SEM Report - Search Marketing News, Articles, and Opinions

Don't Drown in the Holiday CPC Wave

2005-10-04T23:11:00.000-04:00

MarketingToday has a short article on an annual CPC trend.

Search marketers know that the holiday season is the busiest - and can be the toughest. Average CPCs are higher than usual during this time due to the influx of new advertisers trying to attract holiday shoppers.

Read Up on Verticals

2005-09-09T20:49:00.000-04:00

There is an article on Pay Per Click Analyst discussing some different verticals to try in a PPC campaign.

With the bigger engines starting to get into a big fight against each other, the smaller guys are trying to reach niche marketplaces. Two smaller programs discussed in the article are Quigo and Industry Brains. While advertisers won't get nearly the same volume they would with Google or Yahoo!, certain search campaigns can get a small boost from using these PPC programs (name a company who will turn down extra profits).

Google Upgrades Driving Up Costs

2005-09-09T20:29:00.000-04:00

Have you been noticing your PPC costs going up? With Google's new ad changes, many advertisers are having their once stable campaigns get tossed around more than a young child's playtoy.

With the new bidding rules, there has been an influx of new advertisers for many keywords. However, as with any other type of competitive marketplace, only the strong will survive. The companies who know what they're doing will slowly get out of the way when they see certain keywords are just not meeting their metrics and the ignorant or stubborn marketers will continue to bid up irrelevant keywords until either they go broke or finally realize they are fighting an unbeatable battle.

Just like with the housing bubble that is on the verge of bursting, the prices will once again fall, however, they will still be higher than they once were still making it more important to analyze and optimize accounts.

Yahoo Content Network Randomizing Number of Ads Displayed

2005-08-25T08:01:00.000-04:00

It looks like Yahoo! Search Marketing is displaying different numbers of ads at random times on their content network - most likely to find out what the optimal number of ads to show on a content partner's site is.

This is a concern for search marketers because knowing what position is needed to be displayed is vital to get shown within Yahoo's content network. So far, marketers can only be certain to show up if they are in the top position.

There are screen shots on SE Roundtable.

Search is More than Just the Engines

2005-08-24T19:20:00.000-04:00

Many search marketers only look at online results and metrics, but there is more to search than just analytics.

CMO Magazine has an article that talks more about the importance of external factors to a marketing campaign.

Basically, news about Paris Hilton's latest escapade could give you a spike in clicks, and costs, if you manage any search campaign dealing with Paris, France or even Hilton Hotels, Hilton Head, etc. Being aware of these factors can help you manage your search campaigns and be prepared to capitalize on external events rather than be hurt by them.

Yahoo! and MSN Market Share Increase at Google's Expense

2005-08-23T19:19:00.000-04:00

July numbers are in: Yahoo! and MSN are up while Google's market share falls says ComScores latest report.

Total searches reached 4.8 billion, an increase of 22% from the previous month. Market shares were as follows:
Google: 36.5%
Yahoo: 30.5%
MSN: 15.5%
AOL: 9.9%
Ask Jeeves: 6.1%
InfoSpace: 0.9%
All Other: 0.6%

There is more detailed information on PR Newswire.

Google, Yahoo! to Fight Over Classified Ads

2005-08-22T19:15:00.000-04:00

It looks like Craig's List is about to get some more competition. Google and Yahoo! are looking to get into the Classified business.

There is an article on The Courier-Mail talking about the competition to gain share in classifieds.

From a consumer standpoint, this move is long overdue. Classified ads so far have been hard to find, infrequently updated, and overall weren't very user friendly. With the two major players in search getting into the business, the consumer will benefit most.

For search marketers, it will give them one more vertical to target consumers who are looking to spend money. What will be important is demographic and local targeting.

Clueless Marketers - Don't Be One

2005-08-20T15:55:00.000-04:00

There is a short article on Seth Godin's blog about how clueless marketers still are.

How can you keep from becoming a clueless marketer? Follow a few simple steps.

1. Don't Always Follow the Herd
A common practice when writing copy is to see what others are doing and improve upon it. Analyzing your competitor's ads is one step in the process, but you also need to tailor the ads to your client's website. You also need to test different creatives to see what works best and build on those. Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean it is the best.

2. Get data, Analyze it, Use it.
There is lots of data available. Collect as much data as you can and organize it. Analyze the data - look at it from different angles. Come up with a strategy backed by the data and begin implementation. Track the results, make necessary improvements.

3. Test
Sitting back and being satisfied with good results is the quickest way to be surpassed by competitors. Keep testing new ideas/strategies/etc. to optimize and maximize an account. Search marketing is a continuous process that needs to always be modified and improved.

These are three important parts of the big picture - there are still many more.

Google's Relevancy Becoming More Irrelevant

2005-08-19T22:47:00.000-04:00

Do a search on Google for the word "Microsoft". What do you get as sponsored results; ads for ink cartridges, online schooling, and credit cards. The new bidding policies have allowed advertisers with irrelevant advertisements to flood into the pages of search terms that don't have to do anything with what they are advertising.

Google may start having problems with users not having as good of an experience as they previously have been having. A lot of people say they don't notice the ads (or even know they're there), but they may start noticing once they search do a search for weather in florida and see ads for clubs, credit cards, and spanish lessons.

Do a search for the word "google" on Google, see what results you get. (they were worse earlier in the day)

New Strategies for Google AdWords

2005-08-19T22:41:00.000-04:00

Webmaster World has some posts with strategies for the new AdWords structure put into place a few days ago.

The two strategies in the original post by eWhisper look well thought out and show promise. They deal with launching new products and targeting certain demographics.

The post is here.

AdWords New Structure - A New Era

2005-08-18T19:24:00.000-04:00

The new bid structure recently implemented by Google is already starting to affect pricing and account metrics. Doing searches for general keywords yield more advertisements and it is big companies (or at least companies with the money to spend) that are starting to show up in the top spots.

While this may be a temporary spike in competitive bidding, two things will remain with the new system. The price per click on average will increase and competition will also increase. This will also have the effect of making management of a campaign more complex and create lower tolerances for errors.

Yahoo! to Introduce Google-like Bid Structure

2005-08-18T19:17:00.000-04:00

There is a post on SEW announcing Yahoo's plan to introduce a new structure for Yahoo! Search Marketing.

