topseos.com Lists the Top 10 Pay Per Click Bid Management Software for December 2009

Online PR News – 21-December-2009 – Plymouth, IN—topseos.com has evaluated and ranked its Best Pay Per Click Bid Management software for the month of December.
One of the most popular ways to advertise on the Web, pay per click tools allow companies to increase visibility and control where they appear. The best pay per engines are those that give clients measurable results at reasonable prices.

These are the Top PPC Bid Management Software for December:
1. Omniture Search Center- Utah2. Lyris HQ Search Marketing- United Kingdom3. Keyword Max- Minnesota4. Atlas One point (SEARCH)- California5. Marin Software- California6. Click Equations- Pennsylvania7. Coremetrics Search- California8. Kenshoo- Isreal9. SearchForce- California10. Apex Pacific BidMax- Australia
Each of these were reviewed based on evaluation criteria for pay per click engines. topseos.com evaluates these engines through project specific queries such as, "Have efforts been taken to detect and prevent click fraud on the PPC engine?" and "Were advisory services provided for keyword bidding purposes." At least three clients of each engine are asked about the performance of the engine and whether their needs were met by the company. The preceding engines are the industry leaders according to topseos.com, the independent authority on search vendors.
PPC Bid Management Software Companies interested in being considered for ranking at topseos.com should apply for rankings at: http://www.topseos.com/rankings/search-engine-marketing-agencies/apply-for-ranking
Learn more about our Best Pay Per Click Bid Management Software for December 2009
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Pay-per-click

"Pay-per-Click”: As with most web base nomenclature it is as it reads, when your link is clicked you pay a fee. How much? On Google Ad Words, your account only gets charged when interested consumers click on your ad, the cost per click is set by you the advertiser on a bid basis.

For example, if there are five bike shops in your area using Google and a query is made on Google for “bikes, Trek, mountain bike” or a host of thousands of other “Key Words”, the shop which bids the most for the click gets at the top of the list of advertisers on the search results.

This list is what the web surfer sees on the top of the page of results or on the right side bar. The more you bid the higher the placement. If there are many ads competing for this limited space, your ad could be three pages away. Most bids for local ads start at twenty cents to fifty cents. You control the daily budget. When your daily budget is used up your link disappears until the next twenty four hour period begins. If you want to budget twenty to hundreds of dollars a day for “clicks” the amount is up to you.

You attract only the people who are interested in your product. The link to your website should show your whole inventory, your business philosophy, specials, staff and all information that can result in a sale. If the customer is in the market for your product and if your site is tweaked to turn shoppers into buyers, you should get a call or see that shopper walking into your shop or placing an online order. This is targeted, trackable advertizing. A claim other media can ma

Ten Pay-per-click Questions An Owner Should Ask

If you own or manage an ecommerce business, you may not directly execute your pay-per-click advertising campaigns yourself. Instead, you may delegate the execution of them to an employee or an outside firm. But owners and managers need to know that broad outlines and the successes and failures of their pay-per-click advertising efforts, and to help them with this I've assembled a list of 10 questions to ask the employee or outside firm who executes the campaign.

1. How many keywords do we have running? If the answer is anything less than a few thousand, you’re probably not taking advantage of the longtail game of the business. While there are always exceptions, a few thousand keywords for an ecommerce store are not uncommon when you consider all kinds of product and brand variations.

2. What are our top converting terms (by sales volume and spend)? This one is always interesting. You often find that products that may not necessarily be top sellers across the entire site pull great results for you in paid search. Depending on the answer, focus your energy around developing the winning product line.

3. What is our return on investment, average time spent on site, average order size from paid search, cost per conversion, and lifetime value of a customer? These metrics should be delivered to you at least monthly. Your pay-per-click manager, on the other hand, should be reviewing all of these on weekly basis.

4. What is our average click-through rate and how do we improve it? The click-through rate is on the most important metrics in the game. The higher the CTR the higher the paid search returns (again, there are always exceptions). Ask for a detailed ad creative testing plan that outlines all initiatives in queue that may increase your average CTR.

5. Do we have coverage across the three primary search engines? There is no reason not to be running on Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Stay on top of your PPC guru to ensure coverage across all the top three. Otherwise, you’re likely to be missing out on possible cheap sales.

6. What is our impression share? Impression share report (ideally broken down by campaign) should give you a pretty good idea of how many impressions you’re missing out on. Be sure to ask for detailed analysis from you PPC manager.

7. What’s in the pipeline for landing page testing? This one is often a challenge for ecommerce stores but that’s never an excuse to avoid it. Consult with your PPC manager to figure out recommended components to test and the plan for executing those landing page tests.

8. Have we tried contextual targeting campaigns? If you succeeded in paid search, discuss setting up test campaigns in either the Google content network or in lower tier contextual channels such as Vibrant. Ask your PPC manager to assemble a strategy plan for testing contextual targeting and campaign optimization plan.

9. When do we attract more buyers versus tire kickers? This question really refers to day of week and time of day analysis. Ask your paid search consultant to analyze sales activity for a few months (ideally) and come up with recommendations on testing day of week and/or time of day scheduling.

10. Have we set attainable monthly performance targets? Discuss performance results with your pay-per-click manager and set reasonable performance targets for a few months ahead. The idea here is to determine attainable targets, not your best-case scenario performance goals.

Get paid for each and every visitor that you have with pay per play

For people who have been using online money making opportunities to generate an income and for people who are interested in such prospects, affiliate marketing is certainly not a new concept. Yet if you don’t know what it is here we go; affiliate marketing is a way to make money through your website with the help of pay per click advertisements.

The workings of this opportunity are fairly simple, there are several product manufacturers and service providers who would like to advertise their products online. Now there are several ad brokers like Commission Junction and even Google that offer to place the advertisements of these companies on websites. For instance Google will place the advertisement on their search pages or they may even place the advertisement on the websites that are working with Google Adsense.

The website owners do not get paid for letting Google or CJ place the advertisements on their sites but when a visitor clicks on these advertisements and / or buys a product through these advertisements the website owner is paid a cut of the business that his website has managed to generate. Now anybody who has been involved with CJ or Google Adsense will tell you that this is where the catch lies both companies expect you to make at least a certain minimum revenue each month, in other words they would expect your site to generate a minimum number of clicks each month and failure to do so would mean that your website may be removed from the program.

Also they are sometimes apprehensive about letting website owners from Asian countries like Indian and China participate in these programs. So to put it quite simply as a web site owner, you may run the advertisement for several weeks and yet not make a dime unless you get a click. However there is a new way to make money online through advertisements that does not involve the mandatory clicks and it’s called pay per play. The concept is still the same of advertiser wanting to display promotional material on high traffic sites but this time around the advertisements are in the audio format.

The workings of this program are again fairly simple. Each time visitor opens your site, the audio advertisement is played and you get paid for it. In other words you are getting paid for each visitor to your site. The best part is that these advertisements don’t exceed duration of 5 seconds and have the same algorithm as the Goggle advertisements with the only difference that it is played as an audio clip at every page load. Anyone with a website or blog can be eligible to place the Pay Per Play ads on their website. There is no charge to open a Pay Per Play account. It's also simple to paste the given code onto any webpage where a website owner wants a visitor to hear the advertisements.

