Internet Marketing Without a BigPicture Strategy

Internet Marketing Without a BigPicture Strategy Dances in Circles

by: Michael Pedone

Stop Tracking the Illusive กMagic Bulletก

It seems like everyone is beating the drum for one Internet marketing method or another. And in the process they create plenty of hype and conflicting messages.

Website owners are left to wonder whom to believe when it comes to impressing the search engines. Which approach can deliver the กmagic bulletก theyกve been promised? Is it time to jump to the next กsure thing,ก that will entice both search spiders and web surfers?

The primary methods promoted to attract search engines and Web traffic aren’t new:

Links and reciprocal links

Payperclick (PPC)

Search engine optimization (SEO) in all its variations

Blogs and forums

Writing and posting articles or press releases

Paid placement with ads and banners

But each of them shares a common limitation. At its best, each is only part of the answer. An answer that won’t hold still long enough to get nailed down before the next กmust haveก appears.

The Internet is Maturing, and so are Search Engines

In recent years, the capabilities and sophistication of the search engines have exploded. Public use and expectations have grown to match it. The publicกs reliance on the Internet as a reliable source expands ever faster. Recent studies found the Web to be the most trusted source of information for making major purchase decisions, second only to spouses for finding referrals.

A Harris Interactive consumer survey (2004) reports that 73% of adults are now online 156 million users. Thatกs up from 69% eight months before. Most Internet users (80%) expect that theyกll find reliable, detailed facts online (Pew Internet and American Life Project). So they go online first when they need information. And they have confidence in what they’re able to find.

Now more than ever, access to that gigantic pool of informationhungry Internet users depends on a websiteกs relationship to the search engines. Is it possible for people to find it? The stakes are high.

Integration of Methods is the กNext Big Thingก

Refined keyword and page optimization are the standard anymore. SEO has morphed into Search Engine Marketing (SEM). The key difference is integration. SEO method aren’t seen as separate solutions, but as parts of a multipronged endeavor. Success now depends on how well they all dovetail.

Thatกs a fundamental shift from the lurching กdo this…, now that…, now that… approaches, which have characterized the online norm. And anyone whoกs still playing by that game plan will be left behind.

Be suspicious of any SEO strategy thatกs wedded to a single method no matter what impressive statistics they cite. And when the search engines กburp,ก (as they surely will now and then) a siteกs visibility can be lost. A diversified approach to links and search engines reduces vulnerability. Achieving that requires shifting focus to a bigger, more inclusive picture.

My Experience with Reciprocal Linking

As a person who has been in SEM for years (and finetuned hundreds of websites) Iกve gotten good at spotting trends as they develop. And Iกve seen too many กcan’t loseก methods fade.

No question that linking is important for search engine placement. There are effective and targeted ways to acquire incoming links that don’t require a link exchange. However, I saw some problems with the way many reciprocal links are pursued. My concerns led me to write an article, Reciprocal Linking is Dead, http://www.etafficjams.com/reciprocallinkingisdead.htm back when most insiders were proclaiming it to be the way to go. (Fresh articles about why you should develop reciprocal links appear daily.)

An integrated search engine marketing strategy is vital for your websiteกs visibility and survival. Resist the shortsightedness of putting too much reliance on what everyone is recommending.

Beat the Pack by a Country Mile

If you’re ready for the กNext Big Thing,ก stop chasing the flavor of the month. The trend is toward building an integrated strategy where all the options mesh. Achieve all the added benefits that come with integrating every method your website employs. Now thatกs a next thing with staying power.

© 2005, Michael Pedone

About The Author

Michael Pedone http://www.eTrafficJams.com a professional search engine optimization company specializing in getting targeted, eagertobuy traffic to your site! Want to improve your siteกs optimization? Call 8777859977 for a free SEO analysis

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 26

by Michael Pedone

SEO: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

SEO: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

by: Dean Phillips

I seem to have created quite a stir, on a particular SEO forum recently. In fact, rumor has it, at one point, my article, กGoogleกs Trap, DMOZกs Nap, And Yahoo!กs Crapก was the hottest topic discussed on this particular forum.

The aforementioned article was also bestowed the title of, กWorst SEO Article Everก by someone on the forum.

Why all the animus? I have no idea. Perhaps they view me as a threat to their livelihood. Whatever the reason, certain SEOกs seem to be taking my articles personally. Thatกs their problem!

My articles are not aimed directly at SEOกs or search engines per se. My articles are aimed at the people who utilize their services.

Iกm trying to get these people to realize, they can’t depend solely on search engines and search engine optimization. You have to have a multipronged attack.

I don’t depend on the search engines! I never have. I refuse to play that game. My traffic comes from the dozens of articles Iกve written that have been picked up and published on popular web sites all over the Internet. I also get traffic via word of mouth, newsletters and ezines that my articles are published in, and a few other secret methods that I use.

And you can do the same thing. You just have to get out of that search engine mindset.

