Why is Search Engine Marketing So Popular?

The key to marketing has always been getting one's product recognized by as large a group of people as possible. Advertising has always been the key to any marketing effort. Companies spend millions on ad placements in trimedia campaigns that encompass print, radio and television.

Print, radio and television have traditionally been the main medium for marketing. However, in the past decades, another form of paid advertising has found itself on the rise, and this utilizes the internet.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of internet marketing. It uses the web as a medium to spread awareness of its target product. Internet marketing has emerged as a cheap yet dynamic way to distribute information in the global market.

SEM seeks to promote websites - and the products being sold on those websites - by increasing their visibility through search engine results pages.

The development of SEM is an off-shoot of the success of the Internet in the global arena. As more and more people started using the web, more and more sites on a variety of topics started being created. In the mid-to-late 90s, search engines were developed to help people find the information they wanted quickly.

Soon search engines developed business models to finance their services such as pay per click programs.

A pay per click program is a small text ad that appears next to results from an on-line search. A marketer buys the rights for their ads to appear on a web page or a search engine. The ads are tied up to key words. When a searcher types in a particular query to a search engine, the engine not only offers up a listing of relevant websites but also the marketers "ad".

The first pay per click programs were offered by Open Text in 1996 and Goto.com in 1998. Goto.com changed its name to Overture and was purchased by Yahoo in 2003 and is now Yahoo! Search Marketing.

SEM methods include: Search Engine Optimization (or SEO), paid placement, and paid inclusion.

Search Engine Optimization is a strategy by which you attempt to improve the volume and quality of traffic to a website by "marketing" it to a web site. Using key words and content to ensure your site shows up many times during searches.

Paid placement is the pay per click program. Advertisers pay when a user clicks on to the links to visit their web site. These are also known as sponsored links or sponsored ads. Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN adCenter are the largest network operators of the pay per click program as of 2007. Minimum prices per click start at US$.01 to .50.

Paid inclusion is when a search engine company charges fees for the inclusion of a website in their search index. This fee structure is ment to ask as a filter against superfluous submissions - websites that try to "trick" the engine by using popular key words that are unrelated to actual content of site - and a revenue generator for the search engine company. The fee is typically an annual subscription rate.

SEM is a relatively cheap and inexpensive way to create traffic on you web site and cultivate brand recognition. A pay-per-click program is cheaper then a trimedia campaign and yet can reach a large number of people globally day and night. As a result, many companies are now taking advantage of the internet to let consumers know what they have.

According to a recent report by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, advertisers in North America alone spend $9.4 billion in SEM in 2006. In 2006, the majority of search marketers (62%) said branding was the primary objective of search marketing campaigns. Nearly as many, however (60%) said that selling products was a key objective. This year, direct sales were the top choice, at 58%, followed by brand awareness at 57%. For more companies, SEM spending is increasing and actually earning a bigger budget then other marketing techniques. It is estimated that by 2011, companies will be spending $ 18.6 billion on SEM.

This growth will be driven by strong advertiser demand, rising keyword pricing and more small and midsized business discovering the effectiveness of SEM.

Currently, SEM is an alternative marketing tool with many possibilities. It's increase in popularity will eventually result in more businesses utilizing SEM techniques and a possible rise in rates for web space. The faith major businesses are placing in SEM - as denoted by the money they are willing to spend on it - makes this fast growing advertising technique that should be utilized by any business seeking to make a name for it's globally.

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About the Author: Mikhail Tuknov, a Search Engine Optimization Specialist, can improve search engine ranking of your online business. SEO specialist providing search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC) management, web site design or development and web analytics services.

The Health Hazards of IT Industry

Who says Information Technology is not hazardous to your health? The U.S. Department of Labor reported 20,690 work-related "non-fatal injuries involving days away from work" for I.T. workers in 2005. Dr. Jerry Sanders, D.C., was kind enough to spend an hour with me discussing some of the common injuries that afflict I.T. professionals and how to avoid them. Dr. Sanders has been in practice in New Jersey for 32 years. He can be reached via his website at http://www.northjerseyhouses.com/chiropractic.

