Announcements

Winner of "best meta search engine"

Vivisimo won in the category of best meta search engine and gained an honorable mention in "Best Search Feature" for its autocategorization at the 2001 search engine watch awards. However, Google came out as a big winner overall.

Buyer's guide

The buyers Guide to Search Engine Optimization Firms is looking for comments and recommendations for their next update. So if you have used a search engine optimization company in the past and have some feedback about them (be it positive or negative), please click here: www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=491998785 and fill out their short feedback form. If the company that you used is not listed, you can nominate them to be interviewed for future editions of the Guide here: www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=9836396565. If any Red Carpet Web Promotion clients would like to provide their comments, please do not hesitate. Thanks for the publicity help.

Search Engine Navigator - Search Engines want to make money too

The Search Engine world is ever-changing. Getting into the search engines isn't free anymore. In fact, it isn't even cheap! This quarter, I will discuss the various costs of submitting to the search engines and directories. Each engine charges for a different service and has a different payment schedule. It gets pretty hectic, so to follow along, put your thinking cap on. Below is a chart of the costs for a business to get into the search engines. All prices in this article are in US dollars.

Search Engine	Cost	Schedule	Service	Comment
Yahoo	$299	Annual	Just to be considered
LookSmart	$299	One time fee	Just to be considered	Option to pay $149 and wait 8 weeks
Inktomi	$25	Annual Per page	Inclusion	48 hour refresh The first page is $39
MSN		MSN uses results from LookSmart and Inktomi, so see LookSmart and Inktomi for their fees
AOL		AOL uses results from Inktomi, so see Inktomi for their fees
Altavista	$19	Every six months Per page	Inclusion Weekly refresh	The first page is $39; the next 10 are $29
Lycos	$12	Annual Per page	Inclusion Weekly refresh	Also an Annual membership fee of $18

Overture
Overture still shows its top three results on many search engines including MSN, AOL, Yahoo, Altavista and Hotbot. If your ROI is high enough, it is worthwhile bidding at Overture. See Last month's article for details about Overture.

Google
Throughout this sea of fees lies the rock-steady island of Google. Google charges no fees, and consistently wins awards for "best search results", "most webmaster friendly search engine", as well as others. Google makes its money by selling ad space. You can see their ads on the right side of the screen, next to the search results for high demand keywords. For example, a search for "art prints" turns up ads for www.oneposter.com and www.easyart.com. Google's system is similar to Overture's.

How to get a good ranking in Google?
Two words: Link campaign.

Getting other sites to link to your web site is probably one of the most time intensive and frustrating tasks a search engine optimizer must do. In fact, it usually doesn't work unless you have set up a reciprocal link on your own site. The best sites to get links from are the directories: Yahoo, LookSmart, and the Open Directory Project (Dmoz.org). If you would like to get a link campaign started with Red Carpet Web Promotion, send us an email at details@redcarpetweb.com for details.

How to get a good ranking anywhere else?
Two words: Credit card.

• Inktomi, Altavista and Lycos offer free submissions, but you get a boost (and a worthwhile one) when you pay their fees. You also get refreshed on a weekly basis. This allows you to post promotions on your web site and, within days, they will show up in the search results.
• Yahoo and LookSmart require a fee just to be considered for entry into their directory, unless you are a charity or solely an informational site.
• Overture charges a fee for every person that clicks on your result.

Here are my suggestions on how to budget a submission campaign

1. Pay to get into Yahoo and Inktomi. These engines are most likely to get the best results per dollar invested.
2. If you can afford it, pay to get into LookSmart ($149 if you can wait the 8 weeks). LookSmart feeds the MSN search engine, and MSN is putting up a good fight with Yahoo as the top referrer.
3. Start up an account at Overture and bid on the keyphrases with the best ROI. The minimum bid is 5 cents, so make sure that you make over 5 cents per visitor or you will be losing money. Remember that the minimum you must spend per month is $20.
4. Altavista and Lycos are also worthwhile, but only if you have a high return on investment (ROI).

In another six months, all these numbers (and fees) will change again. That's the search engine optimization business. It keeps us on our toes.

Next issue, I will update you on other changes in the industry.

Shawn Campbell is the co-founder and Chief Search Engine Optimizer at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.
Shawn shares search engine news in each issue.

Feature: How to Profit from Seasonal Shopping

When our last newsletter was published in January, the Holiday shopping results were not yet in, but reports over the last three months have made it clear that online holiday shopping is a growing phenomenon. For example, the traffic to shopping sites for the five weeks preceding Christmas over the last 3 years has been:

Holiday season	Average weekly unique visitors
1999	26,303,000
2000	34,265,000
2001	51,318,000

In terms of unique visits, there is a 50 percent increase compared with the 2000 holiday shopping season and a 95 percent increase versus 1999.
(Statistics provided by Jupiter Media Metrix). Click here for a weekly breakdown for 2001.*

In terms of actual sales revenue, online sales in the fourth quarter of 2001 totaled about USD10.5 billion, up from USD10 billion last year according to ComScore Networks (ComScore's estimates do not include online travel sales).

