Saturday, March 28, 2009

Top 10 PPC Search Engines

Our list of what we consider to be the Top 10 Pay Per Click Search Engines based on volume and quality.


Google AdWords


Google AdWords provides just about everything you could want in pay per click search advertising. It's quick and easy to set up an account and you can have your ads up and running in about 5 minutes from sign-up.


Yahoo Search marketing


Yahoo! Search Marketing maintains a highly professional, well maintained site. It pioneered the pay-per-click search engine model in 1997,after seeing a need for a more focused search engine. After operating as GoTo.com the name was changed to Overture and in 2005 it was rebranded as Yahoo!Search Marketing.


MIVA


MIVA is a network of partner sites powering over 2 billion queries per month. When you open an account with MIVA your ad can appear across the MIVA network, which includes sites such as CNet.com, InfoSpace and WorldNews.MIVA's proprietary bid-for-position technology allows you to set the amount you wish to pay for each keyword.


7Search


7Search focuses on serving website owners of "low profit margin" categories of business that can not afford to pay over ten cents per visitor.7Search currently provides advertiser results for over 1.5 billion searches a month.


ABCSearch

ABCSearch has been around since 2001. According to ABCSearch it is the world's largest privately held meta search engine handling over 3 billion searches a month across its network of specialized engines and smaller search engines offering online advertisers an affordable way to diversify their PPC traffic efforts.


Microsoft adCenter


Microsoft adCenter is the new player in the big league when it comes to pay per click search marketing, but it's already making an impact.
It offers a great range of features including the ability to target your ads to Live Search users who match your optimum target-market criteria.


Findology


Findology Interactive Media, Inc. was founded in May 2000 and is currently serving over 3 billion searches per month.
Findology is currently offering PayPerClickSearchEngine.com visitors a $50 bonus in free clicks when they sign up using this link:


Marchex


Marchex's stated mission is to provide consumers with the most comprehensive and compelling local experiences on the Internet; to provide local businesses with the best products for acquiring customers; and through a shared commitment to each other and to its customers, to deliver consistent product innovation and shareholder value creation.


Searchfeed


Searchfeed.com provides online advertisers with a cost-effective, easily tracked method of generating sales leads.

What is SEO?

Links

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is often considered the more technical part of Web marketing. A process of increasing number of visitors to a website by ranking high in search engine results.


Choosing the right keywords


The center of optimization are the keyword phrase(s) for which you want a high ranking in search engines result pages (SERP’s). When you choose you keyword phrase you must take in consideration primarily your market (they must reflect what you sell) , the number of searches for it and the competition for that particularly keyword phrase.


On-page SEO


On page SEO means the code page optimization so, in this phase, you should pay special attention to the following:


1. Title Tag


The title tag is one of the most important factors in achieving high rankings. A title tag is essentially an HTML code that creates the words that appear in the top bar of your Web browser.

These are the general rules you should follow when optimizing your title tag:

  • Use in your title maximum 3 keyword phrases and 100 characters
  • If possible , don’t use stop words like “a, and, or”
  • Avoid spam: don't repeat the same keyword in your title more than twice; it's considered spam. Also, some engines penalize for using all CAPS.


2. Meta Description tag


The META description tag describes your site's content, giving search engines' spiders an accurate summary filled with multiple keywords. The META description tag should contain multiple keywords organized in a logical sentence.

  • Place the keywords phrase at the beginning of your description to achieve the best possible ranking
  • Many SE's use this to describe your site so make sure you not only repeat each of your keyword phrases (max 3) at least once but make this a true representation of the page that the visitor will be viewing, and try to keep it under 255 chars


3. The Meta Keywords Tag


The meta keywords tag allows you to provide additional text for crawler-based search engines to index along with your body copy. How does this help you? Well, for most major crawlers, it doesn't. That's because most crawlers now ignore the tag. The meta keywords tag is sometimes useful as a way to reinforce the terms you think a page is important for on the few crawlers that support it. For instance, if you had a page about penis pills -- AND you say the words penis pills at various places in your body copy -- then mentioning the words "penis pills" in the meta keywords tag MIGHT help boost your page a bit higher for those words.


4. Body text


This is what your surfers will actually see when coming to your site. There are many issues to consider when placing keywords in the text of your pages. Most search engines index the full text of each page, so it's vital to place keywords throughout your text.


Off-page SEO (Link popularity)


Link popularity is the number of relevant quality inbound links pointing to your website. Most major search engines use link popularity as part of their algorithm which helps to determine the relevance of your website. If you don't have inbound links, you won't rank well for competitive keywords.


Ways to build link popularity


Link exchange


There are some very important aspects you should consider when exchanging links. The right way to exchange links is by finding quality, relevant sites with which to exchange links. These are the links that search engines care about. Convincing webmasters to exchange links with you isn’t easy, this is a time consuming process.