Download Dr. Sanders' Guide to Stretching Here

Q: I.T. jobs are often seen as a "safe", since you work indoors and the physical demands usually aren't that great. What are some of the most common injuries that afflict I.T. professionals?

It depends on what your job function is, really. For people who set up servers and workstations, move heavy computer equipment around, or pull cables through the walls and ceiling, pulled and strained muscles are common.

For a programmer, which tends to be a more sedentary job, backaches, neckaches, and pinched nerves tend to occur more frequently. Some problems are common for everyone in the field, however. Headaches and repetitive stress injuries, particularly in the hands, are very common. Prevention is extremely important.

Q: You say prevention is important. Do you have any specific recommendations?

First off your body should be comfortable on the job. If you are constantly adjusting your body to find that comfortable position, your body is trying to tell you something. A lot of people sit in uncomfortable positions and don't even realize it because their bodies are constantly compensating subconsciously. For many, it's important to pay conscious attention to your sitting or standing position, to how your body is adjusted — to where your feet, hands, and legs are situated — to determine how comfortable your body is.

There are several things you can do to avoid permanent injuries, or to keep injuries from getting worse. Some of the more common problems include:

• Pain in your hands and wrists could be a sign of the beginnings of a serious repetitive stress injury. If you start experiencing persistent pain in your hands, try giving them a rest at regular intervals throughout the day. Also you might try a new keyboard, a more ergonomic mouse, wrist rests, and maybe even a wrist brace.
• Persistent pain in the back and neck can be caused by a lot of different things. Poor posture while you sit is a major cause. Broken or wobbly chairs, which force your body to constantly correct its balance, are another. And a big problem in office settings is a computer monitor turned at an angle to your body, or at the wrong height. When you are looking at a computer monitor, it should be directly in front of you with the top of the screen positioned at eye level. Monitors that are placed too high or too low will cause you to strain your neck, or assume poor body posture to compensate.
• If you spend a good deal of time on the telephone, it's a good idea to use headphones or a speakerphone instead of holding the telephone receiver with your neck and shoulder. Trying to hold the receiver with your neck can lead to stiff neck, headaches, and spinal problems.
• Another problem is lifting and moving large objects (like servers) unsafely. If your job includes heavy lifting, you should take special care to avoid injury. Always bend with your knees and not your back.

A very common issue with some of my patients results from carrying lap-top computers with shoulder-strap bags. Carrying the computer on one shoulder all the time can strain the shoulder. I always recommend to my patients, at the very least, that they switch shoulders regularly. This might be a little uncomfortable at first, especially if you're used to carrying it on one shoulder, but most of my patients get used to it quickly and it helps considerably — especially with maintaining good posture while walking.

Q: I'd like to talk about a few of the specifics you covered. You mentioned the computer monitor on a desk should be positioned directly in front of you to prevent neck strain. What about people with two monitors?

Well, for two monitors the same thing applies. If you work with two monitors, turn your body (not just your head and neck) to face the monitor you are working with. This will help prevent neck strain, and it also helps the back since you're not twisting your body to one side to see the second monitor.

Q: You also mentioned repetitive stress injury in the hand and wrists. What type of keyboard and mouse do you recommend?

I don't have a particular brand name to recommend. There are so many options available these days. Some people prefer an ergonomic keyboard with an angled shape, while others prefer a regular keyboard with a height adjustment. As for the mouse, some people prefer a trackball over a regular mouse because they don't have to move their wrists as much, but the important thing is to find peripherals that are comfortable for you. And don't be afraid to try a new style of keyboard or mouse. It's a small investment for something simple that can help prevent major problems down the road.

Q: What do you mean by "major problems down the road"?

Well, repetitive stress injuries are often a precursor to carpal tunnel syndrome. These are very serious injuries that are extremely painful and can literally prevent you from getting any work done for days, or even weeks, at a time. In the most serious cases it can require surgeries and prescription medication just to help manage the pain. The search for a comfortable mouse and keyboard is a very small price to pay to help avoid these types of injuries.

Q: And what's the best way to avoid injuries if you have to do heavy lifting on the job?

