Devour The Web

What are PPC Search Engines?

PPC Search Engines are search engines that allow advertisers to list their site within their search results on a pay per click basis. Advertisers bid against other advertisers for the same keywords or phrases. The highest bidder will then have their site ranked #1 in the PPC Search Engine results for a certain keyword followed by the second highest bidder for the same keyword followed by the third highest bidder for the same keyword, etc.

When a visitor then does a search in the PPC Search Engine and clicks on an advertisers bided link, the advertisers account will then get deducted for that click. This only happens once per unique visitor. So if that same visitor clicked on the same advertisers bided link twice, then the advertisers account will only get deducted for the first click.

Why is it easier to earn from PPC Search Engines than other affiliate programs?

PPC Search Engine affiliate programs are a good and easy way to earn some quick cash online. It is a lot easier to earn from PPC Search Engines than most other affiliate programs because you earn from your visitors click-thru’s to an advertisers site and not per action or sale.

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What is “RSS” and Do I Need It?
 by: Barbara White

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is the talk around the net these days because of its many benefits. However many people are not really clear exactly what RSS is?

Here is a definition of what RSS(Real Simple Syndication) “IS” in plain English for those of you who are NEW to it and for those of you who are still a little bit confused about it and its uses.

RSS is an Acronym. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”. RSS content is delivered through RSS feeds. These are simple files structured in a specific way. [A type of xml] The XML file is the format used for distributing YOUR news headlines via the Web, which is known as “Syndication”.

RSS files (which are also called RSS feeds or channels) simply contain a list of items. Usually, each item contains a title, summary, and a link to a URL. RSS files look a lot like HTML code. . It is up to the user to use this information in any way that he wants.

Newspaper Web ad growth keeps chuggin’ along. The Newspaper Association of America estimates Web ad spending on paper sites rose nearly 20 percent in Q2 2007 over the same period last year. According to an NAA press release, online newspaper site ad expenditures were up 19.3 percent to $796 million in Q2. Spending on paper sites “accounts for seven percent of total newspaper ad spending, compared to 5.4 percent in last year’s second quarter,” it continued.

Of course, that percentage will have to grow much more and at a much more rapid pace to counteract the ongoing drop in print readership and ad revenues.

More from the NAA:

Total advertising expenditures at newspaper companies were $11.3 billion for the second quarter of 2007, an 8.6 percent decrease from the same period a year earlier. Spending for print ads in newspapers totaled $10.5 billion, down 10.2 percent versus the same period a year earlier.

Among the major print components in the second quarter, classified advertising fell 16.4 percent to $3.4 billion. Retail declined 6.4 percent to $5.2 billion and national was down 7.9 percent, coming in at $1.8 billion.

It’s incredibly hard to get a social media community interested in a press release, and its not because they hate hearing about what your company is up to, its just that they hate they way you’re telling the story. If you look at your average press release, here are some of the forms they take.

1. [company/brand name] announces [product/service name]

This press release is boring and will be considered spammy because it simply uses hyperbole to shamelessly promote a company’s product or service.

2. [company/brand name] announces [financial news]

This press release announces that a company is merging with another, has gotten additional funding, etc. And doesn’t really add any value to the experience of the end user (unless you’re announcing something like the Google acquisition of You Tube)

3. [company/brand name] plans [action]

This press release announces that a company plans to do something, i.e. ‘medical company plans to combat disease’. While we’re all for combating disease most social media users would appreciate it if you did it a little more quietly or make it more relevant.

4. [company/brand name] achieves [accomplishment]

Over the past year or so, more and more webmasters have been creating their own blogs (web-logs). If you don’t already know, a blog is sort of an online diary which is updated at regular intervals by the author(s), and can be viewed by the public.

Blogs can have a wide variety of topics, including personal thoughts, news, sports, politics, technology, or virtually anything else you can think of. And like any other website, a blog can be used to make money.

By far the most popular way make money with your blog is to put some sort of pay-per-click text ads on it. Some companies that will pay you for doing this are Google Adsense and BidClix (MSN and Yahoo plan to launch similar programs in the near future). Depending on the topic that you choose to write about, and the current pay-per-click market conditions, your ads might make anywhere from $0.05 to $1.00 per click.

In addition to generating direct income, creating a blog can be a great way to publicize your existing websites. Simply placing a link to your site at the top of your blog can potentially bring in a nice stream of targeted visitors.