It will have a similar feel to Google AdWords. Say goodbye to viewing bids and say hello to an algorithmic placement structure based on max bid and click through rate. It will still be some time until they make the changes, but the fact that they are dramatically restructering their current format is a glimpse into the future of search marketing.

Geico vs. Google - Court Decision

2005-08-18T19:07:00.000-04:00

If you have been following the news, you would have heard that Google was sued by Geico in a trademark infringement suit. Basically, Geico was trying to get Google to stop selling trademarked terms like Geico and to stop them from using the same trademarks in ad titles & descriptions.

Google's wanted to clarify the decision made by the judge on its blog.

In short, you are not allowed to use trademarked terms in titles or descriptions, but you may still bid on trademarked keywords.

Basics of Tracking User Behavior

2005-08-17T18:54:00.000-04:00

Tracking behavior of users is important in all aspects of marketing. This information can also be used to assist in making the most of search campaigns.

Sally Falkow has a brief article on why it is important to track user behavior.

First Steps to Take With New AdWords Changes

2005-08-17T18:42:00.000-04:00

Old "on hold" and "in trial" keywords

1. Run a Report to find all "on hold" and "in trial" KWs in your account (use dates prior to August 16)
2. Review all “on hold” or “in trial” keywords
3. Remove any keywords you do not wish to have active
4. Review daily budget and bids to ensure they are properly set

Disabled Keywords
Disabled KWs will be left in all accounts for one month.

1. Review all “disabled” keywords
2. Re-add desired keywords with appropriate max. CPC

All Keywords
(now that changes are in affect)

1. Pull a report for all accounts to show which keywords might be inactive
2. Determine if new min. CPC is within your metrics and adjust accordingly

New AdWords Keyword Status In Effect

2005-08-16T19:25:00.000-04:00

If you take a look at your AdWords account, you may notice that their new keyword status changes have been made live.

Advertisers should be shortly see if these new changes will have a significant affect on their accounts.

Yahoo! Content Match Degraded by New Publisher Network?

2005-08-16T18:53:00.000-04:00

Search Engine Roundtable points out complaints on SEW forums that ads listed in Yahoo! Content aren't as efficient as they once were.

Now that Yahoo! has opened its network to include the public, people are noticing that they are seeing a large increase in impressions, but decreased click through rates and conversions.

SEM: Its not Just Bid Management

2005-08-15T22:21:00.000-04:00

Search engine marketing is being touted as a revolutionary way to advertise and be able to account for each dollar spent and gained.

Campaigns for many companies can consist of hudreds of thousands of keywords. Many SEMs are either creating their own software to manage these complex campaigns or are using what is available. Most of them are missing the big picture.

To run a successful long term search marketing campaign, strategy is important to have in the mix. There are SEMs who are trying to come up with a fully automated software package to make the decisions for them. While this method can work to keep an account stabalized, it won't grow or maximize an account.

Intelligent companies know the value of the big picture and are always analyzing and setting up the pieces to reach their short and long term goals. What will separate SEMs once the industry plateaus will be the strategy they use with their accounts.

News Corp Blinkx its Corporate Eyes

2005-08-15T22:07:00.000-04:00

We reported in a previous article that News Corp., a news powerhouse, was in advanced talks to acquire a search engine.

The LA Times is now reporting that their eyes are set on Blinkx, an engine most known for its video search.

Read the full article.

Ask Jeeves Sponsored Search Open to the Public

2005-08-15T21:40:00.000-04:00

Ask Jeeves has officially opened its doors to everyone. Go here to get to their site and learn more details.

What is the Future of Adveristing?

2005-08-15T21:14:00.000-04:00

Inc.com has an interesting article on the future of advertising.

Measurement. Marketers are seeing how using metrics online is giving more meaning to statistical data and ad spend. It also takes a look at how advertisers are producing more targeting ads to smaller, niche segments of consumers (which also aids in capturing metrics).

Read the full article here.

News Corp Getting Into Search

2005-08-12T17:51:00.000-04:00

"Murdoch said News Corp. plans to create an Internet portal and is in advanced discussions to acquire a controlling stake in a search engine, which he declined to name." - SmartMoney.com

This sounds like some very big news. News Corp. has a market cap of roughly $19 billion so it will be able to make its presence known quickly. If it buys Looksmart as is rumored, they can become another powerful competitor to the top search engines - especially when it comes to content.

Full article.

Get Positive Results with Negatives

2005-08-12T01:05:00.000-04:00

How can you increase your CTR, increase targeted leads, decrease CPC,and decrease your spend?

Adding negative keywords to your campaign.

Inside AdWords has a short article with two short tips on finding negative keywords.

- Use the AdWords Keyword Tool - if you see keywords that don't match your site, add them as negatives

- Search the web - use keywords from unrelated sites as negatives

Increase Click Through Rate: Your total impressions will be reduced, total clicks will be reduced but but by a smaller percentage than impressions. (lowers the denominator in the CTR equation)

Increase Targeted Leads: While your total clicks go down, the clicks you do get will be from users who are more likely to be interested in what you offer.

Decrease Cost Per Click: With an increased CTR, your Quality Score will increase giving you a higher overall rank lowering the total CPC for the same position.

Decrease Spend: With a lower CPC and slightly less clicks, your total spend will also go down.

Search Engine Strategies: Summary, Day Four

2005-08-11T20:41:00.000-04:00

Session 1
'Tis The Season
Measuring Success Overview
Organic Listings Forum
Business To Business Tactics
Ad Copy & Landing Page Clinic

Session 2
Shopping Search Tactics
Measuring: The Time Warp
Meet The Crawlers: Submission & Feed Edition
Meet The B2B Search Engines
Link Building Clinic

Session 3
Shopping Search & Merchant Reputations
Measuring Offline Sales & Conversion
My SEM Toolbox
Spanish Language SEM Tactics
Site Clinic

Thank you to Search Engine Roundtable and the few other sources that I linked to for their very comprehensive coverage of SES San Jose 2005.

SES: San Jose 2005
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Google Dominates General Search, but Yahoo! Leading Local

2005-08-11T20:20:00.000-04:00

It looks like Google has been able to keep and even grow its market share in regulary web searches, but still can't overcome Yahoo! in local search who had 4.4 times more visitors to its local search site in July than Google.

With growing emphasis being put on local search, Google will need to either step up or it may begin to lose market share from people using Yahoo! and its other properties or even to MSN who is a close third in the race.