The ads will be related to the webpage content and they do not take up any visual space on the webpage. Pay-Per-Play offers a way for big advertisers to this huge audience through this massive listening network. This network is bigger than television, radio and all other forms of media combined! The advertisers can target the ads contextually to match the site, or geographically, or even time-of-day. Unlike Television and Radio, the listener is sitting at the computer, having just clicked on a link to open a new page in their browser. They are attentive and waiting in anticipation for the new page to load when the ad plays.

The ad grabs their attention and they actually think about it. Does this mean that Google ASdsense is history or on its way out? Well now exactly because quite simply if you were to place too many pay per play advertisements on your site they may interfere with the music or even the downloading of the page.

However it is possible at least for now to make the two programs pay per play and pay per click coexist and if you can make revenue from both fronts why stop at one? Most of the controversy surrounding audio ads comes from self-proclaimed marketing experts, who claim the ads are "intrusive" and will drive away hard earned traffic. An extensive marketing study performed by Net Audio Ads found this simply not the case. The study showed that 80% of a website or blogs visitors will not have their speakers turned on. The good news is the publisher gets paid either way. The study also found less than .002% of web surfers found the ads intrusive enough to never return to the site again. The Internet is changing, and people are becoming more tolerant of audio and video advertising, to the point of actually expecting it. This is particularly true of younger people.

Currently the company that offers thus service has a website which is in its beta phase and they are expected to launch their fully functional version in the next few months. The company offers 25% of the customer earnings that company makes from advertisements displayed on your site. But wait; that’s not all they also have a referral system in place. So when you refer another website that also agrees to include pay per play ads on their site you make 5% of what of the income generated by the advertisements on this website and the referral program even goes to the third tier. Since the program is still in its infancy this is by far the best time to jump on the bandwagon.

If you are tired of worrying about the number of clicks that your Google or CJ advertisements are receiving, pay per play advertisements may be the perfect solution for you. After you can generate a substantial income even if you get a few dozen visitors each day, This is definitely a program that needs to be considered whether you are a pro at online money making or a new comer to the industry.

Webrageous Introduces Pay for Performance Pricing for Pay Per Click (PPC) Management

Provides companies all over the world with best in class Google AdWords PPC management and oversight. "We're pleased to be offering what we believe is an industry first opportunity with our new pay for performance pricing. We understand that companies are apprehensive about what they spend in these troubled times; with opportunities like this one, they can improve their sales and grow their company through a PPC campaign with absolutely no risk," said David Chapman, CEO of Webrageous Studios.

Their program is simple: clients don't pay for their services until Webrageous increases sales or leads derived from PPC by 25% or more, or reduces costs by at least 25%. Their pay for performance pricing is offered to most new clients who are already spending a significant amount per month on paid search advertising.

Beginning as a web design firm over eight years ago, Webrageous Studios can assist with landing page optimization as well, which is a key success factor in pay per click marketing. One of the beneficiaries of their expertise with PPC is the law firm of Schneider Wallace Cottrell Brayton Konecky LLP where Webrageous assists in locating new leads for their unpaid wages practice area. In October of 2006, the law firm received thirty-four leads at a cost per lead of $50. By November of 2008 those numbers had improved to 451 leads at a cost per lead of $4.

"This represents a much better deal than paying 20% of the click charges from day one to a PPC management firm regardless of whether that company delivers results or not," said Chapman. "This new program takes the risk out of the equation for a client and puts them at ease. They know that there is no incentive for us to talk them into signing up if we can't help them."

"Webrageous Studios is doing a great job for us; they have increased our leads tremendously on two separate businesses we run. This has helped us increase our revenues and expand our business. They are responsive to our requests and available to discuss and make changes to our campaigns," said David Silberman, Vice President with National Laser Institute, a Webrageous client for over one year.

Why Pay Per Click optimisation is just as important

It’s fairly obvious that there is much more to pay per click (PPC) advertising than just grabbing a budget, setting up a keyword, writing an ad and setting it all live.

The basic steps to actually getting more for your money (or indeed getting anything at all) are numerous but worthwhile. Indepth keyword selection, copy writing & testing, landing page selection, setting the time you wish to show your ads it is all key to making sure your ads are visible to the right people. What many online advertisers fail to address is how to make sure your aren’t showing to the wrong people.

Google adWords is an excellent system, massively efficient, easy to use and with a huge reach. It is this reach that poses problems for people. It is amazing how many times we encounter adWords accounts that have been set up without due care and attention and just allowed to run with scant regard for exactly where the ads are appearing.
It is an easy just to get your campaign moving along and there is always extra ways to expand the campaign in order to get the most clicks (and therefore spend the most budget).

Although it is such an obvious thing too many times we find that a campaign’s keywords are all set to broad match. This however is just the first step to ensuring your budget is going on the right place.

The Google content network, ran via the adSense system, is a superb way to increase your exposure. It opens up your ads to literally thousands of extra sites and means potentially millions of extra impression. It is, however, an automated system. It will never be perfect and no matter how much effort Google put into their targetting systems it is always encumbant on the adWords user to monitor which sites their ads are appearing on.

There will always be sites that will not provide relevant clicks, every one of these clicks means one less click from a relevant source. Volume doesn’t always mean enquiries.

The other analysis tool that is generally underused is actually monitoring what terms people are actually typing into Google and it’s search partners to be matched to your adverts. Again Google is brilliant at doing this matching for you but unless you have each and every keyword set to exact match it is vital to continually monitor these queries. This can be done either by careful analysis of the in-built adWords reporting system or via your website monitoring software (for example Google Analytics). Whichever way you choose to do it it is vital exercise because only when you understand exactly what search terms make your ads appear can you begin to make sure that the wasteful, irrelevant terms won’t continue to take up any of your budget.

It’s too easy to see the conversions coming in and assuming your keywords are performing to their maximum. It’s only via constant attention and tweaking can you be sure your budget isn’t being wasted.

Google Maps Ads Provide Detailed Reporting

by Kristie McDonald

Back in January Google added new links to their free local business ads (Google Maps ads). These new links, “Get Directions,” “Street View,” “Save to My Maps,” and “Send,” all give the searcher more ways to interact with your ad and ultimately get the information they need to visit your business. My personal favorite is “Send” which allows the visitor to send the address not only via email but alternatively to a GPS device! Talk about taking them by the hand and leading them to you.

Now that there are so many more ways to interact with your local business ad, also referred to as “Google maps ads”, because they appear on the Google Maps site, wouldn’t it be nice if you had some insight into how visitors are interacting with your ad?
Now you do. Google has given us the ability to see the analytics behind how users interact with your ad. There is a new feature in the Google AdWords reporting feature – as a part of the Placement/Keyword Report – that allows you to view data on the following actions:

Info window open from left hand side
Info window open from map marker
“Get Direction” clicks
“Street View” clicks
Clicks to website from the info window

They are missing my favorite – “Send” – but hopefully that is coming soon – no word from Google yet.

