To begin with, there are a large number of search engines, such as...Google, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo, to name just a few. Internet searches can be conducted from any of them. When searching for information, people will search either by categories or by keywords. Each search engine uses its own algorithm to determine which websites appear most relevant to the keywords or categories being searched.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO is the process of getting a website ranked in the top search engine results for specific keywords, and preferrably in the top 10.

Why is this important?

Like any other form of marketing, the Internet provides you with an opportunity to find new business opportunities if... and only if... your website appears high enough in the list to be seen by potential clients. A low ranking means no one will likely see your website, no matter how great your product or service actually is.

Currently, many search engines offer a pay-per-click model where you can bid for top placement when it comes to search engine results.  When looking at a search engine, you can see pay per click advertising under 'sponsored listings'.  

Pay per click advertising is a marketers dream. The advantage of this form of advertising is that you can attract people who are definitely interested in your product offering to one degree or another. The type of people who would type in a specific set of keywords, that relate to your business, are either investigators or buyers. Either way the present a warm opportunity.

With pay per click (PPC) advertising you are placed according to a bidding process. The highest bidder will get the highest position when it comes to search engines results, and the positioning is instantaneous. The real benefit to this type of web marketing is that no matter how poorly designed your site is from a search engine optimization perspective, you will get great positioning providing you know how to manage your bids. 

Effective pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns depend on the profit earned from a product or service, and what your conversion ratio is from someone visiting your site to someone either calling, visiting, or purchasing from you. Ultimately...if you website does not provide compelling reasons why a potential client should do business with you, then your conversion ratio will be low and you'll be wasting your money.

Our recommendation is to start with a strong pay per click campaign in order to get immediate results. Based on those results, you can set the stage for a strong search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. Search engine optimization is an excellent source of free advertisement, however the timeframe can take months or even years depending on who you have leading your campaign.

Not as much as they used to... search engines no longer  score meta keywords as seriously. Instead, they analyze a combination of title tags, image tags, link structure, directory structure, keyword density, relevancy, prominence, proximity, total words on a page, word repetitions, total words in specific areas, alt tags, input tags, Java Script comment lines, the domain, directory, and filename, etc.

Each search engine has its own unique way of ranking pages, so you need to fine-tune different pages to exactly match the criteria for each engine. Not only do they rank sites according to different parameters, they change their criteria on a regular basis!

As you can see, achieving and maintaining top 10 ranking is not as simple as using meta tags. Without optimization techniques, your site will not rise above the the millions of web pages each major search engine maintains in its indexes.

It is not possible to say for sure how long it will take specific engines like Yahoo! or Google to approve and index your site. It could happen as soon as 2-3 weeks, and a top 10 listing in one of these search engines can produce substantial traffic right away!

Each search engine indexes web sites at a different rate. As a general rule, you must allow at least 3 months for the meta search engines to fully index your site. Some engines take longer but it's worth the wait. Before long, your website will be at the top!

In order to make sure your site gets indexed it is a good idea to submit your website to the search engines and directories.  If you would like to explore that option please visit our do-it-yourself submissions page for a full list of services.

Great question! Targeting the right keywords is critical to your success. After extensive discussion and brainstorming, we will help you find the right keywords using professional keyword research tools. If you are the do-it-yourself type we would encourage you to try our Keyword Generator product. If you are interested in starting a pay-per-click campaign then the strength of your keywords is vital to your success. Our Keyword Generator will save you hours of valuable time as well as giving you another important tool in the battle to control your marketplace.

1. Advertisers "Bid" on keywords relevant to their business.

2. The "search results" are delivered in the order of highest to lowest bid.

3. Advertisers are charged the "bidded amount" when a user "clicks through."

PPC advertising is an excellent method for attracting targeted traffic to your web site. There are several Pay-per-Click strategies that can increase performance and deliver a cost-justified ROI.

For more information on how Knowledge First can help you with your Pay-per-Click program, please send us an e-mail or you can visit our do-it-yourself page to explore all of our options.

This decision should be influenced by the keywords and prices relevant to your industry(ies). Your budget, economies of scale, profitability and many other factors should be considered before entering the Pay-per-Click arena. How much are you willing to spend to make a sale? If Pay-per-Click engines can meet or beat the figure you set, it can be a rewarding investment.

All ranking is based on what advertisers bid. The highest bidder for a specific keyword will always receive the highest ranking for that specific keyword, and lower bidders' listings will appear under the highest bidder in the descending order of their bid amount.

Quite simply the "Invisible Web" is the term given to pages on the internet that can not presently be indexed by common search engines. There are several reasons for this;

• Some sites limit access to their pages by requiring registration thus prohibiting search engines from browsing them. 
  
• Pages that are only accessible through links produced by Flash or Javascript reside in the invisible web because search engines are unable to properly follow these links.
  
• Websites that have not been indexed by the search engines also make up part of the invisible web.

Most of the invisible web, however, is made up of the contents of thousands of specialized searchable databases made available via the web. These web pages are generated just in answer to your search. Rarely are such pages stored anywhere: it is easier and cheaper to dynamically generate the answer page for each query than to store all the possible pages containing all the possible answers to all the possible queries people could make to the database. The invisible web is estimated to be 500 times larger than the conventional or surface web. Although the search engines have had recent success cataloging some of the invisible web no one can say when they will be able to index the entire internet.

This refers to link popularity. When Google rose to prominence in the search engine wars it was largely due to the success of "Page Rank". The idea is that good pages will have more links than bad ones. Google seems to prefer quality links over quantity links. Meaning having more of your pages linked to fewer high quality pages is preferable to having a larger number of links pointing at lower quality pages. The more high quality links you have the higher your Page Rank becomes. Of course the higher your Page Rank the better search results your website receives and the more clients your business is likely to attract.

 Absolutely. Studies conducted by web usability expert Jakob Neilson show that over 90% of users never go beyond the first page of the search results.

Imagine a prospect is searching for your products or services online and you don't show up on the first page of the search results. That means to over 90% of those prospects your website is invisible. What is the point of having a website if it doesn't attract new business and retain the business you currently have. Luckily it's not too late...

Most of your competitors aren't showing up in the search results either and that means there is a huge opportunity for someone to dominate your online marketplace. Will it be you or your competition?

If you're reading this, then chances are you already recognize the potential opportunities the internet has to improve your business. If you’re ready to capitalize on that potential then you need to get started.

Your first step should be requesting our Free Website Design Review Report. This will give a comprehensive break down of not only your website, but also your industry and the opportunities available to you.

For the do-it-yourselfer we offer a variety of reports that will help you identify the current strengths and weaknesses of your website as well as recommending the necessary changes to improve your overall positioning.  

Imagine if your business could increase its visibility be over 90%. That’s what showing up on the first page of the search results can do for your website.