Tekrati has the complete article.

An Introduction to Search Engine Marketing

2005-08-11T19:55:00.000-04:00

There is a fairly good and thorough article on the basics of SEM over at Media Week. Read it if you're brand new to search, it will give you a quick glimpse into the industry of search marketing.

Though the article has a lot of useful information, there are parts I don't agree with.

In one part of the article, the writer begins to quote (from a Google rep) how "people walk in the door and then pick up knowledge very, very quickly". While it is true that with the proper training, the basics of search marketing can be learned, to be an expert, or even successful, requires time and experience.

Another part states that MIVA (formerly FindWhat) is part of the "big three". While MIVA is a public company, and can be used for certain campaigns, it by no means should be included with Google and Yahoo! Search Marketing. MIVA is a 2nd tier engine and still provides an excessive amount of fraudulent traffic. Even if the traffic wasn't fraudulent, the volume of traffic that can be generated from them is minimal compared to even AOL, Ask Jeeves, or MSN.

Those two were the biggest parts of the article that struck me as inaccurate. Nevertheless, it is worth a read.

Read the full article.

Search Engine Strategies: Summary, Day Three

2005-08-10T23:45:00.000-04:00

Session 1
Converting Visitors Into Buyers
Executive Roundtable

Session 2
Linking Strategies
Local Search Marketing Tactics
Beyond ROI: Getting Creative With Search
Big Site/Big Brand SEM
Pimp My Site!

Session 3
Buying & Selling Links
Meet The Local Search Engines
Copyright & Trademarks
Working Together
Site ECG

Session 4
Search Engine Q&A On Links
Local Search Ads
Auditing Paid Listings & Click Fraud Issues
In House Forum
Usability Clinic

SES: San Jose 2005
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Marketing Alliances from Yahoo! Search Marketing

2005-08-10T19:15:00.000-04:00

"Yahoo! Search Marketing now offers a variety of programs designed to assist agencies, search engine marketers (SEMs) and web professionals in furthering their businesses by providing essential resources to help them acquire, retain and refer clients."

The programs are similar to Google AdWord's Certified Professional program.

Yahoo! Marketing Alliances

Search Engine Strategies: Summary, Day Two

2005-08-09T23:25:00.000-04:00

Keynote Conversation with Ask Jeeves's Steve Berkowitz

Session 1
Fun With Dynamic Web Sites
Perfecting Paid Listings
Ad Management: Do Humans Matter?
RSS, Blogs & Search Marketing

Session 2
Link Building Basics
Creating Compelling Ads
Should You Chase The Algorithm?
Meet The Blog Search Engines

Session 3
Successful Site Architecture
Landing Page Testing & Tuning
Ad Reps: Friend Or Foe?
Public Relations & Reputation Management

Session 4
Writing For Search Engines
Search Engine Advertising Forum
Indexing Summit 2: Redirects, Titles & Descriptions
Meet The News Search Engines

SES: San Jose 2005
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

New SEM Vocabulary: Cost Per Keyword (CPK)

2005-08-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

DoubleClick announces Performics 50, a representative sample of 50 actively managed search campaigns. Along with this overall view of the marketplace is a new term to search engine marketing: Cost Per Keyword (CPK).

Cost Per Keyword is a monthly metric to show advertisers a more accurate value of a specific keyword besides max bids. It is, in its most basic form, avearage cost per click multiplied by the total number of clicks.

CPK can be helpful to get an overall picture of how an account is changing over time depending on the strategy being used. On the other hand, it seems as though using CPK as a determining metric in some campaigns can be detrimental to maximizing a campaigns results.

That'll be $6 - Verizon SuperPages Introduces Pay Per Call

2005-08-09T20:37:00.000-04:00

Verizon SuperPages.com has unveiled a new pay-per-call offering.

Local marketers will pay from $2 to $6 per qualified call, depending on the business category. The company estimates 80 percent of its small business advertisers will be interested in the product.

Pay Per Call is finally getting some support from online phone directories. Hopefully this introduction will get these companies to make a more organized, user friendly online phone books.

Read the full ClickZ News article.

Online Advertising Expected to Double by 2010

2005-08-09T19:48:00.000-04:00

JupiterResearch reports that sales of online advertising will more than double by 2010 to become an $18.9 billion industry. Search engine marketing is expected to increase at a compound annual rate of 12 percent

By 2010, broadband internet service will be in 71% of connected U.S. homes resulting in a greater demand for Rich media. Creating an interactive and captivating environment will be important in reaching these users.

InformationWeek has the full story.

Search Engine Strategies: Summary - Day One

2005-08-08T20:41:00.000-04:00

Search Engine Strategies started off today in San Jose. Three people from Search Engine Roundtable are covering the sessions and posting them online. Check back each day for updates.

Session 1
Introduction To Search Engine Marketing
Search Algorithms: The Patent Files
Mobile Search
Dealing With Contextual & Other Non-Search Ads
Eye of the Storm: Lessons from Large Search Marketers

Session 2
Search Term Research & Targeting
Searcher Behavior Research Update
Video & Podcast Search
Earning From Search & Contextual Ads
Search Term Research & Targeting
Weird Science: The Next Generation in Media Planning and Buying

Session 3
Search Engine Friendly Design
The Search Landscape
Personalized Search & Search History
Search APIs
Personalized Search & Search History
From Broad to Specific: Capitalizing on vertical search and other niche publishing opportunities

Session 4
Buying Search Engine Advertising
Competitive Research
Vertical Creep Into Regular Results
Partnering With Search Engines
Vox Populi: Understanding the role of consumer-generated content

SES: San Jose 2005
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Kanoodle Initiates Max Bid Structure

2005-08-08T19:47:00.000-04:00

Kanoodle, a 2nd tier PPC search engine, announced that advertisers can now set max bids within their campaigns. The use of max bids in Kanoodle and other search engines allows advertisers to set a ceiling on what they are willing to pay each time a user clicks on their ad and also reduces the amount they are charged per click to one cent above the next highest bidder.

Kanoodle is known for its conextual ads on MSNBC.com, MarketWatch, and USATODAY.com.

Yahoo! Changes Ad Counting Method, Excludes Undelivered Impressions

2005-08-08T19:37:00.000-04:00

Yahoo! introduced a new change to their advertising platform. Impressions will now only be counted if the ad is loaded within a user's web browser. Prior to this modification, impressions were counted as they were sent from Yahoo!'s servers.