You should always stretch before you move large objects. At the least, you should give your arms, legs, and back a good warm-up. Of course you should always lift by bending your knees, and your back. Just as importantly, use tools (like dollies or carts) to move large objects whenever possible. For people who do a lot of heavy lifting regularly I might even recommend getting a Trochanteric support belt.

Q: Whats a Trochanteric support belt? Is that a back brace?

It's a support belt designed to go around the hips, not the waist. The design keeps the ligaments tight to give extra support. A regular "back-brace" belt that goes around the waist waist provides support, but if worn for a long period these waist belts can cause the muscles in the lower back to weaken.

Q: You keep mentioning good posture. What are some of the things we can do to maintain good posture?

Yes, good posture is key, and will prevent a lot of problems. Basically good posture consists of keeping the back straight, and the spine and head upright. When sitting, you should be seated well back into the chair. A small cushion can be placed in the back of the chair, or a chair with built-in lumbar support, will help offer some support as well. To reduce stress on the legs and back, sit with your knees at the same height as your hips; some people use an adjustable footrest for this, and most office chairs these days are adjustable.

Q: OK, I have to ask this. There was a popular sitcom on TV, and in one episode one of the characters says his doctor told him not to carry a wallet — because it was bad for his health. Is there any truth to this?

As a matter of fact, yes. Sitting on a bulky wallet raises one hip higher than the other, and tilts the foundation of the spine to one side. That wallet in your back pocket can cause, or worsen, a sciatica or lower back problem. If you have a bulky wallet, I recommend keeping it in a side pocket when sitting. On a practical note, keeping your wallet in your front or side pocket also makes it harder for a pick-pocket to steal it.

[Editor's Note: Sciatica is an inflamed nerve resulting from a pinched nerve in the lower back area.]

Q: What about the eyes?

Protecting your eyes is very important. Obviously your monitor should have a bright, crisp, high contrast, clear image. Nothing strains the eyes so much as a monitor with a low contrast or fuzzy image. Staring at a fuzzy monitor 8 hours per day can cause eye strain, headaches, and even eventually degrade your vision.

Another thing that people don't realize is that they normally blink once every 5 seconds (on average). When staring at a computer screen, however, you will blink about once every 15 seconds. People who wear contact lenses and work on computers might notice that their eyes seem to get particularly dry, and their lenses bother them, because of this. This is an important reason to give your eyes a rest every once in a while. Even if you just stare away from the monitor for a minute or so every fifteen minutes, it will give your eyes a chance to refresh themselves.

Newer (LCD) flat-panel monitors are easier on the eyes than older (CRT) monitors because they don't have to refresh the entire screen 60 or 70 times per second. They also tend to have better contrast which helps. Also they (LCD monitors) don't emit as much radiation, which is better on the eyes and your body in general.

[Editor's Note: If you are concerned about monitor radiation, look for TCO'99 (or newer) and/or MPR II certification. These are strict standards that cover radiation emissions from monitors. More information on all aspects of monitors is available at http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv-crt.shtml]

Q: At what point do you recommend seeing a chiropractic physician about your aches and pains?

Whenever your pains don't go away with a good night's sleep, or if you notice your posture is not good. Here's a little test you can do at home, with the help of another person:

1. Lie down flat in a prone (face-down) or supine (face-up) position; your leg length should be even.
2. Turn your head to the left (just your head), and have the other person look at the length of your legs.
3. Turn your head to the right and have the person look at the length of your legs again.
4. If you're lying face-down, bend your legs at the knees while lying down and have the other person inspect their length again.

In all of these tests, the length of your legs should stay even. If not, it's a sign you might benefit from a chiropractic adjustment.

Q: OK, one final question. Are there any vitamins or natural supplements people can pick up locally that will help prevent problems?

Well, everybody's eating habits vary, but a good multivitamin and mineral supplement is often helpful. I can't recommend specifics for non-patients, but you can consult a nutritionist or physician to create a specific dietary plan just for you.