There are many other proven and effective ways to market your web site. Here are just a few: ezines, newsletters, forums, online magazines, sponsor listings on other web sites, exchanging links.

Here are a few offline options: magazines, direct mail, shopper newspapers, cable television, radio, flyers, hospital newsletters, card decks, trade journals and directories, bulletin boards, tabloid newspapers.

Yes, I know Google and Yahoo! are the biggest, most powerful search engine and directory on the planet! Forget about them! Why? Because despite what certain corrupt SEOกs may claim, they CANNOT guarantee you a top ten listing in either Google or Yahoo!

No legitimate SEO would ever make that kind of guarantee in the first place. They couldn’t, because they know they wouldn’t be able to deliver on that promise. Now they may be able to get you to the top of the search engines with certain less popular keywords. However, what good does it do you to rank number one for keywords that nobody searches for?

I want to make one thing perfectly clear, right now. I am not suggesting that all SEOกs are corrupt. I don’t believe that for a second. There are many fine, honest and hardworking SEOกs out there, who are doing a wonderful job for their clients.

I have the utmost respect for people like Jill Whalen, Bruce Clay, Robert Woodhead and many, many other fine and reputable SEO experts. These individuals don’t overhype their services or your expectations.

They also have excellent rankings on the search engines. So, they definitely know what they’re doing.

Then, thereกs the other end of the spectrumthe companies that give good SEOกs like the aforementioned a bad name. Iกm sure youกve all seen some of these headlines:

‘top 10 and Top 20 Rankings Guaranteed!ก

กGuaranteed Number 1 Ranking!ก

กGuaranteed Top Ranking!ก

‘top 10 Placement Guaranteed!ก

Well, the next time you see this kind of advertisement, make a mental note to check out that companyกs ranking. Youกll be shocked at what you find out. Some of these companies making these outrageous claims are ranked at number 3 million. Thatกs not an exaggeration!

Now let me point out something very important to you. A companyกs search engine ranking doesn’t always tell the whole story. I know of many companies making a nice living on the Internet that aren’t ranked that highly in the search engines. You probably know a few yourself. You may even be one of those companies.

However, if you’re considering hiring an SEO, I think where they rank is very important. Why? Because if they aren’t capable of getting their own web site a high ranking, how can they possibly achieve a high ranking for someone else? They can’t!

You should bear that in mind, when checking out SEOกs.

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: [email protected].

Visit his website at: http://www.letsmakemoney.net

This article was posted on October 26, 2004

by Dean Phillips

The Ugly Truth about Search Engines

The Ugly Truth about Search Engines

by: John Calder

Do you want more search engine traffic? Are you having trouble getting it? You’re not alone. You could have the most highly optimized web site possible and still fail to achieve a top ten, or for that matter, even a top 20 ranking in an engine like Google.

Why?

It’s quite simple: content rules over keywords. Think for a minute about the sheer number of web pages out there today.

Here is the number of pages Google claims to index currently: 4,285,199,774. For the math challenged, that’s Four billiontwohundredeightyfivemilliononehundredninetyninethousandsevenhundredandseventyfour!

Now, while it’s still generally a good idea to at least optimize your keywords to stand out from that crowd, it’s not sufficient. Let’s say that 52% of all those pages were designed by a professional search engine consultant. Each one is set up perfectly to feed the engine what it wants. Who gets to the top then? Newsflash: It WILL NOT be the site that only has a couple of pages of information.

The top ranking sites in that scenario are the ones with hundreds of pages of content. In other words, if this was your site, you would have a theme and build on that theme with articles and other tidbits. I know of one marketer who doesn’t optimize his pages at all, but he has vast amounts of information on his website and the search engines LOVE it. He gets all the traffic he needs. It seems counterintuitive at first until you remember that search engines care much more about quality and content than they do about keywords and meta tags. The plain fact of the matter is: the more pages you have on your site, the more important your site ขlooksข to the search engine.

This may at first sound disheartening to some of you. What happens to the person with a one page sales site? How much work do you have to do to build a site that gets free traffic? Fear not! There’s actually some very good news in all of this.

Working from our premise that search engine traffic often comes down to dumb luck, we can clear away every conflicting piece of advice about traffic generation and boil the process down to 2 steps:

1. Small website: Invest your time in building relationships with your target market. This means finding ezine and web site owners to promote, review and otherwise link to your product. Send out press releases. Advertise in your local newspaper. It also means saving that $30 you might have spent on another hyped up ebook and investing it instead on some payperclick traffic and advertising.

2. Large website: If you want free traffic, then you’ll need: a topic you love, a large amount of content (in the form of articles you write or articles you reprint from other sources), and a daily action plan. You can still use all of the methods outlined for small websites, but the key will be adding content each and every day. Even one article a day will make a difference.

Conclusion: Don’t waste any more energy looking for that magic bullet. Invest your time and your money wisely. Those two currencies are your key to success.

