Search Engine Optimization Articles-Resources

One of the ways to boost traffic to your Web site is by purchasing keywords from one of the pay-per-click search engines or directories.
But with literally hundreds of choices, how do you pick the pay- per-click engine with the best visibility that has the potential of giving you a higher return on your investment?
And, just as important, what are some strategies for working with the pay-per-click engines, and how do they operate?

How do Pay-Per-Click Engines Operate?
With pay-per-click engines, you bid on keywords that describe your business, your products, or your target audience. Then, you’re charged your bid price every time someone clicks on your ad, which is displayed when a searcher types in the keyword you’ve chosen into the search box at an engine. Whoever is willing to pay the most for the keyword or keyword phrase will be at the top of the ranking.

There are many benefits to working with pay engines, which we’ll cover in this article.
Important Pay-Per-Click Engines and Directories
Overture: http://www.overture.com/

Overture is certainly the pay-per-click engine that most people recognize. It’s also one of the most expensive and competitive.

However, the visibility of Overture is impressive, to say the least. It provides the top two or three results to “big boy” search engines and directories like Yahoo!, Lycos, HotBot, and MSN Search. In fact, Overture claims to reach 80% of all Internet users.
Overture listings are generally found at the top of the regular search results in an area called “Sponsored” results or sites.
Overture’s pay-per-clicks operate under one premise: whoever has the deepest pockets and is willing to pay the most gets on top.

The minimum bid is $.10, and there’s a minimum charge of $20 per month. A $50 initial deposit is non-refundable and will be applied to click throughs or to the minimum monthly spend. When your account is depleted, they’ll contact you to see if you want to add additional funds to your budget.
Google AdWords http://www.google.com/ads/

Google AdWords have fast become extremely important in the pay- per-click arena, with results being shown at search engines like Google, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, and Teoma.

Google AdWords operates differently than Overture in a number of ways. Your click-through rate and cost per click together determine where your ads are shown, so better ads rise to the top. That means no one can lock you out of the top position.
Google AdWords are shown on the right-hand side of regular search results in a pink shaded area called “Sponsored Links.

Because your click through rate has an influence on the placement of your AdWords ad, your ad’s title and description must be captivating and designed to pull in traffic.

With Google AdWords, there’s a $5 activation fee, and the minimum bid amount is $.05. You decide on the maximum cost per click that you’re willing to pay and set your daily budget. You don’t have to spend a certain amount per month, and you only pay for clicks you actually receive.
FindWhat http://www.findwhat.com/

Another popular pay-per-click engine that is generally much less expensive than Overture is FindWhat.
With FindWhat, whoever bids the most gets on top. The minimum bid is $.05, and they require a $25 minimum amount to open an account.
FindWhat provides results to 200 different partners, including many of the big meta engines like Dogpile.
Lycos InSite AdBuyer http://insite.lycos.com/searchservices/adbuyer/overview.asp

A fairly new pay-per-click program that’s displayed on both Lycos and HotBot is Lycos InSite AdBuyer.
Again, it operates similarly to the way that Overture and FindWhat operate, with the top results being those who bid the most for their target keywords.

The minimum bid is $.05 with a $50 minimum to open an account.
LookSmart http://www.looksmart.com/
LookSmart is a pay-per-click directory where you pay a flat $.l5 per click through. It claims to reach 77% of the Internet users through the partners that display LookSmart results

Some of those partners include MSN Search, About.com, Netscape, and AltaVista.

With LookSmart, you don’t bid for listings. Everyone pays a flat $.15 per click through, and your ranking is determined by how relevant your site is to the search term, according to LookSmart’s ranking criteria. To get started with a LookSmart listing, the initial investment is $29.
Other Pay-Per-Click Engines http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/

This comprehensive site lists over 500 different pay-per-click search engines and offers individual reviews on many of them.
Advantages to Working with the Pay Engines

The pay engines offer many advantages to Web site owners, including:
1. If you have a brand new site with little or no visibility and no link popularity, the pay engines are certainly a way to get started fast while you wait for your standard search engine marketing efforts to kick in and take effect.
2. Pay-per-click engines are ideal for holiday promotions, special sales, or to jump start slow engine traffic.
3. With the pay engines, you have instant visibility in whichever search engines display those results.
4. You choose your rankings, depending on how deep your pocket book is.
5. If some of your keywords aren't performing, you can choose other ones.
6. You only pay for clicks to your site, so you can target your traffic by the keywords you choose.
7. With regular optimization efforts, it's sometimes difficult to achieve top rankings if you're in a highly competitive field. With the pay engines, you pay for your rankings, and VOILA! You're there!
8. Purchasing keywords is certainly easier and less time consuming than optimizing your pages.
9. With regular engines, when algorithms (or ranking criteria) change, you can find yourself booted out of your top spot. With the pay engines, as long as you're willing to hand out the cash, you'll be on top.
10.You can target your audience based on the keywords you choose. Most Web sites have multiple target audiences, so pay-per-click keywords are a way to reach each of those target audiences.
11.Pay-per-click is generally less expensive than traditional advertising media.
12.With pay-per-click engines, you don't have to worry about design strategies that could mean death to a Web site otherwise. Is your entire site one huge Flash movie? No problem, if you go through the pay engines.
Tips for Boosting Your Chances for Success with the Pay Engines
When working with the pay engines, it takes practice to achieve a level of success. So, start out slowly, and keep a tight rein on your budget. As you become better at crafting titles and descriptions and choosing highly targeted keywords, you’ll gradually be able to increase your budget, if you choose.
Here are some additional tips:
1. It's not always best to be #1. Many compulsive "clickers" automatically click on the #1 result when they have no real interest in buying your products or services.
2. Be sure to include your keyword phrase in the title and description you create at the pay engines. Take special care in creating a description for your site, since within the top three slots, the best description gets the most traffic, as a general rule.
3.Your keywords must be relevant to the content of your pages. Overture is particularly careful about this.
4. Choose very targeted keywords so that you don't pay for needless click throughs. Don’t ever choose a general keyword, because your costs will skyrocket but the traffic won’t convert to sales.
5. Spend time researching your keyword choices at Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
or my favorite, WordTracker: http://www.wordtracker.com/moreinfo.html
6. Generally, you'll have more success if you purchase 10- 20 keywords as opposed to just a few.
7. Choose a broad range of keywords and bid prices and test the waters. Watch your keywords carefully. Non-productive keywords should be eliminated and new, more productive keywords should be purchased instead.
8. For Overture, consider purchasing a "Premium Listing," which means that you hold the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ranking for your keyword phrase. Why? Because engines like AltaVista and Lycos show the first listings only.
9. Set up a separate "tracking" page to send your pay engine traffic. In order to show whether or not the cost is worth it, you need to be able to track your click throughs and sales. Don't send pay engine traffic to your home page.
10.Write your title and description using “objective” language rather than “subjective.” In other words, don’t say that your product or service is the best or #1 (subjective). Rather, list some of the benefits of your service that make it unique (objective).
In Conclusion
You’ll find many benefits to purchasing keywords through pay-per- click engines, but you need to learn some basic guidelines before you get started. By doing so, you’ll hopefully find more successful when working with the pay engines.