This change does not seem to be extremely significant on the surface. However, it is one more step closer to having more accurate data to analyze.

The full story can be read at Online Media Daily.

From Humble Beginnings to a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry – Search Engine History

2005-08-07T19:22:00.000-04:00

The Engines

Search engines have come from robotically crawling as many sites as possible to using complex algorithms to include only the most relevant results for its users. They were first developed at universities with “Wandex” being the very first. These early engines did not provide a very user friendly search experience. Their back ends just cataloged as many pages as it could and the front end did not have a good system of displaying relevant results. There were also directories such as dmoz and Yahoo! where people would manually decide which sites to include, but this method is very time consuming and can miss many relevant sites.

In 1996, Google humbly began as a Stanford University project called BackRub by two graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in an effort to rate and sort listings by analyzing “back links”. They used the presumption that if other people felt strongly enough to link to a specific website, then that link is a sign that the website contains valuable content – the more “back links” a site has, the more valuable, or relevant it is. BackRub became so popular that at one point, over half of Stanford’s network traffic was being used by their program.

Search Finds Revenue

Search engines needed to make money and many would display banner ads when users searched for terms. In 1998, GoTo.com introduced paid placement with the idea that websites who pay to be listed will be more relevant for searchers. Then, in 1999, AltaVista, one of the top engines at the time, shook the search industry with its launch of an auction based paid inclusion program. Websites could bid to show their listings for two weeks when certain keywords were searched. However, after only a few months, AltaVista ended their advertising program indicating the other search engines would need to be careful when approaching advertising.

By the end of 2000, the major search engines were offering some sort of paid listings program. Most were using pay per click, paid inclusion (paying a specific fee to be listed), or both. GoTo continued to grow using its auction based pay per click system, rebranded its company as Overture, and finally turned into Yahoo! Search Marketing when it was acquired by Yahoo! in 2003. Google has had its AdWords PPC program in place since 2000. Yahoo! and Google have had partners such as MSN, AOL, and other major engines, but as the industry continues its rapid growth, these partners are beginning create their own pay per click services; the two most recent being MSN Keywords and Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings.

Today

U.S. and Canadian advertisers spent $4 billion on search engine marketing in 2004 with over 80% of that figure on paid placement alone. Being a new and booming industry, there are many changes occurring in the overall industry. Search engines are continuously trying to increase revenue by targeting niche markets. Pay Per Call has been started by MIVA (formerly FindWhat) to show advertisements with phone numbers that even businesses without a website can use. Search engines are broadening their reach with services such as content and local targeting. Local targeting is also a growing market that can be used by small businesses to compete online in their geographic area. Content programs will show relevant ads based on the overall content on the page or site. They are also in the process of bringing image/banner ads back into their advertising mix. These are just some of the many changes happening in the industry today. Being such a dynamic industry tomorrow will bring even more innovations.

Tools & Guides for SEM/SEO Beginners

2005-08-06T12:33:00.000-04:00

There are a number of places to learn about Search Engine Marketing. Below is a list of different websites that can help beginner's learn basic concepts, techniques, and strategies of different areas in SEM.

Paid Search

Google AdWords Learning Center
The learning center has tutorials specifically tailored for AdWords, but the information included in their lessons can be used in all areas of PPC marketing.

Pay Per Click Search Engines - Reviewed
PayPerClickSearchEngines.com offers up to date reviews on most if not all the PPC search engines. Very valuable for the beginner or experienced SEM professional.

Yahoo! Search Marketing
This site has some more information, mostly pertaining to Yahoo! Sponsored Search. This site isn't as in depth as Google's, but still worth a look.

Simple Keyword Selection Tool
This tool from the Overture site allows you to put in a keyword and will give back other similar keywords that were queried in a search. It also shows how many times each keyword has been searched the previous month.

AdWords Keyword Tool
Similar to Yahoo's tool, but may give you other variations that you did not think of. You can also tailor your results for specific languages and countries.

Using Negatives
Learn the basics behind usings negative keywords to enhance your campaigns.

Search Engine Optimization

Bruce Clay Consultants
This site has lots of great information on search engine marketing and search engine optimization.

26 Steps to Market Your Website
Gives you bare bone essentials for getting traffic to your site. Many steps deal with tips to make your site as friendly and visible as possible to search engines.

It's Christmas in July ...err... August for Search Marketers

2005-08-05T18:02:00.000-04:00

The holiday shopping season has consistently been the maker or breaker of online retailers - the season can account for 50% or more of yearly revenues. Online shopping continues to increase and like its brick and mortar counterparts, it is big for online businesses. If you are managing a search campaign expect costs to increase and don't be surprised to see a lot more aggressive competition.

Webtrends has released the 2005 Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report (membership required) which has more details and statistics regarding the upcoming holiday season.

Microsoft's Search Strategy - Copy Copy Them

2005-08-05T17:55:00.000-04:00

It looks like MSN Search will be entering the marketplace using Google's expertise. Their new program, MSN Keywords, will have an almost identical format as Google's current AdWords program. It will consist of a 35 character maximum title and 70 character wrapped description. (currently Google uses two description lines with 35 characters on each line)

They will be using their own API system which is necessary to work with the large agencies who have sophisticated bid managing software. There is still no set launch date, but it should go live to the public before March of 2006.

MSN also has a new customizable search engine at www.start.com which is similar to Google's and Yahoo's. Microsoft has always been great at copying what others do well (Apple, Google), they should think about acquiring Xerox to gain more insight on the duplication business.

Read more on MSN Keywords at Search Engine Watch.

The Vole is Coming to Search! Google Beware!

2005-08-04T20:58:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal reports: "Microsoft next week will announce plans to begin U.S. testing of MSN Keywords, its own system for placing ads on its MSN Internet search site."

Microsoft tends to get into the game late with most big innovations these days. Search engine marketing is no different. MSN Search was always around, but was never very good. It seemed to just be one of those developments that Microsoft thought should be a part of their mix.

Now everything has changed. Microsoft is using its large bank account and putting lots of effort into taking profits away from Google. Google will have a much harder time brining in those profits investors are expecting that anybody had anticipated. They will need to become much more innovative if they want to stay on top.