How can you best use this Google Maps ads data? Use it the same as you would when analyzing your site analytics – figure out where to focus your attention based on user activity. For example, are visitors clicking Street View? Consider putting a picture of your actual location/building on the info window.

The numbers behind opening from the left hand side vs. opening from the map marker signify to me whether your visitors are typically responding to your brilliant ad copy or if they are more concerned with the exact location of the business. Google Maps ad data can give you insight into a visitor’s search intent and mind set. Then let it help you to write even better ad copy for both your maps ad and your regular pay-per-click (PPC) advertising ads.

Win at the pay-per-click game

When it comes to niche marketing, many companies using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to reach new customers make the same mistake: they drive prospects to their home page.

This costs companies thousands of dollars each year in lost sales and increased PPC fees, says Heather Lutze, author of The Findability Formula: The Simple and Non-Technical Approach to Search Engine Marketing. Before launching a PPC campaign, she notes, you must be clear about your customers’ intent at each stage of the buying cycle, and their search habits. That means you must think like your prospects and customize the results you give them based on their search terms. Simply having every searcher land on your home page is a formula for disaster. Here are some details to consider for each phase.

• 
  The Information Phase. During this stage, customers don’t know what they want yet. They are only aware of a pain, a problem, a need, or a desire that they’re trying to solve or meet. Use your most “generic,” one- or two-word key terms to drive prospects to your home page during this phase.
• 
  The Shopping Phase. Once customers have begun shopping — comparing features, sizes, colors, brand names, price points, and retailers — they add more modifiers to their search term to get more detailed results. At this point, rather than drop someone off at your home page for general information, you want to deliver prospects directly to a landing page with the specific information they’re looking for, based on their search keywords.
• 
  The Purchasing Phase. Consumers who are ready to make a buying decision use the longest and most specific search terms. At this point, make sure you bring people directly to your shopping cart page. Note that your longer, more specific, highly-targeted keyword phrases will have a lower search volume than more general terms. That should not cause you undue concern, however, because their conversion rate will be higher since those customers know exactly what they’re looking for.

Facebook accused of massive click fraud

Facebook advertisers are accusing the social networking company of click fraud rates of between 15% and 100% - charging them for non-existent clicks. The move follows a Microsoft civil lawsuit against alleged click-fraudsters filed last week.

Click fraud is defined as “A type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad’s link.”

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch reports that Facebook is seeking to nearly double revenues from last year of $US280 million to $550 million this year.

Small, self-serve advertisers make up a big part of that revenue, and they’ve been reporting skyrocketing click fraud rates over the last few weeks Facebook has been gradually relaxing the rules on what advertisers could promote since the beginning of this year, in a bid to increase its share of affiliate marketers’ (advertising middlemen) cash.

But many advertisers are checking the clicks reported by Facebook against their own figures, only to find large discrepancies - different to standard click fraud complaints where ‘bots’ ratchet up fake clicks – there are no clicks at all.

The brouhaha follows hot on the heels of Microsoft filing a civil lawsuit alleging a massive click fraud scheme this time last week.

Microsoft Associate General Counsel Tim Cranton said the company had gathered “substantial evidence that a handful of individuals were likely responsible for these click fraud attacks, which affected online advertisements related to auto insurance and the online role playing game, World of Warcraft.”So far there’s been no official word from Facebook even acknowledging there is a problem.

"Pay-Per Click" Ad Campaign: Earn More By Spending Less

What is "Pay-Per Click"? "Pay-Per Click", is an easy to understand advertising strategy. There are around 300 million searches at major search engines everyday. This causes 80% of internet traffic. Placing your websites on these search engines is very important in reaching as many potential customers as possible. But in order to be seen and clicked most frequently, your website should be viewed at the top most of the search list. Most people only reach up to the third page of a search engine so the lower your rank, the lesser the chance you will be clicked. In "Pay-Per Click" advertising, you pay to be always visible on the internet. You select keywords or key phrases about your website, and the highest bidder ranks the best.

There is no upfront cost. You only pay after a visitor clicks your link. This is why it is called "Pay-Per Click". Everyday millions of people around the world click on Pay-Per Click Advertising Campaign. With the booming internet industry and the ever growing online business, an ad of virtually anybody on the planet can be seen on the internet anywhere in the world.

The "Pay-Per Click" advertising campaign is the premier growth area in online marketing. Last year, an estimated $741.2 million was spent on "Pay-Per Click" advertising. The usual search engine optimization can take weeks or even months to produce results. "Pay-Per Click" advertising can attract customers at an instant. Why? Because, this cutting edge ad campaign can be placed on any website and can be viewed by potential online customers, anywhere, anytime and all the time.

The only challenge is placing the ads on proper websites that will attract possible customers for a specific product or services. "Pay-Per Click" advertising campaign attracts the right consumers at the shortest possible time. This is the most cost effective way of marketing products or services. You can also monitor the customers who visit your site, what they are looking for and what they are buying. With the right creativity on using the right search-phrases, we can direct the right people who are willing to do business with us.

"Pay-Per Click" advertising can easily be managed 24 hours per day and 7 days a week through the internet. This allows you improve the campaign strategy by effectively responding to the activities of both customers and competitors. So what are you waiting for? "Pay-Per Click" now and let your business take the fast route to success.

India Emerging As SEO Hub With Exemplary SEO Services

Catapulting business websites to top search engine rankings and making it cling there by putting in consistent efforts- SEO services in India have empowered E-entrepreneurs and small businesses apart to find a local as well as global market over the Internet. Popular search engines return billions of results for every word that is searched and it is critical for businesses to have considerable visibility in order to have wide reach. SEO services in India underline the presence of of websites in such a manner that it remains visible and allow more and more of targeted traffic to hit the site. SEO services in India enable you to have a much greater rate of conversions that are lifeblood for your business to perform smoothly and flourish in a fierce competitive environment.


With modern day technology in their repertoire including Web2.0, SEO services in India offer impeccable services to attract search engines like Google, Yahoo, AOL Search, Alta Vista and Ask Jeeves and give your website distinguished treatment. Employing the right mix of on page and off page tactics, link building and tagging, SEO services in India keep a track of all the wavering factors that pull prospective customers to your websites and therefore they are able to provide flawless SEO services in India.


The wide array of services of a reputed SEO company in India include competition analysis, identifying effective keywords and key phrases, content management, website optimization, Link building, directory submission, pay per click marketing and social media optimization. Social liasioning includes blog posting, micro blogging, news releases, forum posting and article submission.

If you want that your websites stays there right there on the top of search engine listings, and unleash your business potential to zoom your sales figures substantially click here to know more.

"Pay-Per-Click Fraud"

In a "pay-per-click fraud" law suit filed with the US District Court in Seattle on Tuesday, Microsoft has sued three Canadians - Eric Lam, Melanie Suen, and Gordon Lam of Vancouver - and two companies named UMGE, Super Continental USA and Super Continental US.

