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Pay For Position Search Engines: A Source for Inexpensive, Targeted Traffic

Pay for position search engines, also known as pay for rank
or pay per click engines were pioneered just a few years ago
by Goto.

Pay for position search engines, also known as pay for rank
or pay per click engines were pioneered just a few years ago
by Goto.com. In the beginning, Goto.com was disregarded by
many Internet experts who were confident that Webmasters
would not choose to pay for a search engine position. At
that time, the assumption was valid, given that most popular
search engines accepted new sites into their listings free
of charge.

Several years later, however, the Internet is a radically
different place. Many big player search engines are
struggling to break-even financially, their listings are
populated with spam, which over time has forced many worthy
Websites to accept low rankings or even to being banned for
using one too many keywords on the wrong page.

==> Goto.com

The Goto.com principle is simple -- you pay to be listed. To
many Webmasters this seems a terrible proposition at first
glance, however after further investigation, Goto.com
clients discover a flexible system that gives them far more
control over their listings than was previously achievable.

To be listed at Goto you need to create an account, deposit
an amount of your choosing (there is usually a minimum of
$25) and create your listings. Listings consist of titles,
descriptions, your Website address, keywords, and most
importantly, a bid amount. The bid amount is the amount of
money that will be deducted from your account every time a
searcher at Goto clicks on your listing.

The amount you bid is usually determined by the amounts
other Webmasters are bidding for the chosen keyword(s). So,
if the number one bid for 'health' is $0.90 then you would
need to bid $0.91 to become the top ranking site when
someone searches for that keyword. You could also bid $0.89
and be listed in second place, which is still very
effective.

==> Competition For Goto

The success of Goto.com is a problem for Webmasters with a
small advertising budget. The bid amount for the health
keyword above is just one example. In reality, popular
keywords on Goto.com can fetch as much as $3 or $4 for the
top spot. Enter the competition. Newer pay for position
search engines such as Kanoodle and FindWhat have less
traffic than Goto, but at the same time the cost of
achieving a top listing is within the reach of many
Webmasters. The cost of being listed within the top five
positions at one of these newer engines can be reached by
almost anyone.

==> Regional -- A New Marketplace

New, regional, pay for position search engines are emerging.
Currently, the United Kingdom with its large base of online
users has the most choice, with some regional engines
offering to list national and international sites. The
regional search engines are allowing international
entrepreneurs access to markets that were previously
difficult to reach -- giving a new lease on life to
affiliate programs, content sites and other Web services.

==> Getting The Most From Pay For Position Search Engines

For the business owner with a very large advertising budget,
Goto.com may be the only search engine with whom you need to
be listed. Results from Goto now partially power sites such
as AltaVista and an array of metasearch engines. However, if
your budget is more modest, then the widely accepted
solution is to list on as many pay for position search
engines as possible, and to place low bids for as many
keywords as possible. As with all vibrant markets, increased
competition is providing an increasing choice for the
Internet business owner.

==> Client Interfaces

All of the top pay for position engines provide dedicated
Web interfaces so that clients can control their listings
easily. These interfaces are available 24 hours a day, seven
days a week allowing fast updates to titles, descriptions
and bid amounts as well as allowing clients to add new sites
as desired.

Most pay for position engines allow the creation of client
accounts before payment is required -- giving you the
opportunity to evaluate the ease of use of each particular
system.

==> Changing Times

In the search engine world, thousands of spammers have
forced the big search engines into implementing strict
listing policies, often at the expense of legitimate
Websites seeking a decent search engine ranking. Pay for
position is helping to level the field. Most spammers will
not pay for a listing, as a consequence, pay for position
search engines are populated by legitimate businesses and
entrepreneurs seeking to advertise to their desired markets.

With a pay for position search engine, there is no longer
any need to compete with spammers and homepages for top
rankings.

The new rules are:
* YOU choose your title
* YOU choose your description
* YOU choose where you are ranked

It's a simple philosophy prevalent in the offline business
world -- and one that is now available to online businesses,
as well.

More information can be found at:
http://www.goto.com
http://www.kanoodle.com
http://www.findwhat.com
http://www.uksprite.com
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Simon J. Marcantonio, a Director and founder of
the UKSprite search engine at http://www.uksprite.com

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