Statistics: Half of Website Traffic Comes from Search

2005-08-04T20:38:00.000-04:00

There is a short article on MarketVOX about how most people reach their final destination on the web.

However, there is an interesting trend occuring. 61% of older users (25-64), which still make up a majority of online users, use search engines to get to websites while the majority of younger users prefer to directly type in or use bookmarks to get to sites they enjoy.

This information can be useful when think about SEM. Being high in both organic and paid results can be important to attract new and returning visitors to your site. At the same time, it is very important to pay attention to metrics for paid results since you are being charged everytime your ad is clicked. Depending on the type of site/business you operate, someone visiting your site may just be logging on or viewing their account instead of producing a conversion. Analyzing your own logs can show if your metrics are being skewed by returning visitors who are just using your paid ads as easy links to get to your site.

On the other side of the picture, making sure your customers are happy and return will become increasingly important for younger users (and older users as those users get older). Since this segment doesn't use search to get to their favorite sites, making sure they know your URL well or have bookmarked your page becomes one key to success.

Yahoo! New Addition for Fourth Position

2005-08-04T18:12:00.000-04:00

It seems Yahoo! is beginning to test displaying four ads above the organic results instead of the normal three. Search Engine Watch Forums has a thread by Search Player who spotted the change. Looks like Yahoo is looking to beef up the top line on their income statement.

AdWords Experiments with 200 char. Ads

2005-08-03T20:02:00.000-04:00

Threadwatch reports that Google is inviting a select few to be a part of Phase 2 of their test to see if 200 character ads perform better than their current ads which are only allowed a maximum of 70 characters.

Yahoo Search Marketing to Expand Content Network

2005-08-03T19:54:00.000-04:00

Yahoo! has announced it will expand its content network to include smaller websites such as personal sites and blogs with Y!Q Beta. This will bring increased competition to Google's Adsense program which currently is the type of advertising program a large percentage of websites currently use. This should dramatically increase impressions and clicks for advertisers in Yahoo content targeted ads.

Ask Jeeves Advertising - More Info

2005-08-03T19:48:00.000-04:00

Official Public Start Date: August 15, 2005
Minimum bid: $0.05
Positions Available: Top 3

Key advertiser benefits include:
-- Premium placement on Ask Jeeves and its syndication network
-- Low spend minimum that enables both large and small advertisers to
purchase search advertising via a self-service system
-- Increased visibility into campaign performance, enabling more effective
management of campaigns

Extensive reach:
-- With only a 13% average audience duplication between Ask Jeeves and
other major search engines, Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings enables
direct advertisers, agencies and SEMs to reach Ask Jeeves' unique
(unduplicated) audience and its syndication network of high quality
partners
-- According to Nielsen/NetRatings (May 2005), the Ask Jeeves network
reaches nearly one-quarter (25%) of the total online population

Ease of use:
-- Automated system provides control over purchasing, management and
campaign optimization
-- Instant campaign activation and a 24 hour cancellation policy
-- Streamlined interface and user-centric workflow enable customers to
make informed and effective purchasing decisions

Multi-campaign management features:
-- Advanced spend management options including daily or monthly budget
limits
-- Bidding system enables greater control over placement within paid
listing results
-- Real time campaign reporting and account alerts
-- Automated click fraud protection
-- Bulk-loading support for large keyword lists
-- Standard creative format minimizes the need to create new ads
specifically for Ask Jeeves

The official press release can be found here.

Important Google AdWords Delivery Change

2005-08-02T23:40:00.000-04:00

Starting today, August 8, AdWords will deliver more impressions for your ads when demand for them is greatest. Until now, the daily budget for AdWords ads has been divided nearly evenly throughout the 24-hour billing day. After this change, Google is going to be more closely matching ad serving to user traffic. In other words, the AdWords system will show your ad more often when demand is higher.

If user demand is steady, the AdWords system will spread your budget evenly across the day, showing your ads as often as your budget allows. If demand for your ad tends to spike during parts of the day (due to user traffic, the nature of your business, or for any other reason) the AdWords system will adjust to deliver more ad impressions at those times, and fewer at other times of the day. This ensures that your ad earns the most effective impressions your budget allows, and helps make sure that your budget is fully utilized each day.

Past Performance is No Indicator of Future Performance in Search Engine Marketing.

2005-08-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

True, you can gain invaluable and reliable data from past history of your campaigns. Problems begin to occur when something unexpected happens and has a drastic impact on your account.

E-Commerce Times has an article about how searches on the housing bubble have really blown up since the end of May. To companies using keywords targeting similar words or phrases will have seen a huge spike in clicks and thus costs.

Keeping abreast on the marketplace and current events is extremely important to keeping your accounts stable. You can use this external information to stay far from dangerous increases in spend or use it to your advantage with the appropriate strategy.

SEM: Real Life Tactics

2005-08-01T20:10:00.000-04:00

How do you improve ROI or CPO? Marketingsherpa provides a case study from Charles Schwab's CyberTrader Marketers.

Summary:

Step 1: Analyze your current statistics.
Step 2: Revamp and maximize your campaign.
Step 3: Research. Research. Research.
Step 4: Optimize. Increase what works, reduce what doesn't.
Step 5: Test. Then retest.
Step 6: Repeat.

Beginner's Guide To Content Targeting

2005-07-30T12:31:00.000-04:00

Inside AdWords posted a short introdcution to content targeting.

If you are new to SEM, content targeting is just an easier way to get listed on Google's content network which includes thousands of sites, large and small, that partner with Google.

Google also has two settings that can be very useful for tailoring ads to specific websites. They are Site Targeting, which allows you to specify certain sites to show your ads on and Site Exclusion, which allows you to choose specific sites to not display your ads. These two features can be used in conjunction with each other when trying to target a specific niche group of people.

Search Engine Marketing Glossary

2005-07-30T11:48:00.000-04:00

Strategy Rankings has a comprehensive SEM Glossary on their site.

If you are just beginning to learn about search or want to polish up on your vocab, meander over to the site and have a look. It is a great resource for anyone involved at any level of the industry.

Case Study: Overcome One-Size-Fits-All Strategy With Flexible Software

2005-07-29T18:41:00.000-04:00

DM News has a great case study outlining the approach Did-It Search Marketing and Cingular took when creating and implementing Cingular's search campaign using Did-It's adaptable Maestro software.

