Free search listings going the way of Bob

Anyone remember Bob? That horn-rimmed user interface Microsoft devised for consumers, complete with Rover the dog who could fetch your electronic news? Well, if you don't it was one of the great boongdoggles in the history of marketing. And thankfully, it died a merciful death three years after it was introduced in 1995.

Free search engine listings are about to follow him into history books. Most of the major sites are moving away from offering a free listing to a "pay to list" model. Additionally, all of the major sites have moved away from using keywords and meta tags. Instead, they use complex algorithms and metrics to determine placement in search engine rankings so massaging keywords and meta tags is pretty meaningless these days.

So what does this mean for you?

Well, if you've had a site for several years, chances are you still pop up somewhere in the listings of HotBot, Excite, AllTheWeb, Lycos, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, AltaVista and Google.

But if you want to move up in the rankings, be ready to pay for it. Some of the plans are pretty reasonable. We particularly like Google's ad program. If you've used Google, you probably have noticed the boxed ads that appear on the right side. These are part of their Google AdWords program. You can select the price you're willing to pay for each click through to your site (cost-per-click) and the "search keywords" where your listing will appear. You simply create a small account with an established budget limit. You can adjust the wording of the ads as much as you like and have access to detailed listings of how many times your ad has appeared and how many times it was clicked upon.

This is probably the most cost efficient program out there and thankfully, it's one of the most popular search engines so you can really maximize exposure for very little money. Yahoo!'s small business packages start at about $300 per year while Excite's packages run from $49.95 to $500 per year. Other programs charge from $30 to $1,000 or more, depending upon the type of listing.

What's the best strategy for the new "pay-to-list" search engines?

Well, there's no easy answer. Web marketing, like traditional marketing in phone books, the newspaper, television and radio, should be part of your overall marketing budget. And there is no one size fits all strategy out there. Marketing mixes are as individual as the business they serve.

Since the goal is to drive traffic to your web site, start by looking at your web traffic logs. These will tell you how people are finding your site and what keywords and search engines they're using to find it. This is a good starting point as it will help you identify which search engines your customers are using to find you. These engines may be the best places to start with paid search listings. The key is to experiment and find what works best for you.

And if you don't know how to get started, give us a call and we'll help you develop a strategy for marketing your web site in this new search engine environment. We’ll also help you identify other search engine listing strategies that may still be free or have a much lower buy-in.

If you're interested in having us inventory your search engine needs, we're running a special this month of just $150. This will provide you with an analysis of your current search engine listings in the Top 10 as well as a complete report of strategies and costs for advertising in each of these major search engines and recommendations for where you should start.