The three residents of Vancouver, British Columbia, have been sued for breach of contract; torturous obstruction of business relationships; fraudulent enticement and falsification; computer fraud; conspiracy; and two violations of Washington anti-spyware and consumer laws.

According to Microsoft, the accused allegedly abused Microsoft's adCenter by conducting a campaign of competitor click fraud, which is a means for gaming keyword ad auctions that allow advertisers to receive ad placement based on a bid price.

The accused exploited the Microsoft adCenter network to help their own company, and its ad purchases of keywords connected to the so-called "gold farming" in the "World of Warcraft" online game; as well as another business of reselling car insurance.

Microsoft's associate general counsel, Tim Cranton, said: "Microsoft gathered substantial evidence that a handful of individuals were likely responsible for these click fraud attacks, which affected online advertisements related to auto insurance and the online role playing game, World of Warcraft."

Along with seeking an injunction against the defendants, Microsoft - which claims to have reimbursed advertisers for $1.5 million due to the fraud - has also sought $750,000 in damages.

Affiliate marketing programs -- tips for success

1. Create a Good Site
Your goal is to keep your visitors on your site. You must use your site as a marketing tool. Your site must be well organized and have the right look and feel. You want visitors to click on the “Buy” button. You want them to make a purchase. Make sure your site directs visitors to that button. You must hold the visitors’ interest. This is called conversion.

2. Create and Post Great Content
For your site to generate income, it needs to:• Attract a lot of visitors (traffic) • Make visitors purchase (conversion)
Good content and good usability are very important. The content must be relevant, and it should encourage visitors to purchase. This is marketing.

3. Search Engine Optimization
If you choose to attract visitors through search engines, the content must be search engine optimized (SEO).Search engines are geared to text quality. Relevant and well-written text helps your Google ranking and drives traffic to your site.
Write for your readers, and for Google. It's called SEO copy.

4. Advertise and Build Traffic
Attracting traffic can also be accomplished through paid ads and links. You place an ad on another site and pay a small amount each time a visitor clicks on your ad. This is called pay per click. Google Adword is the biggest pay per click market for affiliates. You decide how much you're willing to pay for each click and set a cap for your total spending. Some web hosts give away free Adwords checks when you place your site with them.
Please note that some affiliate programs often limit where and how you're allowed to advertise their products. They don't want you to interfere with their own advertising.

5. Starting from Scratch vs. Buying a Site
The easiest and least expensive way to start a new affiliate business is to set up a new domain and build a site from scratch. It requires time and effort, but your initial investment can be next to nothing.
If you can afford to make the investment, you may want to consider buying an existing site. Old sites may have a built-in credential with search engines, and traffic to these sites make already exist. With the right effort, you can get an old site up to speed very quickly.

6. Try Your Luck
Affiliates can be very successful, which could lead to personal satisfaction. If you have Internet access, you can try your luck as an affiliate. But, remember, success is never a guarantee.

Yahoo! offers advice to avoid rejection of PPC online marketing ads

Companies using pay per click services have been offered some tips from Yahoo! to ensure that their ads pass scrutiny.

In a post on the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog, Malin Kennedy, senior manager of advertiser experience at the search engine, said firms must abide by a few simple rules to avoid having their pay per click (PPC) ads rejected.First of all, they must tell the truth and not misrepresent themselves by submitting trademarked keywords that do not have any correlation with the products and services being sold.They should also make sure their web pages are able to handle increases in traffic without crashing, as search engine crawlers are likely to reject broken links. In addition, landing pages should be tailored to the content that is being advertised so that it is of the utmost relevance to those clicking on the ads.

"This will help your customers fulfil their online experience, as you will clearly offer what they seek," said Mr Kennedy.According to a new survey by Forbes, pay per click marketing has been named as one of the most effective tools for improving website conversions.

Pay per Click Advertising – An Internet Advertising

Pay per Click is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites, such as blogs, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.
Websites that utilize pay per click ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser's keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content.

Google Ad Words, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft ad Center are the three largest network operators, and pay per click providers and all three operate under a bid-based model.

There are two primary models for determining cost per click: flat rate and bid-based. In both cases, the advertiser must consider the potential value of a click from a given source.

There are several points that make pay per click advertising a vital part of your business. The most important reason for you to begin a pay per click advertising campaign is to lure customers away from our competitors. A great advantage is the fact that with pay per click advertising we will be able to have a top position for our ads right from the beginning. Pay per click advertising will increase exposure for our website.

There are various reasons for the growing Popularity of Pay per Click Management it can save the money. This is because only those who actually click through on our ad need to be paid for. Advertisers are not charged for advertising but are charged only when interested visitors click on their link. This relevancy made the advertising option affordable and meaningful for all advertisers.

Pay per click advertising can provide instant traffic to our website. Traffic generated by pay per click advertising is usually more targeted than from organic results because webmasters can control the keywords. Pay per click advertising offers us greater control and flexibility than regular search engines.

There are some pitfalls and disadvantages to using pay per click advertising companies. If there were no disadvantages to this advertising, then everyone would be using this method; yet, many Internet marketers do not use it.

Many people have lost thousands of pounds on pay per click advertising by simply not having a clear understanding of the complexity involved. It takes a while to learn how to bid properly, create compelling ads that are relevant and using these methods effectively in a marketing campaign.

Pay per click advertising is something everyone should test the water on, before jumping in, head first.

Tips that help you to increase website traffic

While making a proper internet marketing strategy for your website make sure all your efforts intend to increase website traffic. Increased traffic ensures better visibility, business and profit.

This article helps offers you some tested tips on how to increase your website traffic.

Quality content and traffic of website

Content is the king web space-this is not at all an exaggerated proverb. Apart from an appealing look and feel of your website, it’s the information offered by the content of your website that makes your target audience interested and engaged. If you are really interested in repeated visits from your target audience keep the content fresh and updated. Though user-created content was very promising during its inception, it has started loosing its relevance. Hence, have your own team for content generation who can create informative, error-free and quality content.

Keyword rich content, higher ranking on search engine and website traffic

The content of your website needs to be keyword rich. It increases the relevance of your website when search engines crawl sites for related searches. Keyword rich content increases the rank of your website for organic searches. Higher ranking comes always with the lucrative incentive of increased website traffic.

Increasing website traffic through link building popularity

Link exchange is crucial for website management and increasing traffic. While making link exchanges make sure that you are dealing with websites that are dead on content and can offer your visitors some relevant information. Once you are rich in content, may sites will want a link from you. But, be cautious and avoid a bad neighbourhood for your website at all costs.

Increasing website traffic through proper internet advertising strategy

Advertising is of equal importance like content when increasing website traffic is concerned. If you can afford, running a pay per click campaign is a good move. Relate e-zines to your website and submit articles there regularly. Participating in message boards and discussion forums also yield increased traffic for your website.

PPC online marketing 'a top tactic for improving conversions'

Companies looking to improve their website conversion rates may wish to consider using pay per click services.Along with search engine optimisation, pay per click ads have been named as one of the most effective tools for boosting conversions in a new survey by Forbes.