Bill Wise, Did-It's CEO, and Les Kruger, Cingular's Senior Manager of Business-to-Consumer Online Marketing discuss the steps they took to reach and surpass their target goals.

This is a very interesting case to read and gives an inside look at the thought process and strategy of two top companies in their respective industries. Just like with most things in life, there is more than one way to approach a problem. Deciding on the best way is the difficult part.

Local Search Is Getting More Granular

2005-07-28T20:13:00.000-04:00

Local search is the future for small businesses and big business outlets. Google has began including within its local search results extra information such as available rooms, pricing, etc. for a local hotel.

"This is one of those get ahead of your competitors opportunities that small businesses should take advantage of now. In two years, everyone will have done it, and the playing field will be more level."

Search Is Stealing Corporate Superstars

2005-07-28T19:27:00.000-04:00

Business Week reports that the top engines are starting to take top talent away from other large corporations with promises of cutting edge innovation, great culture, and the chance to work with the greatest minds in the industry.

Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are building up their workforce and drawing in some very prestegious names. Just recently, Google snatched up Kai-Fu Lee from Micrsoft to head their new research facility in China.

This influx of top tier talent is precluding a fierce competition within the industry. As everyone knows, in the end the customers will win by gaining more innovative and consumer oriented products.

AOL Getting Involved in the Mobile Search Game

2005-07-27T20:03:00.000-04:00

AOL has began testing using sponsored search results on mobile search queries. It gives users the power to search locally, compare products, and search for other content on their mobile devices.

With more people on the go and not sitting in front of a computer, this is a segment of the industry that is poised for growth in the next few years. Sites need to be optimized for mobile devices such as cell phones since the view screen and functionality is hindered by their small sizes.

I am also sure that once this area of search grows and begins to be more analyzed, it will be shown that even that conversion rates may become more difficult to track. However, more people who search and click sponsored links will be at the final stage of the buying cycle and will be ready to buy right then and there.

The Importance of Clickthrough Rate (CTR): Has it Changed?

2005-07-27T19:57:00.000-04:00

Andrew Goodman has released a thorough 4 page look at the new AdWords changes that are supposed to go into effect at the beginning of August.

The article is very informative and is highly recommended for anyone involved or interested in the SEM industry.

Ask Jeeves to Start Full PPC Program - Aug 1

2005-07-27T19:51:00.000-04:00

OnlineMediaDaily has reported that Ask Jeeves is planning on rolling out an entire new paid search platform on August 1st.

Currently, Ask Jeeves is partnering with Google to show it's sponsored results while having its own paid program for the top position. Sources have revealed that the new platform will be structured similarly to Google, or the soon to be old Google structure, with bids starting out at $0.05.

Google Testing New Types of Ads in Search

2005-07-26T20:20:00.000-04:00

Greg Yardley spotted something new. Google is testing out new types of ads on some of their servers. They are testing using their Link Units which are just the Title of advertisements under search results. You can view a screenshot below or read more about it on Greg's blog or read a post on Search Engine Watch.

How Yahoo Is Becoming the Next Big Media Giant

2005-07-26T10:24:00.000-04:00

Yahoo's Brilliant Solution: By figuring out how to make brand advertising work online, Terry Semel is on the verge of creating the 21st century's first media giant.

With numbers like $400 million, being spent online from Chrysler alone, its no wonder why everyone's talking about online marketing. Search engines are probably the most visted sites online and that is exactly where most of the ad dollars are going.

Yahoo has been filling its ranks with seasoned veterans of the advertising industry. Now it wants to use these experienced professionals to turn itself into a goliath in media. At the same time, companies like Google are using tech savvy employees to think of new and many times unorthodox ways of doing business.

The article from Forbes goes into the specifics of what Yahoo! is planning and how they will use their available resources to get there.

Will old methods work in this new technically invigorated industry? Only time will tell, but there most likely will be an increasing divergence of paths between Yahoo and Google in the future.

The Value of Competitor Intelligence

2005-07-26T06:20:00.000-04:00

Do you konw your competitors? ... Are you sure?

Paul J. Bruemmer over at Pandia Search Engine New has an interesting article on the power of knowing your competition in the online world.

The article covers protecting your brand name online, keeping competitors from stealing your customers away from you, and goes into some techniques of researching your competitors to gain an advantage.

Internet Activity Patterns are Cyclical - OPA Internet Activity Index

2005-07-25T22:01:00.000-04:00

A report has been published by the Online Publisher's Association showing emerging patterns in online activity.

The results have shown that user spent more time in the content arena in June than in May, mostly at travel and weather related sites.

Searches on the other hand have decreased 8.5% and commerce went down 4.9% - mostly becuase those people are spending more time enjoying the warmer weather and going on vacations.

Enid Burns posted a slightly more detailed report with charts and all.

Searching for Hispanic customers? Find them at the Search Sites.

2005-07-25T21:53:00.000-04:00

With over 14.2 million Hispanic users using the internet and growing, marketers who are trying to target them will need to know where to look. As a short continuation on my previous article, More Hispanics are Shopping - Are you ready?, there are new statistics from Advertising Age in their report, "Hispanic Fact Pack: Annual Guide to Hispanic Advertising & Marketing 2005 Edition".

There are two striking conclusions that can be made from the above chart. Hispanics are flocking to search engines, specifically Yahoo! and Time Warner sites. While Google boasts the largest chunk of the pie nationally, in the Hispanic market seems to like the other big players a lot better. The second conclusion that can be made from the chart shows that Hispanics are spending time shopping online.

Search Engine Roudtable points out that most companies aren't taking the appropriate steps to target these customers. Even the sites that are trying to make their sites or advertisements more Hispanic Friendly, are just translating text between languages and aren't taking the time to make sure proper grammar is used. (Haven't they heard about Chevy's problems with the Nova in Spanish speaking countries back in the day?)

From all the talk about reaching the exploding Hispanic markets, it seems as though most companies want to play but don't think they need to prepare for the big game.

View the entire Hispanic Fact Pack.

Nielsen/NetRatings: Search - Quarterly Results in Review

2005-07-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

Another quarter has finished and Nielsen/NetRatings have reported statistics for the search engine industry with AOL and Ask Jeeves finishing off with double digit growth.

AOL and Ask Jeeves had the largest percentage increase in searches this past quarter. However, in sheer units, Yahoo doubled and Google tripled the combined number of increased searches for AOL and Ask. MSN was the only large engine to actual post a decrease in the number of searches. Hopefully they'll be able to make corrections or their new PPC program may not turn out very well.