Copyright 2004 John Calder

http://www.TheEzine.net

About The Author

John Calder is the owner/editor of The Ezine Dot Net. Subscribe Today and get real information YOU can use to help build your online business today! http://www.TheEzine.Net.

This article was posted on August 29, 2004

by John Calder

Search Engine Optimization: Site Structure and Pop

Search Engine Optimization: Site Structure and Popularity

by: Milena Sotirova

In the Global Internet era the industry presence is undoubtedly related to the company online presence. Where is the scope of the online presence limitations and does it refer only to the search engine optimization aspect or it broadens into many related components.

Following the user experience line, it is easy to describe what the most important levels of access Internet popularity are and how it can be achieved.

Site organization

Well, the site organization is always the first after choosing a domain name that comes up as a decision in the design process. Organizing of the structure is a basic of the level of importance web promotion means. It requires following of simple and comprehensive rules that have proven results.

Home page is communication center of your site and it presumes availability of the basic structure and content implications. Good example of site navigation is PromotionWorld.com http://www.promotionworld.com/ site with well defined link structure and intersection navigation accessibility. List properly your basic content units, keeping the topic and title structure clear. Golden rule:ก Simple is bestก is totally applicable here and as you will see in the design. To keep simple means not to overload the home page with unuseful information and links. Structure inner index pages, where you can develop the structure and content and which will allow better search engine optimization and indexing.

The navigation should be clear and to be applied to all the pages. Generally users before going to your site have Internet experience and their expectations will follow the impression from their previous visits to other web sites. A good example of site structure is the Microsoftกs http://www.microsoft.com/ design decision with areas clearly defined and structured by families and content destinations. To find out what your industry competitors do, you can perform a research by your main keywords in the search engines. The site organization for a specific industry is generally kept in well defined frames.

Design

Following the best examples will allow your site to perform better. If you are trying to change the design, you can set a survey question about the user experience within your site. Use the feedback to learn how your users feel the change and ask specific questions to reach to weak points of the new implementation. The design should keep the industry line and to be a step ahead with following the best examples. Do your search here again to find out how the best industry sites are designed. Developing of your own design concept is very important for your site success. Concept elements are: the small design elements in the headers, table formatting, and link and title styles.

The images can be kept simple and used only where appropriate. The buttons can be replaced with table structure and links where over effect can be presented through style. This will allow you to achieve a double effect: site better indexing and positioning in the search engines and fast loading of the site pages.

Keep the colors easy to perceive without teasing the eyes. The colors should follow one line and to be corresponding in saturation and color schemes. One of the best examples is the Sunกs site design http://sun.com/ where the colors are used only to frame the content areas. The color choice should correspond to your industry sphere and keep the general site concept clear. Using too many effects can cause your users to abandon the site. The styling is also applicable to links and titles. The link font colors should be readable and corresponding to the basic methods of the successful internet marketing.

Generally the best design structure is a step ahead to improving your web presence. Using this powerful means you can achieve better web visibility and user retention.

About The Author

Milena Sotirova is Editor of DevStart, Inc. She has publications on web promotion, search engine optimization and web hosting industry news coverage and analyses. PromotionWorld.com is one of the most popular sites for web promotion and contains tutorials, tools, articles and search engine news. Subscribe for DevStart Channel http://www.promotionworld.com/informer/

Send your feedback to [email protected]

You can reproduce this article on your website, or in your Newsletter provided that you include the resource box.

This article was posted on November 26, 2004

by Milena Sotirova

Monitoring Website Availability

Monitoring Website Availability

by: Pete Prestipino

Monitoring Server Uptime to Avoid Revenue Reduction

Monitoring your websiteกs uptime is imperative to the success of your online endeavors. Why? While itกs important to know if your website is running and your host is providing a good service (so you can receive money back or a credit if there is a guarantee), it’s even better to be proactive about getting it back online faster so you don’t lose search engine positions, miss out on possible revenue or blow your advertising budget. There is no other way to ensure a high percentage of server uptime than to monitor website availability.

Monitor Up to Three Websites Free at InternetSupervision.com

http://www.InternetSupervision.com

Most web based businesses do not operate their own servers, they outsource that function to professional web hosts, and for good reason – if your website (or your web server) goes down, i.e. becomes inactive, your business and your revenue can suffer greatly. Whether it’s the inability to gather information from surfers through forms or the ability to generate revenue through clicks on affiliate banners or contextual advertising, it is essential that your website be available for surfers to visit.

Monitoring Website Uptime for Search Engines

The main reason to monitor your website is that when search engine spiders visit your web pages, if those pages are down, you may lose the search engine positions that you have worked so hard to develop. If your website stays down for too long, you may be dropped from the search engine databases altogether. Whether your website receives ten or ten thousand visitors a day, you will not last long on the Internet if surfers and prospects can not access your web pages through search engines.