The research shows that 82 per cent of companies are using conversions or sales data to measure the success of their internet marketing campaigns.It also reveals that when it comes to influencing brand perception, firms see site sponsorships and pay per impression programmes as most effective.

"The need to build a trusted relationship with customers as part of an overall marketing strategy may in turn increase the need for contextual ad environments that align the advertiser's message with trusted, branded media," said Forbes.com president and chief executive Jim Spanfeller.

According to eMarketer, a recent survey by MarketingProfs and Forrester Research has revealed that many business-to-business advertisers are set to increase their internet marketing budgets this year.

SABEW Redesigns Job Listing Site, Launches Freelance Market

By: Marketwire .
Feb. 20, 2009 02:27 PM

COLUMBIA, MO -- (Marketwire) -- 02/20/09 -- Times are tough, something The Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) understands. That's why, to better serve members, SABEW announces a revamp of its job listings site and launch of a market to connect business freelancers and editors.
"We're responding to a huge need among people who have been caught up in especially severe cutbacks among business journalists, not just in daily newspapers but across all media. A lot of them have suddenly been thrust into freelancing to support themselves," said SABEW President Bernie Kohn of the Baltimore Sun. "It's a scary proposition, especially in this economic climate, and we want to do all we can to get folks back on their feet and keep them in the profession they love."
The revamped jobs site on the organization's web site http://www.sabew.org/:
* Prominently displays JOBS on the home page left menu to click directly to the job site.
* Removes password protection from job listings so they are accessible to any journalist looking for work.
* Removes password protection so any media outlet can post a job.
* Accepts listings from journalism, PR and related fields. SABEW members post jobs for free. Non-members pay $30 per job per month.
SABEW also has launched a freelance market for its members to help bring editors together with freelancers looking for work. SABEW established a listserv of more than 100 business freelancers. Any editor or media organization can circulate freelance work proposals to the listserv.
To post a job with SABEW, circulate a freelance opportunity, add your email address to the freelancer listserv, or join SABEW, email sabew@missouri.edu
The jobs listings and freelance initiatives are part of SABEW's efforts to help our membership cope with the media transformation. Last month, SABEW announced a one-time special offer of a discounted membership rate for members who have lost their jobs. SABEW also will offer a mentor for business journalists who accepted a buyout, were laid off or otherwise put out of work by the cuts. The aim is to help these journalists by providing advice, networking opportunities and career development suggestions. To request a SABEW mentor, email Dawn.Wotapka@DowJones.com.
SABEW is the world's largest organization of business and financial journalists with more than 3,000 members. To take advantage of these exciting new member services or to join SABEW, email sabew@missouri.edu
To register for the SABEW annual conference in Denver April 26 to 28 follow this link: http://www.sabew.org/events/annualConferences/2009/index.php
For more information contact:SABEWDavid BealInterim Executive DirectorUniversity of Missouri School of Journalism30 Neff AnnexColumbia, MO 65211Tel: 573-882-7862Email: Email ContactWeb: http://www.sabew.org/

No more Google... What will happen if such situation occurs?