This is how it works: You search for sites that are in the same general topic area as yours (but not sites that compete directly). After you find a list of suitable link exchange partners, you place a link to their site on your site. Then you email the webmasters of the other sites and ask for a link exchange. Do not send generic copies of the same email to each webmaster however. Write a personalized email to the webmaster explaining what you liked about the site (be specific) and why you think a link exchange would benefit both parties.

Be sure to address the webmaster by name if at all possible. Also, be sure to give him your link exchange information. This should include the title of your site, a short description, and the URL that you want his site to link to (this doesn't have to be the home page). And be sure to include the URL of the page that already has his reciprocal link on it.

Be prepared for rejection for various reasons, this is normal so don't be discouraged you will also receive email accepting your proposal. Verify that your reciprocal link is in fact on their sites and then send a "thank you" email. Here are some keyword phrases (KW) you can type in Google for finding related sites:


"Add a link" + "your keyword"

"Add a site" + "your keyword"

"Add URL" + "your keyword"

"Add an URL" + "your keyword"

"Submit a link" + "your keyword"

"Submit a site" + "your keyword(s)"

"Submit URL" + "your keyword(s)"

"Submit an URL" + "your keyword(s)"

"Suggest a link" + "your keyword"

"Suggest a site" + "your keywords"

"Suggest URL" + "your keyword(s)"

"Suggest an URL" + "your keyword"

"your keywords" + "directory"

"your keywords" + "directories

"keyword reciprocal + directory

“keyword exchange + directory

“keyword add site + directory

“keyword resources + directory

“keyword links + directory


Building inbound links through reciprocal link exchanges is very powerful website promotional tool. If done correctly, increasing your linkage will:

· increase your traffic significantly

· improve your visibility in the search engines by raising

your link popularity

· provide an added resource to your website

· save you a lot of advertising money

You can use Arelis or Optilink software to manage your link exchange campaign.


Allow other people to publish your e-zine on their web site.

Include your web site's ad and link in each issue you publish. This may also help you increase the number of people that subscribe to your e-zine.


Create a directory of web sites on a specific topic.

Give people the option of adding the directory to their web site by linking to it. Put your business ad at the top of the directory's home page


Offer a free e-book to your web site visitors.

The ebook should be related to your target audience. Allow them to give the e-book to their own web site visitors by linking directly to your web site.


Exchange content with other web sites.

You could trade articles, top ten lists, etc. Both parties could include a resource box at the end of the content.


Join or create a web ring.

A web ring is a group of web sites on a similar subject agreeing to link together. To find a web ring to join type keywords "web rings" into your search engine of choice.


Directory Submission


Directories are different from standard search engines in that a search engine will query a database of indexed websites before it produces results and a directory is a database of websites that have been arranged by subject.

Search engines put weight on the links coming from directories which is why is so important that you know how to submit you site. Remember, that your site must be optimized before submitting and not in different construction phases; otherwise it will be rejected from submission. For a correct submission select the most appropriate category related to the subject matter of the site and then submit, suggesting a title, description and any other information the directory may require. Also make sure you read their submission guidelines.

Here is a list of quality directories: Yahoo (299$ yearly fee), DMOZ (free), Jayde B2B Directory (free), GoGuides Directory (free), JoeAnt Directory (free), Business.com (99$), BlueFind Directory (40$), Zeal (free).


FFA pages and link exchange programs


DON’T USE THEM - Most search engines, such as Google says that FFA sites are an artificial and illegitimate way to increase link popularity. Google considers "link farms" spam, and will ban your site for participating in an FFA or link exchange program.


Links

Links

Links are the most important element after content on the internet! Why? Because this is how the internet world is tied together – through links. This guide will explain key factors about links and how to use them in the right way for acquiring good rankings in search engines.

Link campaigns


Every successful web site has to have links pointing to it. That’s the core principle of search engine rankings. So to gain visitors and rankings in search engines a link campaign must be planned and executed.


Where to get links

Links can be gained in several ways - the most popular are explained below.


Directories – are the best way to start working on your link campaign. There are hundreds of directories and many of them are free so it is good to start there. Some might require a backlink before accepting inclusion, some might require 5-20$ payment but in return will give 4 to 10 links to your website to different pages and with different link texts.


Forums and newsgroups – are another option for gaining links – all it takes is posting into related places and along with posts include also links to website. Links can be integrated in signature or also in part of reply if there is appropriate information.


Blogs – are a great solution to give its owner total control over content and links. As a lot of blogging companies offer blogs for free it just makes sense to create them and use for link creation and building a network of sites around central website, however these blog sites have to be linked by other external sites.