Monitoring Downtime for Advertising Budgets

Another important reason to monitor the uptime of your web pages is to make sure that your advertising is doing what it should – bring visitors to your website. While most pay per click search engines do not charge you if your site is down, many still do. If your site is down for any length of time, you run the risk of draining your account very quickly. In addition, if you purchase any sort of cost per lead or cost per impression advertising (i.e. banners) you again run the risk of losing valuable visits from surfers.

About The Author

As an advocate for webmasters, Pete Prestipino suggests one way to avoid server downtime is to be proactive about monitoring website availability. Monitor Up to Three Websites Free at InternetSupervision.com http://www.InternetSupervision.com

This article was posted on February 22

by Pete Prestipino

How To Stay One Step Ahead of the Google Dance

How To Stay One Step Ahead of the Google Dance

by: Jeff Smith

Itกs taken you 6months of hard work, constant changes, reading every shred of information on search engine optimization strategy not to mention thousands of dollars trying out web optimization tools and services.
Finally, you have a page rank of 5, you are listed in the top 10 on your major keywords, and you are seeing the benefit some decent traffic from Google and other search engines.
Then, as quickly as your search engine optimization strategy begines working, it suddenly, and without notice, disappears!
You frantically look for evidence of dropped links, pages not working, it HAS to be something youกve done!
Well, the truth is, it may not have been anything you did turns out Google updates their algorithms every few months in an attempt to improve itกs search engine optimization strategy.
In fact, Google has shown that they are not afraid to make major changes impacting tens of thousands of sites, businesses and corresponding sales and profits.
Even more concerning, everything points to the fact they will continue to make changes.
So what can you do to protect your search engine optimization strategy and the resulting traffic critical to the success of your online marketing?
There are some things you can do.
1. BUILD CONTENT WITH REAL, RELEVANT VALUE
Do you develop content just for search engines or just for your visitors and customers?
The answer is both.
Truth is, your customers search for information based on keywords. Use tools like Wordtracker (http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/part/wordtracker) to find those keywords.
Plan your articles around answering questions associated with each keyword. Over time, you will build highly relevant content that will be irrisistable to the search engines no matter how they change them.
2. LINK FOR QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY
One single link with a Pagerank (Googleกs term for ranking sites) of 5 is worth 10 or more sites with a Pagerank of 3.
In addtion, as an important part of your search engine optimization strategy, make sure your links include a brief description (a URL only inbound link may be ignored), includes important keyword and appears on a relevant partner site.
Avoid FFAกs and most link farms, they may actually do you more harm than good.
3. AVOID KNOWN MISTAKES
Common mistakes people make with their search engine optimization strategy are:

Cross linking unrelated sites, recent discussion with master Affiliate Marketing pro James Martell recently brought this issue to light
Submitting to link farms, in many cases this will eventually get your site penalized or even banned from the SEกs
Duplicate content. Many people feel the need to duplicate their pages and make small changes for each search engine (also called doorway pages) however if this is not done properly, you will get penalized
Trying to load your content with too many keywords. Focus on 13 keywords only

4. USE GOOGLE ADS
While still unproven, it certainly has been found by many in the search engine watch community that sites who use Google Adwords or Google Adsense tend to appear higher in listings.
5. VARY YOUR TRAFFIC GENERATION TECHNIQUES
Too many people rely on Google traffic for 99% of their traffic. Itกs true, search engine traffic is the most economical way to advertise online, but there are many other ways to vary your traffic generation strategy.
Add these traffic generation techniques to your search engine optimization strategy:

Writing articles
Running affiliate program
Joint Ventures
Viral กstickyก tools
Press Releases

Yes you need to dance with Google. By following these techniques, you can actually lead your traffic generation strategy rather than follow the Google dance.

About The Author

Discover how to create your own bestselling eBooks, Special reports or books to sell online …AND keep 100% of the profits. Limited time complimentary access to 7Part Minicourse will get you started quickly and easily. Visit: http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/

This article was posted on June 28, 2004

by Jeff Smith

Internet Marketing for Small Businesses A Guide

Internet Marketing for Small Businesses A Guide in Plain English

by: Gordon Goodfellow

Have you ever been intimidated at the convoluted, jargonridden information about Internet marketing available on the Net? What exactly is search engine optimization anyway, and can I do it myself?

Often it results in many companies becoming confused and therefore reluctant to put into practice what would be a valuable and simple business resource when understood and applied correctly.

Market Researcher and Internet marketing consultant, Gordon Goodfellow, who is also an English literature graduate, decided it was time for a change. Part of this desire to make web marketing more accessible was due to his past experience as a teacher.

กI was sick of all the gobbledygook that surrounds web site promotion and web marketing, even today,ก he explains. กWebsite marketing isn’t rocket science and should not be presented as such. Everyone should have access to affordable website promotion.ก

Having spent four years researching and assessing the best way of getting an effective message across on the Internet, he began to design a basic introduction to Internet marketing. The result of this hard work is Applied Web Marketing. AWM is a comprehensive beginner’s guide to marketing on the Internet, covering everything from domain names, through search engine optimisation, search engine ranking and search engine promotion, to ecommerce and merchant accounts (and their alternatives), all refreshingly written in plain English.

