscape, Compuserve, AT&T Worldnet and NYTimes.com. Most recently added distribution through the Walt Disney Internet Group Web Properties - Disney.com, FamilyFun.com, Go.com and Movies.com.

Google's new project - "Content-Targeted Ads." Google identifies the meaning of the web page being viewed and then automatically serves relevant ads to content pages. Some of the original partners include: HowStuffWorks, groups.google.com and Blogger (recently purchased by Google) sites. The jury is still out on whether or not this avenue works, but in the meantime you can opt in or out of this type of advertising in your Google Account Manager.

Google Adword's system works a bit different than your traditional PPC service. Ads are ranked based on a formula of cost-per-click times the click-through rate which enables an ads rank to improve without costing more (initially this system may be a bit difficult to grasp, but once you have it down it is pretty effective).

Their system has been known to be rather costly (especially if you are still learning it) so make sure you utilize and put into effect their daily budget management tools.