Download Dr. Sanders' Guide to Stretching Here

Source: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/mcoles/3023.asp

Points to Ponder for Successful Web Advertising

You would think that everyone in business would be able to tell you what they do and why you should be doing business with them; unfortunately the sad truth is many business executives can't. In fact one of the biggest problems in designing websites has always been getting appropriate raw material that can be turned into meaningful presentations: a handful of badly written brochures and a few out-of-date photographs are not going to make much of an impression.

And now that the Web has involved into a sophisticated communication platform, able to deliver audio and video content, the problem has become even worse; not only do websites need to deliver appropriate copy and image content, they need to present audio dialog and video performances that demonstrate how products and services improve the business or personal lives of website visitors.

As a company we are good at what we do, we can turn the mundane into the memorable but we can't do it if clients don't know or can't express their own marketing story, or are unwilling to allow their multimedia advisor to develop that story for them.

At the heart of the problem is fear, fear of making a definitive statement, declaring loud and clear what you do, and why anyone should care. It's no longer good enough to apply technical solutions to marketing problems: you are not going to engage your audience with SEO, XML, CSS, or PHP. You must have a story to tell and you can't be afraid to tell it as boldly as you can.

Do You Know Who You Are and What You Really Do?

We know who we are and what we do: we deliver our message knowing that some people are just not going to buy into what we have to say, but those that do get it, really get it, and they are our potential clients. As far as the others are concerned, well, there's lots of business for everybody, and nobody is going to get it all.

You can't be afraid to loose a customer you never had in the first place. In our case our job is clear: we deliver marketing stories using Web-video and audio in memorable Web-presentations. We are not afraid to tell clients that they need multimedia, and that an over dependence on search engine optimization or any other technical answer is a mistake - a big mistake.

Are You Doing All You Can To Attract Business?

There are many methods that can be employed to drive appropriate traffic to your site: search engine optimization is only one. Have you written and published articles and advice on what you do, have you created a blog or a MySpace page to create a community of interest, or have you issued press releases on new developments and product releases? If you're relying solely on search engine optimization as a substitute for marketing, you are not doing everything you can to attract new business.

Even if your search engine tactics are attracting large numbers of visitors to your site, what is your conversion rate, how long are people staying on your site, and do you have enough compelling content to get them to come back?

If you're in the business of selling banner and text ads on your site, if that is how you make your living, then lots of random traffic may serve your purpose; but if you are in the business of providing something useful to people, then you better pay more attention to what your visitors see once they arrive on your site. After all, all the traffic in the world is useless if those visitors don't get your message. It all starts with the message, so what's your message?

What's Your Story?

Crafting your marketing story is not as easy as it sounds, and you may have to let go of some outdated thinking in order to bring your story to life.

Web-videos are not feature films or even viral videos intended to show how clever you are. You are making a commercial: special effects may be cool but they are not a substitute for a finely crafted script delivered by a professional performer.

Websites Don't Close Sales, People Close Sales

Web-videos are designed to make a statement: "this is who we are, and this is what we do, so contact us to find out how we can change your life." Websites create leads, not sales; so don't expect your Web-video to make the sale, that's your job.

Now you know the purpose of your website presentation, it is time to figure out what you want to say.

For more detailed article, check out this article, titled,
Six Questions That Produce Successful Web Advertising

About the Author: Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info(a)mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

Turn Customer Complaints into Assets

Virtually every organization encounters customer complaints from time to time. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the complaints and to lose track of how many satisfied customers say nothing at all. Even worse, sometimes it is hard to remember just how valuable a customer complaint can be to the organization. Contrary to how it may feel to be the recipient of a customer complaint, it is a wonderful opportunity if embraced with commitment and integrity. You can turn customer complaints into valuable assets.

First, it is important to recognize that the majority of customers who complain are loyal customers who care about your business.

Customers who take the time to complain are also taking the time to tell you what went wrong with your process, your product or your communication. It takes some effort for a customer to contact you and tell you how the product, process or communications did not live up to expectations. This is an opportunity to reward the customer for taking the time to contact you and to learn how you can make internal improvements. If you can fix the problem for one complaining customer it may help many other customers, including the ones who never contacted you.