Google commanded almost half of the entire share of searches while Yahoo and MSN had 22% and 12%, respectively.

MSN and AOL both had large percentage gains in the image search segment. Again, as in search, Yahoo's and Google's increase was in multiples of the combined increase for the other two engines.

The actual press release can be found on the NetRatings site, but Danny Sullivan's post digs a bit deeper and provides a much more thorough analysis.

How Effective is Advertising? Nobody Knows.

2005-07-22T19:17:00.000-04:00

Seems most advertisers are having more pressure put on them to be accountable for their advertising campaigns, reports the New York Times.

After search marketing introduced concrete metrics such as CPO/CPA and ROI into the advertising arena, an increasing number of CEOs are beginning to seek the same feedback from their other marketing managers.

A recent study by Marketing Management Analytics shows that only 19% of respondants were satisfied with their ability to define, measure, and take steps in regards to accountability. Furthermore, an astounding 73% couldn't even tell if their advertising or marketing campaigns had any effect at all on sales.

As society becomes more reliant on technology in our everyday lives, it is becoming easier to track a person's actions or reactions. While privacy is always a concern, the advertising industry is in dire need to quickly make changes in their approach to the business or they will soon themselves out of business.

The Web cookie is crumbling -- and marketers feel the fallout

2005-07-21T20:50:00.000-04:00

"Internet cookies used to be a treat for marketers looking for ways to measure advertising response, but lately they've become a lot less tasty."

Globeandmail.com has an interesting article on trends in cookie deletion. As more and more internet users are affected by spyware, virii, and privacy concerns, they are increasingly trying to keep themselves and their computers from becoming victims. People are using anti-spyware programs and also manually deleting cookies - roughly once a month according to the article.

While cookies have gotten a bad rap for their unethical use by some companies as well as their unhealthy fat content, most marketers use cookies to gather customer information to better serve the customer and to track key metrics. In the pay per click arena, many times the agency won't even get credit for a conversion if the user deletes their cookies after clicking a link but before completing the conversion. It is also detrimental to the optimization of an ad campaign because the statistics will not be completely accurate - you don't benefit from fixing something that might not even be broken.

While most harmful to long term consumer behavior analysis, the problem isn't as bad in search since a majority of purchases are made on the same day or within a few days of a click. Nevertheless, depending on the metrics you are trying to measure, it might be critical to track a customer for as long as possible, currently 60 days (the length of time before a cookie expires).

Pay-per-click Speculation Market Soaring

2005-07-21T19:24:00.000-04:00

"The number of web sites being opened purely to publish pay-per-click advertising links from the likes of Google Inc and Yahoo Inc is rocketing, according to VeriSign Inc, which runs the .com and .net domain names." - reports the Computer Business Review Online.

Have you ever searched for something, clicked an orgnaic or sponsored link, and get to a page that is just a bunch of Google or Yahoo ads? This is basically what's going on. People are buying up domain names and acting as affiliates for the engines.

While some of these sites do contribute some added value by offering some information to consumers, most either offer very limited or inaccurate information or none at all.

This type of enronish behavior can be detrimental to search engines. Of course, you won't stop searching and it is just an annoyance, but if you remember, popups used to be an annoyance until you got one, two, or more on almost every page you visited.

Who wants to click a link to get to another page of links anyways?

Targeting Hispanics? Don't Forget About Europe.

2005-07-21T19:04:00.000-04:00

European search engine marketing (SEM) is expected to grow from €856 million in 2004 to three billion euros by 2010 according to "Europe's Search Engine Marketing Forecast, 2004 to 2010" from Forrester Research.

With revenues from search in Europe reaching €1.4 billion this year alone, it isn't difficult to see that in Europe, like in the U.S., search is getting to be big business.

If you think that you're all of a sudden going to have to learn a whole new set of languages to run your campaigns, you shouldn't worry about that yet. It wouldn't hurt, but the biggest growth is in the United Kingdom where they speak English and most Europeans have a good grasp on English any how.

Neverthless, if you are marketing to different countries, you must remember that each country and even each area within a country has their own preferences and traits. So don't forget to make sure your keywords and creatives are targeting the right people.

Buyer's Guide to Paid Search Advertising Agencies

2005-07-20T23:12:00.000-04:00

A who's who in Search Engine Marketing by marketingsherpa. The Buyer's Guide gives a comprehensive summary of 61 paid search agencies in the industry.

Each company was asked to take a 172 point profile questionnaire to fully understand their technology, knowledege, and experience. The full report costs $199 and can be purchased directly from the website.

Experts React to New AdWords Keyword Status

2005-07-20T22:45:00.000-04:00

Just days after Google announced changes to the way a keyword's status is shown, experts have written their thoughts on how to keep from getting overtaken by the new changes.

Greg Ives of KeywordRanking has written a short article highlighting his thoughts on how best to successful work with Google's new status structure.

His key points are:

* alter the structure of the account, campaigns, ad groups and keywords
* alter campaign budgeting
* refine content targeting
* optimize for your max CPC
* select proper keyword matching
* ensure rotation of quality ad text
* proper keyword selection
* build out campaign negative keywords
* implement content website exclusion

While this may be a good plan before the implementation. Before you go turning your entire AdWords account upside-down, it would be better to first see how the new changes affect your account. It could quite possibly be that the changes improve your campaign without any modifications.

Nevertheless, it is always good to be prepared and not have to make changes than to not be prepared and struggle to correct the damage.

More Hispanics are Shopping - Are you ready?

2005-07-20T19:20:00.000-04:00

Many if not all of the major corporations have been paying more and more attention to the explosively growing Hispanic population in the United States. Now, they are becoming an ever increasing presence on the internet and are looking to spend their money.

There are a number of strategies that can be used to reach these new customers. Each one can be tested in your current campaigns to see what best works for you.

First, you can try to make a whole new campaign for the Hispanic market. Use new spanish in creatives targeted to the tastes of the people who may know their native language better than English.

If you do not want to go and create an entire new campaign, take a look at keywords currently being shown. Some of these keywords could get better results if the ad copy was more targeted towards the Hispanic population. Just changing certain words or phrases can make a huge difference in click through rates.

For each account, analysis and testing will need to be used to see what works best. Once you find what is working, expand on it and optimize the campaign to achieve your goals.