by: Robin Nobles

1) Stay on topic.
Opinions are generally accepted but the content of the items in the blog should all relate to a general theme. Unless you have an uncanny knack for wit, humor or cynicism, the majority of your readers will be interested in the content that relates to a specific defined theme or loosely defined area of interest. Most readers won't care that you eat Cheerios for breakfast. They may, however, be interested in the fact that vinegar takes out stains and that toilet paper rolls make great wreaths. Define a topic and stick to it. This will ensure that you create a loyal following of interested readers.

2) Stay informative.
If you are attempting to create the impression that you are knowledgeable about a specific industry or sector, be sure that you stay current on news. If you are endorsing a product or voicing an opinion, be sure to check your facts; your reputation is at stake. If you are offering an opinion, be sure to qualify your post, making it clear that the content is intended as an editorial.

3) Old news is not news.
While blogging every day can be a drain, it is important that the information presented is current and accurate, writing an article or blurb about something that happened 6 months ago, will not be of interest to many. Telling your audience that Martha Stewart was convicted and will be going to prison, after her sentence is completed will make people question the value of your columns.

4) Adhere to a schedule.
Create a schedule and stick to it. Realizing that blogging requires time and effort, don't create unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver. An occasional lapse or holiday is generally understood but readers returning to find stale, out-dated content are going to find another blog with similar content. New blogs and RSS feeds are popping up on a daily basis. If you have worked hard to develop an audience and a community you don't want to lose them due to lack of communication.

5) Clarity and simplicity.
Keep your posts and blog entries clear and easy to understand. Remember, the web is global and expressions, idioms and acronyms don't always translate. Sometimes a little explanation goes a long way.

6) Keyword-rich.
If the goal of your blog is to increase your visibility, include related keywords in the title of the blog. Use the title as a headline to attract interest. Each item post should have a title that will attract attention but still be relevant to the post. The title should be no longer than 10-12 words.

7) Quantity matters.
In order to attract the attention of search engines, you will need to develop content and substance. A headline or simple sentence is not going to generate the interest of readers or help with search engine ranking. Be sure to archive old blog posts to develop a large portal of similarly-themed content.

8) Frequency.
If your blog content is updated frequently, search engines will tend to spider the pages at regular intervals.

9) Spell checking and proof-reading.
It only takes a few extra moments and can save you from having to make embarrassing explanations. Remember that whatever you publish on the Internet can be found and archived. Think carefully about what you post before doing so.

10) RSS.
RSS will increase your blog's reach. It is important that you include your blog's content in an RSS feed to increase readership and distribution.
Most weblog audiences are small, but with time and regular updates audiences grow. Bloggers may never have more than a few hundred readers, but the people who return to regularly are generally interested in what you have to say.

by: S. Housley

So you want to make money from blogging? Where do you start? With a blog of course. Unfortunately a lot of people want to jump into making money without getting the basics down first.

But before you even get your blog you need to decide what you are going to blog about? If we take the stance that you are going to try and make money from blogging then you need to have a subject that you know about and that can open the door for you to make product recommendations to your readers.

How do you do this?

Look around your house, what is it that you do? Are you a mom with a couple of small kids? You could blog about being a stay at home mom and offer tips and ideas to other moms on what makes your life easier. Are you a guy that is really into RC cars and Airplanes? Start a blog about that and share your experiences and ideas. The sky is the limit.

The main idea though is that you want to talk about something that is going to interesting to other people and add value to their lives. When you do that people will continue to come back to your blog.

If you happen to be stumped at this point then you could just go with a general blog that talks about everything. You may not have a set theme for people to follow but it will allow you to get a feel for blogging and then you can narrow your focus down latter or actually start another blog (don’t get too freaked out, I currently have over 10 blogs that I author).

Anyway, planning is probably one of the most important aspects of any project and that also applies to blogging, especially if you want to make money from it. Sometimes it helps to get out there and read other people’s blogs to get an idea what they are witting about. The best thing to do is take your time. Making money from blogging is not going to happen over night but it can and will happen if you take the time to set things up right.