Loyal customers believe that you want to know what went wrong, and trust you to make it right. Loyal customers give you a chance to fix the issue. If one customer complains, it is typically an indication that there are several more with the same experience. If a complaining customer is irate, it is because the customer is disappointed. If there are other disappointed customers who do not call, you can bet that those customers have already given up on you. Customers who are disappointed and do not complain are already lost, but you have a chance to save the ones who are loyal enough to give you the opportunity to respond.

The complaining customer trusts you to care.

The complaining customer trusts you to care, this is why the customer contacted you. Don't avoid them, embrace them. If a customer does not contact you, it does not mean that they did not experience a similar issue. The customers who to not trust you, or do not believe that you will care, do not take the time to contact you. Customers with similar issues who do not contact you are already lost. The customers who do take the time to complain are the most loyal customers because they believe in you, in spite of the problem that they are experiencing.

Remember that the customer is not complaining about you, they are expressing the dissatisfaction to you. You are not the problem, you are the solution. Rather than perceiving the customer frustration as a personal attack, think of yourself as a person that the customer is coming to for help. How you respond to the complaining customer will determine the long term loyalty of the customer. Take care of a customer who takes time to communicate with you, and you may preserve the loyalty. Let them go, and they will communicate the experience to many other potential customers.

Turn complaints into assets.

Fix the customer and then fix the problem. Your first priority should be to understand the personal impact of the problem with your customer. It may be that the frustration expressed by the customer is the result of some dynamic impact other than the issue itself. The customer may feel mislead by communications, betrayed by the organization, or suffered some other impact as the result of the original problem. Listen to the underlying message of the complaint so you can identify what it will take to reassure the customer and address the specific needs.


Once you understand the root cause of the complaint, you may have an opportunity to implement changes that could avoid a reoccurrence of the problem. This may be your opportunity to increase customer satisfaction at an exponential rate.. If you can not eliminate the problem, at least you can use the experience to prepare a responsible solution for other customers who may have the same complaint. If it can not be eliminated, at least you can plan and prepare.

Preserve loyal customers who take the time to complain. Use the experience to eliminate defects, plan for countermeasures and responses.

How much money is invested in sales efforts, marketing, advertising and the acquisition of new customers? How much are you prepared to invest in the customers who have experienced a problem due to your organization and still trust you enough to take care of them?

Words of Wisdom

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." - Bill Gates

"Too many people think only of their own profit. But business opportunity seldom knocks on the door of self-centered people. No customer ever goes to a store merely to please the storekeeper." - Kazuo Inamori

"The customer doesn't expect everything will go right all the time; the big test is what you do when things go wrong." - Sir Colin Marshall

About the Author: John Mehrmann is a freelance author, industry expert and President of Executive Blueprints Inc, an organization dedicated to developing human capital and personal growth.

Top Factors Affecting Positive Search Engine Rankings

The jury of search engine experts over at SEOMoz has weighed in, and here are the top factors affecting search engine placement, according to them, with my comments.

1. Keyword Use in Title Tag
I have said for many years that if I had a gun to my head, and could do only one thing to a web page to optimize it, my choice would be the title tag. Put your key phrases in your title tag, and remember to optimize each page individually (i.e. don't over stuff your title tag, and have different title tags for each page that reflect the content of that particular page - otherwise, you may suffer from a duplicative content exclusion and find yourself in the supplemental results).

2. Keyword Use in Body Text
Duh. If your keyword or key phrase isn't mentioned at least once in the body text of the web page, then it does not seem your page is very relevant to that key phrase, now does it? But don't get all caught up in the key phrase density myth - there is no magic number of times it should appear. Make sense to readers, and it will make sense to the search engines.

3. Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords (Topic Analysis)
Google is smarter than you give them credit for, and just stuffing a key phrase into a completely unrelated page won't do you much, if any good. Your page should be on a topic which is semantically related to the key phrase which you are targeting in your title tag.

4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag
Oh, for years the naysayers have been telling me that H1 tag key phrase use meant nothing and that I was an idiot for thinking otherwise. Well the verdict is in and this is the fourth most important factor according to the SEOMoz article. At this point, therefore, we have learned to put your key phrase in your title tag, include it in your body text, which body text is topically or semantically related to the key phrase, and head up the body text with an H1 containing the key phrase.