Today is a nice winter morning. The sun is shining through the curtains, promising a good and calm day. With a cup of hot coffee I turn on my computer and open the browser. What’s up? What has happened? Instead of my home page, I get 404 error - Page not found. Any problems with my provider? I am trying to open other websites. Everything seems ok. What has happened with…?
GOOGLE?!
What’s up with Google? Has the Apocalypse started today?
Oh, and I have not washed my hair!
Millions of people all over the world will ask this question when they turn on their computers in the morning. What site do you typically use if you want to find any information online? Most people will answer that they just open http://www.google.com/ and make a query. Google has become the largest Internet search engine in the world - an easy-to-use free service that returns relevant results in less than half a second. The transitive verb "to google" has entered our lexicon and become a synonym for “searching online”.
Disappointed with the morning Google death, I am trying to recollect any other search engines where I can find information online. Yaha? No, Yahoe? Ah, Yahoo! At last I found one more search engine. The news headlines tell me that Google has gone out of business. It declared bankruptcy and closed the site. The video sharing platform YouTube is unavailable, communication tools (Gmail, Blogger) are frozen, the advertisements (AdWords) aren’t shown any more.
How did it become possible? It is a well known fact that Google passed all rival search engines in the number of queries that users make. In December 2008, it gained 70.5% market share, up 8.0ppts versus 2007. Its closest rival Yahoo! was reported to have only 19.0% market share. Windows Live Search stayed at 6.9% market share with amazing 9.8% query volume growth. Ask and AOL held on with 2.4% and 1.0% market share, respectively. What will happen with search market today?
I am recollecting the early days of Google. There were two main reasons why Google, the creature of Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page, become a widely recognized search heavyweight champion of the world. First of all, you could find exactly what you want within a very small period of time (Google likes to boast about it: "Search took 0.17 seconds."). In the early days of Internet search engines, finding necessary information looked like fishing in a canal: you could catch something good, but you could also hook a rubber boot or an old tin can. Will we return to canal-fishing again?
The next reason of Google success was a very simple design. Its original home page was very unusual and catchy because it was simple! There was just a logo, a text field, and two buttons - Search and I’m Feeling Lucky. That’s all! And what do I see on Yahoo? Superfluous links, banners, news headlines or other bells and whistles that I actually don’t need!
Google was not the first search engine that appeared online. There was Archie, created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Then other similar websites appeared, for example Yahoo!, Excite, AltaVista, Lycos, Infoseek and Ask Jeeves. But Google is the only search engine that has become a utility, as vital as electricity, gas and running water. I don’t want to live without water!
Of course, Google changed for 10 years. New useful services and applications piled up like Christmas presents. Besides web searching, you could find information in many different languages, start your own blog, check driving directions, watch popular videos, read news headlines and search billions of images. As million of other people, I used to its convenience. Google was my all-purpose tool, so what shall I do now?
Google was an encyclopedia, a map, a photo album, a shopping catalog, a trip planner, a phone book, a notebook and news archive rolled into one. Plus, it was a source of income and a constant job for many Internet users. And for me, too. Oh, am I jobless now?
Luckily, the situation above is just hypothetical. Google is working perfectly today. However, there are a lot of people who can't imagine their life without this search engine. In their mind the Internet is closely connected with Google. What will happen to them if one day http://www.google.com/ stops working? Will our world remain the same or change forever?
The similar situation happened on February 1, 2009 when Google didn’t function for nearly 55 minutes due to a human error. This event became even more popular when the World Cup. People wrote numerous blog posts and messages to friends telling “Google doesn’t work!” We are so used to this search engine and its numerous services that no Google can be similar to no Internet at all.
Let’s analyze the financial consequences of Google's death for the Internet users and the virtual economics. How many people will lose their job? How much money will lose our country? The business side of Google can be even more interesting than the technological one.
Google AdWords
On the surface, a search engine, even the most popular one, doesn't seem like the most profitable business. The company provides search results without charging any fee. However, according to financial reports, in the fourth quarter of 2008 Google earned $5.70 billion. It is a 3% increase over third quarter 2008 revenues ($5.54 billion) and an 18% increase over fourth quarter 2007 revenues ($4.83 billion). How does Google make so much money?
The answer is simple. Google is a major player in the online advertising industry. It earns most of its revenue by allowing other website owners to advertise on its search result pages. This program is called AdWords. Every time you perform a search in Google, you will see ads displayed along with your results.
As opposed to some other search engines, Google doesn’t sell placement in the search results themselves, or allow website owners to pay for a higher ranking there. When you make a query, you will get a separate list of websites that are the most "relevant" (read: popular), and a separate list of “sponsored links”.
What can change with other search engines? We will lose the opportunity to choose. Using other search websites, you can’t be so sure whether you get what you need or what has been paid for. The Internet will lose that important balance between ads and the most popular sites. Are you sure that you want to be cheated?
All Google ads are typically relevant to the query that a user makes. A potential advertiser specifies what search keywords he or she would like to have. For example, if you sell used cars in Florida, you can choose a keyword that involves the city in which you do business and the type of your business - "Florida used cards." This makes the advertising useful to an Internet user as well as to the advertiser placing it.
Thousands of companies all over the world use Google AdWords program to promote their goods and services online. It is an excellent way to attract Internet users who can be interested in what you offer. Recent advertisers include such giants as Amazon and Cisco Systems.
Selling ads is a very profitable business for Google. In the fourth quarter of 2008, the revenues of Google-owned sites reached $3.81 billion, or 67% of total revenues. It is a 4% increase over third quarter 2008 revenues ($3.67 billion) and a 22% increase over fourth quarter 2007 revenues ($3.12 billion).
AdWords program has numerous benefits for advertisers. First of all, as it was mentioned above, it is targeted to relevant searches and content pages. Then, the program is cost-effective - advertisers pay only when potential customers click on their ads. One ad costs from a few pennies to a few dollars per click.
Google ads reach a broad audience because they are displayed across Google's growing network of partners that includes thousands of sites from America Online to the Washington Post. It lets companies of all sizes get in front of everybody who uses the Internet.
If one day Google stops working, the advertisers won’t be able to reach a broad audience as efficiently as before. There are just no alternatives to online advertising! Newspapers and magazines don’t have such a broad reach. The effect of television advertising is generally much higher than the effect of newspaper and magazine advertising but TV commercials are very expensive.
Google AdWords main competitors are Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter. However, they don’t have so powerful system of selling and displaying ads in association with their own search engine, so these advertising programs can’t attract many customers. By now Google has a 75% monopoly for all external referrals to most websites.
Without Google ads, thousands of companies will go out of business. It mainly concerns small firms that do their business online, for example Internet stores. Their target audience is the Internet users, so without online advertising they won’t be able to promote their goods. Of course, they can buy links on large portals, but it won’t have the same effect as Google AdWords has. And what will we have as a result – only giants making business online? Do you really want it?
Google AdSense
If you have a website with interesting content and good traffic, you can get your portion of the revenue that Google gains from AdWords. Have you noticed boxes or columns containing text-link ads on many websites which say "Ads by Google"? This program is called AdSense. You display these ads on your site, and Google pays you for every click on them.
Google can automatically determine the subject of your web page and place relevant ads based on the advertisers' keywords. Such advertisements are considered to be less intrusive than banners. That’s why context advertising becomes more and more popular. According to statistics, aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks on ads displayed on Google-owned sites and the sites of AdSense partners, increased approximately 18% in the fourth quarter of 2007 and about 10% in the third quarter of 2008.
AdSence program is not so profitable for Google as AdWords, but it helps them to increase their profits. In the fourth quarter of 2008, Google earned $1.69 billion through AdSense programs, or 30% of total revenues. It is a 1% increase over third quarter 2008 network revenues ($1.68 billion) ad a 4% increase over fourth quarter 2007 network revenues ($1.64 billion).
Google doesn’t disclose exactly how much website owners earn for each click that customers make. The commission depends on the amount that advertisers pay Google for the particular ad. You will receive a share of that amount - from 2 cents to $15 per click. However, even if Google pays only 20% of their network revenues then it means that the sites owners earn over 1 billion dollars per year.
If Google closes AdSense program, Internet industry can fall into decay. After dot com era end in 1999, Google AdSense program has fueled up the emergence of thousands of new websites. This system offered a simple and reliable way to make money online. Nowadays a good resource can help its owner earn $10.000- $50.000 a year.
Trying to increase their profits, thousands of webmasters spend time and money creating new sites with interesting content. The more people they attract, the more money they will receive. The end of Google AdSense could mean the end of these websites, which will result in ending of dot com era once again.
AdSense program is also important for delivering advertising revenue to small websites that do not have necessary resources for developing advertising sales programs and employ sales people. Without this program, thousands of non-profit sites will be closed just because their owners won’t have enough time or funds to support them.
In addition, Google AdSense is profitable not only for webmasters and websites owners, but for many other professionals working in IT sphere. For example, there are a lot of people who want to share their successful business stories with other Internet users. They create e-book teaching how to make money online with Google AdSense program.
One of the most popular authors who writes on this subject is Joel Comm. He earns thousands of dollars from his e-books. Will he earn the same amount from his “Google AdSense memoirs” or “That good old Google”?
Page rank
Google works similar to many other search engines in its basic principles of operation. It has powerful software programs that explore and analyze web sites. What has made Google unique is that it takes note of how many other pages have links to any given page. It helps Google determine a page's importance, or a page rank.
In general, Google considers a link from page A to page B as a vote for page B by page A. However, Google doesn’t only count the number of links a page receives, but it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. If there are many relevant links to a particular page, it will receive a higher page rank and appear on the first pages of the search results.
Page rank varies from 0 to 10 for each webpage on the Internet. It shows how important this page is in the eyes of Google. Website owners need to receive a good Google's page rank if they want to get traffic to their sites and earn profit. It is a well know fact that 90% of all purchases take place on the first page of the search engines.
There is a special type of business which helps websites raise their PR and get more traffic – SEO. It can be divided into website optimization and marketing optimization. The first one concerns the design, interface, programming, content, and all other website enhancements.
Marketing optimization includes advertising and link building strategies targeted to increase the search results. Famous SEO specialists, such as Barry Schwartz, Aaron Wall, Rand Fishkin and Jill Whalen write books telling about various approaches to SEO. You can also visit conferences or read numerous online blogs on this topic.
If there is no Google, SEO specialists will lose their main source of income. It also concerns people who earn money by trading links and writing websites context. The army of jobless IT specialists will drop the average salaries in this sphere. If you earn $15-$25 per hour, you can get just $10-$15 in future.
And don’t forget that Google employees will be also looking for a job. On December 31, 2008, the company has 20,222 full-time employees. Google spent $890 million in payroll-related and facilities expenses in the fourth quarter of 2008 in comparison with $859 million in the third quarter of 2008.
The sudden death of Google and its Page Rank system would have a devastating effect on the internet business. Every company’s profits correlate very strongly with its Google page rank. If Google dies and everyone starts to use other search engines where they do not rank highly, they could declare bankruptcy very quickly.