Don't Blink, or You Might Skip Over My Ad!!!

2005-07-19T20:31:00.000-04:00

If you still haven't heard, Did-it Search Marketing, Enquiro, and Eye Tools have worked together to conduct a study on the eye movement patterns of searchers.

The key findings are:

Organic Ranking Visibility
(shown in a percentage of participants looking at a listing in this location)

Rank 1 - 100%
Rank 2 - 100%
Rank 3 - 100%
Rank 4 - 85%
Rank 5 - 60%
Rank 6 - 50%
Rank 7 - 50%
Rank 8 - 30%
Rank 9 - 30%
Rank 10 - 20%

Side sponsored ad visibility
(shown is percentage of participants looking at an ad in this location)

1 – 50%
2 – 40%
3 – 30%
4 – 20%
5 – 10%
6 – 10%
7 – 10%
8 – 10%

As you can see, and probably know from experience, being in the top results can have a huge impact on your visibility and click through rates. You can also see that below the fold (the first and thickest red bar, that users lose interest. They will usually look elsewhere if they don't find their results below the fold or at least on the first page of results.

You can see a sample, which includes the "Golden Triangle", here. The full report costs $149.

Content Targeting Is Important, and Growing!

2005-07-19T20:12:00.000-04:00

At the Ask Jeeves Blog, there are statistics for site/blog feeds and the number of feed/blog articles per month. These statistics can be critical to seeing where the search industry is headed.

With more and more websites (like this one), whether personal or commercial posting information targeted at specific niche groups of people, it can become lucrative to target specific sites or a group of similar sites that attract the same people who buy your products.

Google has already introduced site INclusion in which you can choose specific sites to show content ads on. If you are selling widgets, its only logical to show ads on ilovewidgets.com. However, it is far too difficult to specify each particular website to target.

This is where the engines come in. Each engine has its own partner program to show ads on websites. If you can create an organized and well thought out campaign specifically for content matching, you can increase your impressions on relevant sites, increase your click through rate, and increase your conversions.

Yahoo's 2Q Profit Up More Than Sixfold...

2005-07-19T19:52:00.000-04:00

...stock drops 10% after the closing bell. Yahoo was able to dramatically increase its profit, but it was mostly due to its sale of its stake of Google. Even with the reported earnings, Yahoo still missed Wall Street's expectations causing the significant drop in price. With the search marketing industry booming and continuously growing, what does this say about Yahoo and its future in search?

Basically, it is saying that Yahoo isn't growing as fast as the industry. Granted, Yahoo is more diversified in its business units, however, with such a robust growth in search marketing, it should not just be meeting, but beating or even crushing expectations as Google has so far been able to do.

While some polls report Google's market share at over 50% and Yahoo's at around 25%, comScore states the shares are roughly 37% and 30% respectively. Since Yahoo is not performing as well as it should, it brings to question the future sustainability of the company. So far, users are looking at Google as if it could do no wrong and thus its user base keeps growing while shrinking the number of searchers for the other engines. Yahoo and the other engines will need to rethink their strategies to fight against Google or they will continue to lose market share and displease investors.

How to Implement a Successful PPC Advertising Campaign

2005-07-19T19:44:00.000-04:00

Phil Robinson provides a great tutorial on implementing a pay per click marketing campaign. He discusses everything from tracking metrics to writing creatives. This tutorial can be invaluable to novice and seasoned search professionals.

He also has a Beginners Guide to Search Engine Marketing white paper explaining the basics of the industry and engines. Both great reads.

11 Ways to Improve Landing Pages

2005-07-18T23:18:00.000-04:00

So you've got the user to click on your ad, but that's only the first step. How do you go from targeted lead to conversion? Follow 11 simple steps to maximize the effectiveness of your landing pages.

Just what are Americans searching for these days?

2005-07-18T20:37:00.000-04:00

Chris Sherman, Associate Editor at clickz.com breaks down a recent iCrossings report about the search habits of Americans. With over 2,100 respondants, the results can be looked upon as a guide to where advertising dollars will be going, who exactly will be targeted, and information on how best to attract those searchers to your site.

So what are people searching for?

Hobbies - 88%
Directions / Maps - 75%
News - 64%
Shopping - 51%
Entertainment Sites - 47%

What does this mean?

It means that people are using the internet for just about everything. It also means that more money will be put into these areas to advertise to visitors. These ads will need to become more and more targeted as the content on the sites become more specific to the user browsing them. The major engines already have taken big steps to target specific demographics as traditional advertising has done in the past with geo-targeting, content matching, and behavioral targeting.

To view the full report, send an e-mail to search@icrossing.com with your full name, company name and e-mail address.

Google AdWords Changes Keyword Status

2005-07-17T22:52:00.000-04:00

The days of on hold, in trial, normal, and disabled keywords are over. They will now be known as only active or inactive. While this may seem as a big change targeted at making AdWords easier to use and understand, it looks as though it will actually make some aspects, such as bidding, more complicated.

Within the announcement from comes a new term, Quality Score. Quality score is an algorithmic equation that can be compared to the formula used for displaying organic results in that it uses a variety of inputs to calculate your rank and thus your position in Google's paid results. Instead of Google just using your CTR (click-through-rate) multiplied by your max bid, it will use a multitude of variables to determine your rank. The new official definition of your Quality Score is "your keyword’s clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of your ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors."

A keyword's Quality Score should help ads become more targeted by reducing the cost for highly targeted ads and increasing costs for less targeted ads. However, at the same time, it is beginning to make the management of search campaigns into a more complicated and time consuming job. Professionals will need to take these factors into consideration when setting up, implementing, and optimizing campaigns.

This may be a sign that the industry is getting more mature and extensive knowledge and experience of search and the engines will be critical to a successful campaign.

First Post!

2005-07-17T20:47:00.000-04:00

Well I haven't found too many useful sites/blogs out there that focus on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) so here is my blog. I will try to frequently post links, thoughts, and news about the industry and its future.

Okay, that's all for now. Enjoy!

Links

2005-07-16T08:48:00.000-04:00

Website Marketing at Webmasters Reference.com: Your complete guide to setting up and maintaining a profitable website.

SEO Directory - A directory of resources for search engine marketing, web design, and related computer technology.

The Pheedster SEO Blog and Directory

Work At Home Business Forum

Business Help Forum