The guide also has useful links to many resources, and to the submission pages of the major search engines and directories, making it an unmissable companion to those seeking affordable Internet promotion for their own web sites.

The reaction to this new venture has been swift and positive. In the few months Applied Web Marketing has been available online, many influential names have given their approval and thanks. Both the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Goodfellowกs local MP have been in contact. Stephen Timms MP, Minister for ECommerce, wrote that กit looks like a very useful resource…I wish you well with this very interesting and relevant offering.ก

Applied Web Marketing is free to access at www.AppliedWebMarketing.com and is also downloadable as a free ebook from the site.

About The Author

Gordon Goodfellow has worked in the market research industry for many years and is a professional Internet marketing consultant and practitioner. You may freely use this article as long as you include the following active link. http://www.appliedwebmarketing.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 05

by Gordon Goodfellow

Resources For Staying Current of IT Advancements F

Resources For Staying Current of IT Advancements For Online Business Owners

by: Dan J. Fry

The internet and associated technology changes at a relatively fast pace. For anyone working in fields that make extensive use of IT technology, it is crucial to always stay one step ahead of the game. Keeping up the pace can be challenging and seem utterly impossible at times without the help of resources to pull from.
For instance, small online home business owners frequently rely heavily on search engines to produce quality traffic to their site. Because all major search engines strive to deliver highly relevant search results to surfers, index algorithms are in a stage of continual evolution. Resources for staying abreast of changes is a must.
(1) ClickZ News is one of the primary online resources for internet marketers. Part of Jupitermedia Corporation, ClickZ provides highly insightful news articles on topics ranging from search engine marketing, web host providers, email marketing, web site design, current spam laws, idea branding and consumer spending habits across a broad range of IT and electronic devices. Signing up for their newsletter entitles you to receive the latest news right to your inbox.
(2) Search Engine Watch is undoubtedly the top site regarding new evolutions in search engine algorithms. I highly recommend frequenting this site if you are like me and performing all search engine optimization (SEO) yourself. Search Engine Watch is also owned by Jupertermedia, Inc. The lead editor is Danny Sullivan, well known throughout the SEO community as an expert on search engines and ranking. He and associate editor Chris Sherman conduct interviews with sources at search engines on a regular basis and analyze SE news across the web.
(3) Search Engine Optimization, Inc (seoinc.com) is another leader in search engine placement. Founded by CEO Garry Grant, a leader with years of experience in web development, internet communications and search engine optimization. They offer a free periodic newsletter, InSites, packed with optimization strategies and current developments in search engine technology.
(4) Tech Review is the online version of MITกs Magazine of Innovation Technology. Covering a broad range of new innovations in the field of information technology from software to major hardware platforms, this is geared more towards big business systems rather than small business owners. They do however, offer a free newsletter, discussing new advancements and applications, making this resource relevant to online businesses.
(5) Useit is the site owned by Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, providing resources regarding humancentered IT development. Highly insightful, this site is wonderful as it addresses IT development from the perspective of the people who will use it. Useit also contains a nice compilation of other IT related resources.
What is crucial without a doubt is to keep current on ideas and ideologies that exist throughout the IT corridor. It is not necessary to know the explicit details or กinกs and outกsก. If you have the correct resources at your disposal, you will stay one step ahead of the game of current online trends. Use these resources to stay ahead of your fellow online home business owners. Striving for new and better ways to reach your target market will ensure that your business stays on top.
by Dan J. Fry, c. 20032004, All rights reserved.

About The Author

Dan J. Fry is an independent researcher and owner of eKinetic.com, a site devoted to providing resources for small budget home businesses. He has a PhD in Physics and is married with two daughters and two cats. Subscribe to his free EZine on home business resources at mailto:[email protected] or by visiting his Infopreneur site at http://www.ekinetic.com. He can be reached at mailto:[email protected].

This article was posted on June 01, 2004

by Dan J. Fry

Googleopoly: The Motivation Behind Gmail

Googleopoly: The Motivation Behind Gmail

by: Mark Daoust

Just before the close of business on Wednesday, Google announced that it will be launching Gmail, its new free email service set to offer 1000 megabytes of free space to its users. This announcement comes after a flurry of changes at Google, all of which are geared to securing their place as the dominant search engine in light of recent competition offered by Yahoo! and soon MSN. The search engine wars have been predicted for some time now by search engine insiders, and the launch of Gmail is Google’s attempt to win the war before it gets fully started. But is Google really ready to take on the big portals?

It is very unlikely that Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page had any idea exactly how big their original search engine (then called BackRub) would actually become. Google was an innocent project through Standford University. It was a project started in the days of optimism about a free Internet not supported by ads or corporate revenues, but rather the free exchange of ideas. As a result, they focused solely on product. There were no worries about creating a flashy interface, hiring a sharp marketing team, or launching an IPO. They were worried about good search results. The result is that Google is now synonymous with searching the Internet.