Other search engines have completely different systems of determining the page importance, so it is very easy to turn from a huge power in Google to nothing in MSN. For example, nowadays Google gives more weight to off page factors such as IP spreading. MSN pays more attention to on page factors such as density and proximity.
Of course, if your company has a large marketing budget and regular clients, you can keep it afloat for 6-12 months while you are re-optimizing your site for Yahoo! or Microsoft's Live Search. But what if not?
Many companies have already spent thousands of dollars to build a high Google page rank and receive an opportunity to be shown on the first page. If there is no Google and its PR system, than this money is just wasted! The companies will need to find additional funds to promote their websites. It means to cut salaries and fire people.
Due to the reasons mentioned above, Google’s death will affect mainly small and medium-sized companies. Large enterprises and big portals will be easily found in any search engines. If there is no Google, small business all around the world will lose their main marketing tool a good PR.
Gmail
You really don’t have a Gmail account? Are you kidding?
According to the list of 40 most visited subdomains of Google.com, Gmail and Google maps are the most popular Google services. The statistics shows what in November 2008, Web Search (http://www.google.com/) was visited by 126,269,804 unique visitors, Image Search (images.google.com) was visited by 43,023,240 unique visitors, Google Maps (maps.google.com) was visited by 36,914,680 unique visitors and Gmail Google Mail (mail.google.com) was visited by 24,895,354 unique visitors.
Gmail is one of the best free email services in the world. Its main advantage, of course, is 2 gigabits of storage space. That's more space than most other web based email services offer. In fact, when Google announced on April 1st, 2004 that it was giving Internet users a gigabyte of storage, many people thought that it was a joke. At that time, Hotmail from MSN provided just 2 MB of space; so how can a competitor offer 500X?
Besides the storage space, Gmail has a lot of other amazing options and features that attract people. You can set up filters and labels to organize your mail, archive your mail for easier searches, check your Gmail through a mobile phone and get notifications of new messages on your desktop. Google spam filter is considered to be one of the most effective.
No wonder that Gmail is so popular. But imagine what will happen if one day 24,895,354 unique visitors won’t be able to open their Gmail? I would describe this situation as total chaos. First of all, companies and freelancers will lose many clients. Do you keep a list of your partners’ e-mails in a special notebook? Are you sure you’ll be able to find them all without access to your Gmail account? Nobody will be looking for your new contact information – it is much easier to find other people or companies.
Then, the change of e-mail means the change of all business cards and advertising items. You will need to update your website and inform a lot of people about your new e-mail. It means expenses, expenses and expenses.
Then, the average Gmail user doesn’t delete old messages to make room for new. Two gigabits mean a plenty of storage space! So you can lose important documents, invoices and orders that you held in your e-mail.
Google shares
As we have already mentioned above, Google makes most of its profit from online advertising. However, Google's share price is also strong. The company is listed under the ticker symbol GOOG on the NASDAQ stock exchange and under the ticker symbol GGEA on the London Stock Exchange.
According to the Google’s financial report, in the last quarter of 2008 GAAP earnings per share were $1.21 on 317 million diluted shares outstanding, in comparison with $4.06 in the third quarter of 2008 on 318 million diluted shares outstanding. As for Non-GAAP earnings per share, they were $5.10 in the last quarter of 2008, in comparison with $4.92 in the third quarter of 2008.
The Google IPO took place on 19 August 2004. Now its shares are worth over $350 each (to be exact, the price on February, 10 is $358.51). Taking into consideration that their starting price was between $80 and $100 per share, the company’s stock performance is going well.
If Google declares bankruptcy, then the share price will significantly decrease. In fact, the stock itself will become worthless, leaving shareholders unable to sell their defunct shares. Millions of people will lose their investments.
Many companies invest money from IRA accounts in shares. What if your company bought Google shares, and their price became $0? You will lose all you retirement funds.
Google’s death will also cause a significant drop of the stock value of other online companies (for example, Match.com or Sina corp). Do you know how dominoes fall? There will be the same effect.
Investors will decide that if Google, the Internet search giant, is out of business, than smaller companies doing business online are definitely unreliable. So they will try to get rid of their shares. It will lead to great financial losses and even bankruptcies of many Internet companies. Dot com world will be ruined.
Google Foundation
Google is famous for its charity programs. Every year the company commits “one percent” of its equity and profit to various non-profit organizations. Google makes donations through the Google Foundation ($90 million cash donation) and Google.org ($175 million donation).
Google Foundation has already contributed five million dollars to support Acumen Fund, a non-profit company targeted to solve the problem of global poverty. Acumen Fund helps entrepreneurs deliver affordable goods and services to the four millions of people worldwide who live on less than $4 a day.
Google.org includes projects that the company manages itself. An example is the Google Grants program, which places free ads of selected nonprofits.
Google Grants has donated $33 million in advertising to more than 850 nonprofit organizations in 10 countries. The participants include Make-a-Wish Foundation, Doctors Without Borders and Grameen Foundation USA.
If Google goes out of business, many non-profit organizations won’t be able to tell people about their mission and receive help. Maybe it won’t have a large influence on the virtual economics, but of course it will make our world a bit worse. Social problems can be as important as economical ones.
If not Google then who?
It goes without saying that nowadays Google is the most important company on the Internet. It has become something more fundamental than a simple search engine. Which brings up an obvious question: if this search engine goes out of business, who can become “the next Google”? What company can be as important as Google was? There are several versions that are worth analyzing.
People used to live with search engines. If Google dies, many users and companies will look for similar resources. They will recollect that there are other search engines on the planet that appeared even before Google.
The first choice, of course, is Yahoo. Google’s dominance forced this search engine into a second-fiddle role, but it is still a major player. Yahoo search results are also relevant and fast. Plus, it has a wide array of internet services to deal with – Web search, Images search, Video search, Local search, Jobs, Shopping, News, Travel, Maps, Real Estate, Yellow pages, Games, Finance and many others.
One of the main advantages of Yahoo! is their popular Yahoo! Answers. Many people use it because Google doesn’t offer any alternatives. This service is like the second search engine. If you can’t find necessary answers in web, you make a query on Yahoo! Answers. In most cases, you will get several variants of answer from other Internet users.
Yahoo has all chances to become the Internet leader after Google. It has a necessary combination of search functions and useful additional services. However, its main target is to entertain, not to sell or promote goods. Yahoo! lacks some important commercial component that will help sites to survive after Google’s death. Yahoo dominance will turn the Internet from a money making tool to a colorful multimedia center.
The next search engine that has a chance to become “the next Google” is Microsoft Live, or MSN. Its Internet portal, MSN.com, is currently the 6th most visited domain name on the Internet.
What do Google and MSN have in common? Good financial opportunities. Google, with over 8 billion dollars in cash and no debt in its financial structure, can make investments in two main areas: product development and acquisitions. That helps them stay the industry leader. The only other company that has the same financial opportunities is Microsoft, which currently has over 9 billion dollars and no debt in its own financial structure.
MSN Search was launched in the fall of 1998. In 2006 many of its services were reorganized under a new brand name, Windows Live. This move was a part of Microsoft's strategy to improve its online offerings using the widely recognized Windows brand name.
After the launch of Windows Live, the focus of MSN shifted to online news, entertainment, and providing common interest content through its Internet portal, MSN.com. Windows Live offers most of Microsoft's online software and services.
The most popular MSN Services are MSN Search (now called Live Search), MSN Hotmail (now called Windows Live Hotmail), MSN Messenger (now called Windows Live Messenger), MSN Virtual Earth (now called Live Search Maps) and MSN Spaces (now called Windows Live Spaces).
There are also some other small search engines like Quintura and Cuil that call themselves "Google Killers." They are rather simple and don’t have numerous additional services. Of course, without Google they can improve their search software and try to capture more market share in that space. But since a key success factor in the market is providing more than just web search, such small companies will be at disadvantage. No doubt that they won’t become an adequate substitute for Google search engine.
Alternatives to Google Services
As I have already told, Google is not only a search engine that has the majority of the search engine market. It is a large platform that includes numerous free additional services like Gmail, GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth, its main revenue service AdWords with the Pay-Per-Click advertisements, Picasa web albums, the video sharing platform YouTube, Calendar, Notebook and others.
Additional services and facilities make Google the unique resource where Internet users can spend most of their online time. And they are absolutely sure that they are surfing Internet, not Google!
However, dot com world can offer alternatives to nearly all services that Google has. Some of them may not be as elegant as Google's, but if you can’t use this search engine any more, it shouldn't be that hard to start using them.
Plus, keep in mind that without Google’s dominance all these alternative resources will receive a great stimulus to develop and become the leaders in their area.
We have collected some popular websites that can become a good choice in case if Google decides to go out of business.
Google Image Search – Yahoo Image Search
Google News - Yahoo News, Web 2.0, Rootly, MSN news
Google AdWords - Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter.
Google AdSense – adBrite, Clicksor, Bidvertiser, Chitika, Fastclick
Google mobile services - MSN Mobile
FeedBurner - Zookoda
YouTube- Vimeo, Blip.tv, Rewer
Google Earth and Google Maps – Yahoo Geocities, Yahoo Maps, MSN City Guides, MSN Maps and Directions, GenieKnows
Gmail – Yahoo mail, Windows Live Hotmail
Google Notebook – Zotero, Evernote, Clipmarks, Microsoft OpenNote
Picasa Web Albums – Photobucket
Google Talk – Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger
Google Groups – Yahoo groups, Windows Live Groups
Google Directory – Yahoo Directory
Google Analytics – Mint, Extreme Tracking.
Google Calendar – Yahoo calendar
Google Translate – Fretranslation.com
Google Toolbar - MSN Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar
Blogger - Yahoo MyBlogLog, Livejournal.com, MSN Spaces
As you see, there is a good alternative to nearly every Google service. Knowing these options you can make your online experience more enjoyable. However, you will need to browse several websites instead of just one - www. google.com.
Final Thoughts
Can you imagine your life without online search engines? I bet not. With the dramatic increase of available information, it has become very important to find exactly what we need. Search engines is the first place to start when we are looking for telephone numbers, addresses, weather forecast, opening times, a person's name, images, flight details, hotel descriptions, currency rates and other data.
According to statistics, an average American opens Google.com over 100 times per week. Our relationship with this website has changes from want to need. We need Google because our life is closely connected with its functions and services.
Thinking about everything that Google does, the company really deserves its leading position. It has become the basis of the Internet world and e-commerce. If one day Google stops working….no, the Earth will not stop to revolve on its axis. The virtual economics and, as a result, the everyday life of many people will considerably change.
As a conclusion, let’s sum up why Google has such a great influence on our virtual and real life.
- Google has developed a great search engine that fulfills one of the most important tasks on the Internet - find exactly what you want within a very small amount of time.
- Google always tries to create simple interfaces that people like.
- Google AdWords lets companies promote their services and products as efficiently as it possible and earn profit.
- Google is the main source of income for many website owners.
- Google PR system caused the appearance of a new branch of IT business – Search Engine Optimization.
- Google spends its profit on the solution of social problems.
- Google offers new creative ideas that other companies would reject, for example providing a gigabyte of space for e-mail.
- Google means Internet for many users.
Do you want to lose it all?
The latest events on the international markets, political prognoses and news headlines make us start thinking – “Will Google survive in this financial crisis? What will happen in the nearest future with all IT industry?” There are many reasons why Google can go out of business, starting from stock downfall to technical failures. Fortunately, the Internet, as an international community of millions of people and companies, will remain in any economical environment. People will always search for information, goods and services. It means that Google has all chances to stay with us for a long time.

