Pay Per Click Advertising, Is this really the best way to market?

So my question is… Is pay per click advertising the best way to market. I have come to find out that pay per click advertising, has gotten extremely expensive for me; because of the fact, that the keywords I use have been raised up to $5.00/per word. It gets so expensive. So what are my other options, to get my website noticed, almost instantly… without spending buckoo bucks? I know that I could always use a traffic exchange, but I have found those to be less than satisfactory traffic. Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Original post by toonie25