Today, Google stands with a much different outlook. The success of the launch of AdWords propelled Google into a class all their own. Almost overnight, Google entered the PPC industry and dethroned Overture as the untouchable kings of PPC. Although other search engines such as Lycos, FindWhat, Kanoodle, and Sprinks had been competing with Overture, none of these engines were able to bring the reach and brand power of Google.

The success of AdWords was a notice to every other Internet giant. Companies such as Yahoo! and AOL – who were providing Google’s results to their users – took notice to the fact that Google had an incredible influence on the Internet, and if they desired, they could leverage that influence into a variety of new markets. Worse yet, Yahoo! and AOL helped Google gain such influence by providing Google results to their users. These giants became nervous, and with good reason. Google started to show signs that they were expanding into new markets. Dictionaries, glossaries, news services, Froogle, Catalog search, maps, blogging, and other services were all emerging from the Google labs and news rooms. If Google was able to instantaneously compete and lead in the highly competitive PPC market, what would happen if they moved in on the territory of Yahoo!, AOL, or MSN? These Internet giants helped make Google powerful, possibly more powerful than they were themselves.

The battle for web searches had begun. Yahoo! has taken the most notable steps by replacing their results provided by Google with their newly acquired Inktomi division based results. To fight Google on the advertising revenue level, Yahoo swooped up Overture, still allstar in the paid search market. Overture, now playing catchup in an industry which they practically founded, launched their own site content match system which rivals Google AdWords.

MSN has vowed to refine their search algorithms to become more relevant. Most of the work being done by MSN has been fairly quiet, but rest assured, there will be a lot of talk about MSN search when they are ready to release their new product to the Internet. And, with every new PC you buy, don’t be surprised if it comes with a host of web searching tools built in.

There have even been rumors over at AOL that they are going to be abandoning their Google based results. The fact is, AOL is scared of Google. As it stands right now, Froogle already steps on their shopping market, and Google News is taking away from AOL’s news delivery service.

By abandoning Google provided results, these Internet giants are attempting to limit Google’s reach. The fact is simple: users still use Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL. They use these services because they offer a host of unique information, updated news, financial reports, maps, phone directories, etc. Most importantly, users visit MSN, Yahoo, and AOL for their free email. While they have these users attention, Yahoo! and MSN will now try to sell these users on their new and improved search results not provided by Google in order to steal a bit of that search engine market.

Just as Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN realized how powerful Google was in the search engine market (and subsequently the danger that posed to them), Google is realizing the real threat that these portals present. If these portals are able to offer suitable search results, users will have less reason to utilize Google’s search. Google has also recognized the main advantage these portals have: free email. Free email is what makes Yahoo! and MSN such popular destinations. People who have email accounts at these locations find themselves visiting these sites multiple times every day just to check their email. While they are there, they have the opportunity to be grabbed by a headline or service offered through these portals. The free email is what brings the users back time and again.

Gmail is a direct attempt by Google to destroy any competition before it arises. With 10 times the amount of storage and what appears to be a superior interface for viewing and organizing mail messages, Gmail is not simply a nice thing to offer to web surfers. Gmail is an attempt to put an arrow through the heart of Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail. The services will not be comparable in quality, and that is the way Google wants it. The goal of Gmail is to make Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail look like laughable solutions to web based email.

If Gmail is successful in converting Yahoo! Mail users and Hotmail users, the search engine wars will most likely be much ado about nothing. The battle and war will be won, and the victor will be Google. But don’t expect MSN, AOL, or Yahoo! to simply watch Gmail launch without developing a plan to strike back hard. Yahoo! alone has invested incredible amounts of money to acquire Inktomi and Overture just so they can compete head to head with Google. It would be uncharacteristic of them to simply fold. And do not forget about the power MSN has with their search. Remember that Microsoft controls what search engine is used by default on most every computer around the world. That is a competitive advantage that Google will have a very hard time overcoming.

Gmail will not be the last new service offered by Google. It certainly will not go unanswered by Yahoo! or another portal. It will, however, mark a fundamental point in this search engine war that appears to now be in full swing.

Copyright 2004 Mark Daoust

About The Author

Mark Daoust is the owner of SiteReference.com (http://www.sitereference.com) and TowerSearch (http://www.towersearch.com). Signup for a free TowerSearch account and receive guaranteed top rankings for all of your chosen keywords.

This article was posted on April 06, 2004

by Mark Daoust

An Overview Of Pay Per Click Search Engine Fundame

An Overview Of Pay Per Click Search Engine Fundamentals

by: Kirk Bannerman

Forbes magazine has reported that pay per click ad sales are expected to increase to at least $8 billion by 2008.

The three fundamental core elements that form the basis of a successful pay per click advertising program are constant monitoring, analysis, and refinement.