Bizrate, on the other hand, estimated online spending for the fourth quarter of 2001 to be USD12.4 billion (up 35 percent on last year) and its estimate for the holiday season is USD 6.4 billion.

In order to profit from an online seasonal rush it is important to think ahead. Unfortunately, most promotion activities take a few months to kick in. However, there are some short term tactics that you can use before an upcoming lucrative season to bring the customers to you. These tactics can be used for any seasonal rush, be it for holidays, sports seasons, back to school or even events such as Formula One Racing, the World Cup Soccer or the Olympics. Below is a breakdown of some short-term marketing tactics that have immediate results, as well as long term tactics that take more time to mature.

Short-term tactics:

Inktomi

• You can submit specific web pages to the Inktomi directory for under $40 each and they will add you to their database in less than 48 hours! This is great for seasonal specials. However, it is up to you to make sure that your page is well optimized to increase your potential for high rankings. In other words, the page that you submit should be about the keyphrase that you are targeting. Once you are in the Inktomi directory you can also be found in the following search engines: MSN, AOL, Overture, Hotbot, Iwon, LookSmart, About, and Espotting.

• Starting a pay for placement campaign produces very fast results; but you can bet your laptop that you will not be the only one to bid on terms like "Christmas Gift" next December. Nevertheless, if you have a page on your site relating to something specific, it is a good idea to bid on that item in Overture when the demand is highest. Overture is also useful for seasonal specials since any changes made to a listing are posted the same day. See our previous issue for more details on pay-for-placement bidding.

Search engine and directory submissions

• The most cost-effective way to attract traffic (even for something seasonal like ski equipment) is to work at it all year round. For example, if you have a summer collection and a winter collection of products, you are much better off having two sites instead of flip-flopping your site with the seasons. This way each site will have the whole year to climb in the search results pages and your traffic will be better with each coming year. To switch collections to accommodate each season on the same site would entail having to start from scratch at the onset of every season.

• In any search engine positioning campaign, it always pays off to conduct proper keyword research. Knowing which keywords are most in demand, and which ones are overloaded with competition, is essential to making informed decisions about which keywords to focus on.

• In marked contrast to their offline counterparts, few online retailers slashed their prices towards the end of the holiday season. (ComScore)
• There was a strong growth in clothing and consumer electronics sectors in particular. (ComScore)
• The number of online holiday shoppers grew from 53 million adults in the 2000 holiday shopping season to 64 million in the 2001 holiday season. (Jupiter Media Metrix)
• The average spend per order was up 13 percent ($126 USD from $112 USD last year). Consumers also spent an average of 27 percent more on shipping, and 87 percent of orders were delivered on time.(BizRate)

#	Web Site	2001 Holiday Season Average Daily Unique Visitors in the U.S. Home/Work Combined
1	ebay.com	4,515,000
2	amazon.com	2,519,000
3	mypoints.com	2,016,000
4	bizrate.com	683,000
5	half.com	660,000
6	mcafee.com	652,000
7	columbia house sites	598,000
8	eshop.com	588,000
9	americangreetings.com	563,000
10	toysrus	515,000
11	barnesandnoble.com	447,000
12	walmart.com	434,000
13	bestbuy.com	416,000
14	dell.com	408,000
15	bmgmusicservice.com	379,000

If you are wondering which products or services to promote, visit these sites to see what they are offering. If you can combine the right product with the right keyword, and promote it so that shoppers can find you, then you will truly profit from the public's growing love affair with e-shopping during the holidays.

Jason Campbell

If you have any comments on this article, please respond to news@redcarpetweb.com

Jason Campbell is the co-founder and President at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.

Stay on Top

Each month we review articles from leading industry magazines and newsletters. The following headlines are the most interesting. Click on the headline to view the article.

Make a Marketing Splash on a Small Budget www.business2.com/articles/mag/print/0,1643,36750,FF.html "Everyone knows a downturn is the absolute wrong time to cut back on marketing -- everyone except your budget committee, that is. Time to get creative." Google's Overtures at Overture's Advertisers www.clickz.com/search/opt/print.php/985751 "Google introduces a new pay-per-click (PPC) payment option…There's space for both Overture and Google to exist in the ad-distribution world." U.S. Internet Population Continues to Grow www.internetnews.com/IAR/print/0,,12_969541,00.html InternetNews, February 6, 2002 "Internet use in the United States is growing at a rate of 2 million new Internet users each month" Q4 online sales topped USD10 billion http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357683&rel=true NUA, February 21, 2002: CyberAtlas reports that US online retail sales amounted to USD10.04 billion during Q4 2001. Click Through www.business2.com/articles/mag/print/0,1643,38454,00.html Business 2.0, April 2002 Collection of statistics touching on the subjects of pop-under ads, prescription drug advertising, purple ketchup and more.

Letters to the Editor

Write your questions and comments for our next issue to news@redcarpetweb.com. Be as specific or general as you want - other subscribers are probably wondering the same things as you are. You should also let us know of any promotions, sales or new products on your website.

Next Issue

- Analysis of holiday shopping
- More on how Search Engines work
- Stay on top: Articles from industry newsletters and magazines
- And more...

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