Google profit beats on strong ad sales

By Yinka Adegoke
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc's quarterly earnings beat Wall Street forecasts as strong advertising sales on its self-branded websites helped the Internet leader defy the gloom pervading the tech sector.
The results, which sent Google shares up 2.6 percent in after-hours trading, were a relief for investors who had been stunned by a series of dismal reports from Microsoft Corp, Intel Corp and other tech companies.
"At least we have something to feel good about with this Google news in what has been shaping up to be a gloomy earnings period," said Keith Wirtz, president and chief investment officer of Fifth Third Asset Management, which manages $22 billion.
"It tells me that Google is very focused on their franchise and execution as a marketing, advertising and media company. It speaks highly to their business focus."
Google said fourth-quarter net income fell to $382 million, or $1.21 a share, from $1.21 billion, or $3.79 a share, a year earlier due to impairment charges on its investments in Clearwire Corp and Time Warner Inc unit AOL.
Excluding one-time charges, profit was $5.10 a share, beating the average analyst forecast of $4.95 according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue rose 18 percent to $5.7 billion -- a shadow of the 50 percent growth levels that Google used to enjoy, but considered by analysts to be a robust performance given the weak economy and corporate cutbacks in advertising spending.
"It was, all things considered, very good numbers," said Wunderlich Securities analyst Martin Pyykkonen, noting Google's non-GAAP operating margin of 38 percent was also solid.
"In this market and relative to the numbers that are being put out -- and I would go so far as to say relative to the numbers that Yahoo probably will put out next week -- these will look good and maybe I'll use the term 'as good as it gets' as far as Internet stock performance goes."
WEAKNESS IN UK MARKETS
Google's revenue comes via searches on its branded sites such as google.com and google.co.uk, as well as through partnerships which license its search advertising platform.
Google-owned sites generated 67 percent of revenue, or $3.81 billion, rising 22 percent from a year ago. Traffic acquisition costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google's partners, decreased to $1.48 billion.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Derek Brown, who has a buy rating on Google and makes a market in its shares, said that was better than he had expected.
"It's clear that macroeconomic challenges continue to rob Google of growth, but it seems equally clear that the company continues to make headway in this market, and take share in this market," Brown said.
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt struck a cautious note, saying the last quarter had benefited from the holiday season.