Pay per click search engines offer a way to buy your way to the top of search results for any term you wish. With proper management, and a clear focus, pay per click search engines can offer some of the most well targeted and economical advertising on the Internet.

Pay per click advertising works through a bidding process, and the ads appear prominently on the results pages of search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The highest bidder for a particular word or phrase receives top placement, and depending on the engine, the top three to five bidders also generally also receive placement on the first page of unpaid search results.

Fundamental questions to be addressed when formulating a pay per click search engine strategy should include the following:

When is the top pay per click bid necessary for highest conversion, and when will bidding for a second or third place position create a more attractive return on investment (ROI)?

How can you keep your PPC bids from cannibalizing your search efforts on other (non pay per click) search engines?

What percentage of your pay per click budget should go to each search engine?

Does either Google Adwords or Overture work better for your particular product or service? Or, perhaps neither one is appropriate from a return on investment (ROI) perspective.

It is of critical importance to focus sharply on identifying the search terms that convert most frequently for your particular site, eliminating those that don’t perform, and most importantly, calculating and maximizing your return on investment.

The cost structure of pay per click is actiondriven and each time a user clicks your ad, the pay per click engine deducts the amount of your current bid from your account. Pay per click offers a high level of assurance that your ad is reaching the proper target.

Pay per click campaigns, however, are not perfect. Without CONSTANT monitoring, you sometimes risk incurring advertising costs that can spiral out of control, focusing on terms that don’t convert well for your product or services, or falling way down in position during a bidding war.

PPC advertising can be a great help to a siteกs success, but only with very close supervision and a thorough knowledge of the unique characteristics of each PPC search engine.

About The Author

Kirk Bannerman operates his own successful home based business and also coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. For more information visit his website at homebasedbusinessteam.com.

Proven Work At Home Business for more details.

This article was posted on January 25

by Kirk Bannerman

10 Great Search Engine Optimization Tools for Your

10 Great Search Engine Optimization Tools for Your Online Success

by: Milena Sotirova

The Internet promotion of every company is related to the search engine positioning of the site. The positioning is important for your books, products and services to be easily found online.

Search engine position is the place which a site takes in the search results for every search engine after performing search. The searches often are results of one or more words entered in the search bar. It seems simple to find where your site is by searching with the related keywords. For the search engine optimization being effective you need these keywords in your meta tags. If you want to check how it works, type for example กpromotionก in Google and Yahoo to find that http://www.promotionworld.com/ is on 2. and 1. position respectively (this may change at the time you read this).

Meta Tags How to create your meta tags

Meta tags are specific HTML tags that exceed their กwhat you see is what you getก functions to display content and serve as a mediator between the site page and the search engines, performed by their crawling robots.

The Title Tag is, as it can be assumed by its name, the site or page title that best describes the site content and purpose and contains of short phrase that can include the site name. It can be separated or not by colons but must include the words that describe the main functions of your site. When you write it, you can consider that the search engines will select your site in the search results more successfully if the metas contain the keywords you are going after in the search engine optimization.

MySite: MySite functions

Meta tags are easy to create with the PromotionWorldกs Meta tag generator that makes this task an easy one step effort to get the entire code the way it should be in the siteกs HTML code immediately after the tag.

To be sure that your meta tags contain the appropriate keywords that will lead you to the top of the search list you can try a little research using the Keyword suggestion tool. Here you can find what are the most searchable keywords related to your content and to include them in your meta tags. You can go back again and again to check and update your keyword list according to the search trends.

Search Engines How to submit your site

After your site is dressed with the meta tags, you are ready to go and submit it to the search engines. The Free Search Engine Submission tool http://www.promotionworld.com/seotools/index.php?rdt=submit will automatically submit your site to more than 60 search engines, including the best known. Just follow the easy steps and you will get your site submitted and a detailed report about the submission process results displayed and send to you.

Search Position Where You Are

The positions of your site is easy to find using the Keyword Ranking Monitor http://www.promotionworld.com/seotools/index.php?rdt=kwrank. This handy tool will quickly tell you the site ranking on Google. You can check the competitorsก sites as well to see where you are. To find out where your competitorกs sites are located you can look at the WebSite Location Tool.

The effective optimization is based on statistics and you can check up how your results change thru the time using the secure help of PromotionWorldกs Keyword Ranking Monitor. Your keywords and URLs are stored easily accessible with your user name and you can check the trends of any keyword search results displayed in well designed graphics. You can even select a keyword from the keyword suggestion list and import it into your keyword result table just by one click.

The most advanced search at all Google Datacenters can provide you with information about how your ranking is moving depending to which server the search inquiry is sent. This Google DataCenter Watch tool http://www.promotionworld.com/seotools/index.php?rdt=dance can allow you to predict your keyword optimization efforts.