Recent research predicts that the online ad market will decline by 25% in 2003.**

In 2004, net advertising is a buyer’s market.

Everyone has seen the media spotlight focused on the big dot-coms who, dependent on ad revenues, have either gone out of business or been forced to cut back.

Unfortunately, it’s the same story for small business owners. The economic downturn leaves many potential advertisers much more reluctant to pay the prices they would have a year or two ago.

I recently came across a message board where one advertiser summed it up this way: in these hard economic times, she has read that people are less willing to make purchases. This means that she is much more at risk to suffer a loss rather than make a profit.

Like most people, this advertiser does not have any extra money to spare - and certainly none to lose to a failed ad campaign. To turn the odds in her favor, she regularly goes bargain-hunting for ad specials.

Further to my previous issues this subject continues - part IV. This month I’ll share on Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) field and the use of backgrounds for your emails. The use of Bad language in emails will also be mentioned.

Many people do not understand the function of the BCC field in their email programs. When you set up a new message, if you cannot view the BCC field after TO: and CC: then click on View to see if you can add it to your current view, or check your Help file for the program you use for assistance.BCC is an old typing term - ‘Blind Carbon Copy’. It means a copy of a letter or document that is being sent to someone not showing on the original addressee or distribution list. To use BCC in email means that recipients only see their address on received email and not the list of people that you’ve sent the email to.I often receive emails from people in business who put every single recipient address in the TO: or CC: fields, when in fact they should be placed in the BCC: field. Your distribution list should be kept private so you are not exposing firstly, who your clients are, and secondly, their email addresses, should a spammer or someone unscrupulous come across the email. If you’re sending out a newsletter, or a merged letter by post you wouldn’t have your full address list or database included with that mail for all to see - so why do it with your email?

You’ve got a website. You’ve put countless hours into it, tweaking the look and feel and making sure all the links work. The bad news is there are a gazillion other websites out there. The good news is there are many things you can control to make sure your site isn’t lost in the morass of dot coms.

One of the most important is showing up in the search engines, and getting listed in the top 20 for your subject. This article covers the steps you can take within your site.

First things first: Just like there’s no "get rich quick", there’s also no "get listed quick" (unless you pay for it).

Getting top listings in the search engines is an accomplishment. It gets you traffic and it gets you credibility. You can buy sponsored listings ? you can’t buy credibility.

Always Remember: Search engines base their usefulness on the quality of the results they give. You want people who are searching for your product to find your site; they want people who are searching for your product to find relevant sites. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about making sure you both get what you want.

Following several recent departures from the Web publishing giant, Yahoo Media Group CFO Mike Weetman has left the firm to serve as COO for small production outfit BermanBraun, a company founded by ex-Yahoo Media Group head Lloyd Braun. Also this month Media Group exec Geraldine Martin-Coppola ditched Yahoo for a gig as head of interactive for BermanBraun.

According to AdWeek, Weetman will also serve as CFO and head of business development at his new digs.

Of course, all this comes as Yahoo, yet again, announced another deck shuffle. The latest one involves the introduction of a Global Partner Solutions division to handle ad formats and sizes, marketing and other ad related stuff, along with the departure of senior exec Greg Coleman. Yahoo Publisher Network head Hilary Schneider will lead the new division. She, too, has seen a change or two to her title since she started with the firm.

The fact that the company continues to switch up its lineup as senior staffers exit indicates it’s focused on change. Of course, to observers — and I’m sure people working within all these morphing departments — it’s becoming a little too reminiscent of that old Abbott and Costello bit.

Today’s makeover is for Mike Glanz. He’s looking to energize and increase his ROI for his site, HireAHelper. This site is all about finding local help for lawns, moving, cleaning, and the other kinds of chores that are necessary but a drag and drain on most busy homeowners.

Unlike high-priced companies or taking a chance on what you might find on craigslist.com, HireAHelper provides reviews, a secure method of payment, and a list of qualified helpers. Sounds like a neat service, but Mike tells me that visitors who are coming through his PPC ads don’t seem to understand the site concept once they get there. They are unsure or uneducated about ordering local services online.

And that must be so because Mike writes that his conversion rate is .9%. Value to Mike is $100-$150 per sign-up.

Let’s see what the Copywriting Maven can do to help Mike move more local services to more people.

Here’s the background:

• The Goal
  Increase conversion rate from .9 to 2% in six months (Mike didn’t provide a goal, so I think doubling the conversion rate in 6 months is specific, realistic and quantifiable.)