Search Engines Are Advertising That Works
What is the most effective advertising strategy for Web marketers?
Banner ads? Print ads?
Spam mail?
Sorry, none of the above! According to a July 1998 study by WebCMO,
the most effective method of generating Web site traffic is "Search
Engine Submissions."
This study asked Web marketers for their perception of the effectiveness
of different Web site marketing techniques. The following data from
the study shows ratings of over-all effectiveness on a scale of
1 to 5, with 5 being the most effective.
Search Engine Submissions 3.35 Solicited or Opt-In Email 3.34
Offline Advertising 3.04 Press Release 3.00
Banner Advertising 2.85 Discussion Forums 2.83
Sponsorships 2.61 Newsgroups 2.46
Strategic Linking 2.44 Spam 1.83
While submitting to search engines is the most effective method,
submitting alone is not enough. That is only the first part
of an effective search engine strategy. You also need to make sure
that your site achieves a top ranking. Otherwise, no one will find
your site even though you have submitted it to search engines. This
extra effort will separate you from the vast majority of businesses
on the Web.
Another part of the WebCMO study rated the effectiveness of different
methods for generating sales. Search engines are close to the top
of this chart, but opt-in mailing lists rate a little higher in
this category. This is probably because sales associated with mass
e-mailing are more easily tracked than sales from search engine
traffic unless special software is used.
Search engine promotion offers an advantage over most other marketing
techniques because you can get results without having to spend hard
earned money. Unlike acquiring mailing lists or buying banner ads,
search engine submission and positioning is FREE. The trick to making
a big profit is simply knowing how to do it properly.
For the complete text of the study see:
http:// www. webcmo. com/ report/ opss1/ report1. htm
Types of Search Engines
Key to improving your Web site's rank in the different search
engines is an understanding of the basic criteria by which search
engines index and then retrieve documents. Before you submit your
Web site to each search engine, we want you to have the tools and
information to maximize your results.
There are two primary kinds of search services:
1. Search engines: These rely on "software spiders" to index Web
sites. You submit your page to a search engine and the spider will
index your entire site. Theoretically, these spiders might find
your site by accident, but odds are they won't unless you go to
them and tell them about your site by filling out their "submit"
page. Examples of search engines are AltaVista, Excite, and Lycos.
2. Directories: These rely on submissions from users and Web site
owners to populate their indexes. Most directories add your site
to their index, but generally they link only to your home page rather
than indexing the full text of each page on your site. Examples
of directories are Yahoo! and Open Directory.
We will refer to both search engines and directories as "search
engines." This report deals with only the eight most important search
engines including:
Search Service: Type of Service:
1. AltaVista search engine
2. AOL Search directory (OpenDirectory partnership) supplemented
by Inktomi when no matches available in the OpenDirectory
3. Excite search engine
4. HotBot search engine
5. Go. com search engine
6. Google search engine
7. Lycos directory (OpenDirectory partnership) supplemented by the
Lycos search engine matches when no exact matches in OpenDirectory
8. MSN directory (through a partnership with LookSmart) supplemented
by AltaVista's search engine matches when no exact matches are found
in the LookSmart directory
9. Snap directory
10. WebCrawler search engine
11. Yahoo! directory supplemented by Inktomi when no exact matches
available in the Yahoo directory database.
These eight search engines are the most popular search services
on the Internet. They are where you should spend your time working
to achieve top rankings. | 