Links The secret of traffic

The links that are going to your site by other sites are important for your Traffic and Google PageRank. You can permanently check up your link status with this Backlink Tracker Tool http://www.promotionworld.com/seotools/index.php?rdt=bklinks. Your link history will be stored and here you can find how effective your link exchanges with other sites are a technique of vital importance for your site online success. To check your Google PR now just go to the Google PR Tool http://www.promotionworld.com/seotools/index.php?rdt=grank enter the URL and get the result.

Extras Convert your site traffic into money

There is a good advertising program that gains more and more popularity and becomes a materialized developer dream of earning just from the user traffic to the site. Google AdSense is designed to provide you the opportunity to provide to your users fresh related to your content links and to make you benefit from it without any effort. Using Google AdSense Tool you can see from here how the Google Adsense ads will appear on your site. Try this simple and attractive free tool to see the Google AdSense program diversity designed for your content.

If you already have a Google AdSense account you can easily monitor your AdSense data http://www.promotionworld.com/seotools/index.php?rdt=adsense_charts displayed in graphics and charts to get you an easy visual access to your campaign.

WebSite Gifts Count your visitors and make them happy

Your site content will be more accessible if you provide the users an option to search free thru your site pages. You can get this Free search for your site.

A good gift for your site is the Free Counter displaying the number of visits for your pages. Get this tool and set it on your site. If you have an idea of some different image you can send that or if you feel, you can prepare an image and send this to be included in the tool set. Be creative and make the other users appreciate your talent.

I hope that you enjoyed our touring thru the amazing tool land and you get even more ideas about how can you promote your site.

About The Author

Milena Sotirova is Editor of DevStart, Inc. She has publications on web promotion, search engine optimization and web hosting industry news coverage and analyses. PromotionWorld.com is one of the most popular sites for web promotion and contains tutorials, tools, articles and search engine news. Subscribe for DevStart Channel http://www.promotionworld.com/informer/

Send your feedback to [email protected]

You can reproduce this article on your website, or in your Newsletter provided that you include the resource box.

This article was posted on November 26, 2004

by Milena Sotirova

Advertising กClick Fraudก Rampant Online?

Advertising กClick Fraudก Rampant Online?

by: Jim Edwards

กPayperclick,ก by far the most popular form of online advertising, recently came under fire as charges of rampant กclick fraudก gather steam on the Web.

Google and Yahoo! earn the majority of their money through sales of advertising to tensofthousands of online merchants, companies, and professional.

In fact, some estimate that 99% of all Googleกs revenue comes from advertising sales. Unfortunately, allegations of click fraud may well rain on Googleกs otherwise sunny parade and cause a whole scale revamping of current online advertising practices.

Payperclick advertising does exactly what it sounds: advertisers pay for each click on their ad, usually mixed in among search engine results or displayed on relevant websites.

กClick fraudก occurs when, for whatever reason, an ad gets clicked by someone or something (usually an automated กbotก that simulates clicks) with no intention of ever buying anything from the advertiser.

The sole intention of click fraud is to simply drain an advertiserกs budget and leave them with nothing to show but an empty wallet.

Who commits click fraud?

Usually an unscrupulous competitor who wants to break a rivalกs bank, online กvandalsก who get their kicks causing other people grief, or search engine advertising affiliates who want to earn fat commissions by racking up piles of bogus clicks.

Regardless of who does it or why, click fraud appears to be a growing problem search engines hope stays under their advertising clientsก radar.

This problem isn’t exactly news to the search engine giants.

In fact, on page 60 of their 3rd quarter Report for 2004, Google admits that they have ‘regularly refunded revenueก to advertisers that was กattributed to clickthrough fraud.ก

Google further states that if they don’t find a way to deal with this problem ‘these types of fraudulent activities could hurt our brand.ก

Bottom line for Google and Yahoo! (which owns Overture, the Webกs largest payperclick search engine): as word of click fraud spreads across the Web, they must act quickly to calm the nerves of advertisers who could well abandon them over doubts about the veracity of their advertising charges.

The search engines all claim to carry measures that identify and detect click fraud, but details about how they do it and to what extent remain sketchy.

They claim revealing details about security would compromise their efforts and give the perpetrators a leg up on circumventing their defenses.

This sounds good, but affords little comfort to advertisers who feel caught between losing out on their best traffic sources and paying for advertising that won’t result in revenue.

One way to protect your business against click fraud is to closely monitor your website statistics.

Look for an unusually high number or regular pattern of clicks from the same IP address.

If you need help, enlist the aid of your hosting provider to aid you in spotting suspicious trends in your website traffic.

Also, a number of services such as ClickSentinel.com have sprung up online to help advertisers spot and quickly analyze and compile the data necessary to effectively dispute fraudulent click charges with the search engines.

© Jim Edwards All Rights reserved

http://www.thenetreporter.com

About The Author

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the coauthor of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links…

Simple ‘traffic Machineก brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months… without spending a dime on advertising! ==> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

This article was posted on August 29

by Jim Edwards