Articles and press releases – represent a very powerful strategy for getting one way links as well as an instant stream of extra visitors if the article is republished by some online or offline medium. Places to submit articles:

http://www.goarticles.com

http://www.articlecity.com

http://www.a1articles.com

http://www.ideamarketers.com

http://www.searchwarp.com

http://www.isnare.com/

http://www.amazines.com

http://www.articledepot.co.uk

http://www.articledashboard.com

http://www.easyarticles.com

http://www.articlebin.com

http://www.articlebeach.com

http://www.articlehub.com

http://www.articlegarden.com

http://www.articlesphere.com

http://www.articlealley.com

http://www.articlesfactory.com

http://www.articlewise.com

http://www.articlegeek.com

http://www.writeyourarticles.com

http://www.media13.com

http://www.submityournewarticle.com

http://www.article-hut.com

http://www.bharatbhasha.com

http://www.article-spot.com

http://www.articlefusion.com

http://www.article-planet.com

http://www.valuablecontent.com

http://www.theallineed.com

http://www.articletrader.com

http://www.articleworld.net

http://www.certificate.net

http://www.articlepoint.com

http://www.alumbo.com

http://www.reprintarticles.com

http://www.free-articles-zone.com

http://www.articlefinders.com

http://www.articlejoe.com

http://www.articleson.com

http://www.article-hangout.com

http://www.linksnoop.com

http://www.fresh-articles.com

http://www.stickyarticle.com

http://www.article-content-king.com

http://www.articlematrix.com

http://www.publisherscloninghouse.com/

http://www.linkgrinder.com

http://www.rectonet.com

http://www.anyarticles.com


DMOZ and Yahoo directories – these two are very powerful in eyes of search engines – also called trusted sites. Link from any of these will assure search engines that your site should be high quality. However, it is quite tricky to get in free DMOZ especially if it is a 13 page affiliate site with links and banners everywhere. The same applies to Yahoo as well as 300$ to 600$ nonrefundable fee to review your site for inclusion which won’t guarantee inclusion.


Link exchange – most popular way for gaining huge numbers of links and improve site rankings. Only disadvantages that reciprocal links are worth less than one way links.


Link networks – stay away from these. Getting 500 links in one day is a sure way to get penalized by search engines.


Link gaining speed


The speed of links appearing in a website is used for several spam prevention filters invented by search engines. For a new website it wouldn’t be advisable to get more than 100 links in the first month. This mean 2-3 links a day as an optimum way for first month. Why? Because site has to grow slowly as it would do naturally. Next month the number of links can be grown at speed of 3-5 links per day. On third month up to 5-10 links a day can be added. For older sites that already have a good reputation and have PageRank of 4 or more and 500+ links, the speed can be faster - 10-30 links a day.


Anchor text


Anchor text is very important as it is directly responsible to what keywords site will be ranking in search engines. However, they have to be selected wisely. If most incoming links to your site has anchor text “Zoo” then it is 100% likely that the site won’t rank for “Gardening” keywords as it is optimized for “Zoo”. This means that website owner have to select correct keywords.


Link relevancy


Nowadays situation relevancy is taking an even higher importance than ever. Engines take a serious look at not only what PageRank and reputation the site has, but also the topic the site is about

For example, if page “Weight loss pills” links to website “Programming”, this will be interpreted as bad and a low quality link that won’t offer as much benefit as if the link were on the same or a familiar topic. The more links from relevant topic pages - the better.


Link proportions


There are lots of rumors about what link proportions a website should have. How many links should be one-way and how many of them can be reciprocal?

Answer is simple – the more one way links to website the better! 20, 30, 50, 90, 100%!

Why? Simply put – the more one way links the more valuable the site is and the better reputation it has. If reciprocal linking is used heavily, the engines can minimize the value of them. Another thing is that link partners take away a portion of PageRank.


Exit links per page


A common mistake many webmasters make is having lots of exit links to partner and affiliate sites. Sometimes it leads to 10 or more exit links per page which is bad from two aspects. Search engines can see this page as some sort of spam, and these many exit links take away valuable PageRank and minimize the possibility to rank well in search engines.

A simple solution is to minimizing the exit links and use them more effective. There is no need to have 25 links in one article whenever the product name is mentioned.

The same applies to link exchanges – there is no need to have on all pages links to partner pages. It is quite enough to create a separate page for this purpose and keep them there.


Exit links to other sites


The fact is that Google engineers say that it is normal to have one way links to a website as well as one way exit links to other websites (this means – the site that receives the link doesn’t have to link back). This makes sense since as there can be websites that are related and enhance the visitor experience or as references but once again don’t overdo. Several links are okay but too many again looks bad and can harm your website.



Final word


Add content and add links. Start slowly and as time goes on – increase the speed and keep adding content. Remember to link to the homepage as well as to internal pages or categories as well as getting one way and reciprocal links. Use a large number of keywords in your links and don’t overdo it with exit links, especially affiliate links per page. In no time the site will be driving steady stream of visitors and growing as you keep promoting it.