5. Keyword Use in Domain Name
This is one that I disagree with. I have seen absolutely no evidence of this at all. Do a simple search on the internet for most any search term, and chances are the top results do not have the search query in the domain name. I believe this may have minor importance, but don't go and change your domain because of it. Seriously, you have much more to lose (such as age of domain, inbound linkage, site reputation, etc.) I regularly see clients at the top of Google with domain names containing nothing near the relevant search terms.

6. Keyword Use in Page URL
This is what I have called "descriptive file naming" for a number of years. I believe it is of some importance, again, however, is more of a factor when setting up a new domain than would be for an existing domain with high page rank and inbound linkage. Changing your internal url's for the sole purpose of meeting this criterion again is very risky, for the same reasons mentioned above.

7. Keyword Use in H2, H3, H... Tags
Well if it works for H1, why not for H2 et al.?

8. Keyword Use in ALT Attributes and Image Titles
SEOMoz incorrectly calls them an ALT tag, but it is not a tag, the ALT is an attribute of the IMG tag. Semantics aside, I believe this to be highly important, I would have ranked this above the URL and domain name items. Experience has shown me that image optimization (image file name, alt attribute, and title) is a wonderful way to make a page more relevant to a desired search query.

9. Keyword Use in Bold/Strong Tags
I always use this method, as well as keyword use within the EM (italics) tag. I believe this to be a moderately important factor as it helps emphasize to Google what your page is about, and what you consider important. Definitely on my short list of things to do for "on page" search engine optimization.

10. Keyword Use in Meta Description Tag
Again, one of my "big 4" for on page optimization. The "big 4" being: title tag, meta description, h1, and image ALT attributes. (I don't include body text in my big 4 as I believe that is self evident). Definitely important, and again, each page should have custom title and meta description tags.

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About the Author: Matt Foster is the President of ArteWorks Business Class, one of the top 15 search engine optimization firms in the world. For more information, please visit www.arteworks.biz.

How to make your site more popular

Do you have a website that is getting very little or no traffic at all? Well, I can put you on a path to changing that within the time it will take you to read this article. We will review each of the strategies you can use to promote your website, and then we will try to assimilate them into a single, uniform strategy that is both highly effective and affordable.

First of all, TV commercials, radio ads, and print advertising are very expensive. This is undoubtedly the best way to launch a business, but the costs are prohibitive. A full page ad in a prominent magazine or other publication can run as high as $50,000 per ad. TV commercials can run just as high; if the commercial runs during a popular television show or sporting event, the cost will be enormous.
So, if you do not have enough money in the coffers for traditional advertising, you need to resort to online marketing. This is not a bad thing. Offline advertising (i.e. radio, TV, print ads) is sometimes not effective. Marketing on the internet is cheaper, and if done correctly, can give you much more bang for your buck.

Obviously, the cornerstone of internet marketing is search engine submission and optimization. There are hundreds of different search engines and directories on the internet where you can submit your web site for a listing. This is fairly easy to do. Simply sign up for a monthly submission plan with a credible search engine submission service. There are literally hundreds of these submission services on the internet; you can find them by performing a search on Google.
However, be wary of submitters that claim to be able to submit your site to 75,000 search engines. Such services are scams, and they will submit your web page to FFA pages and bogus link pages that can actually get you banned from the search engines. You should only do business with submission services that submit to the major search engines and directories.

Now that we have covered submission, we need to talk about search engine optimization (SEO), which is even more important. To optimize a site, you need to maximize keyword density and optimize the positioning for the words or phrases that best characterize the subject matter of your site, and you need to use proper Meta tags so that the search engines can interpret your web pages.
If you do not know how to optimize your web site, you should search for an optimization professional on Google. Steer clear of SEO experts who want to charge $1,000 per month or more. Their goal is to bleed you dry before you figure out that they really can not help you get to the top of the rankings. Stick to providers who will optimize your site for a one-time fee.

More important than SEO is link popularity. Link popularity is the number of web sites that currently link to your site. The more inbound links you acquire, the higher your search engine ranking will be. There are more than a few ways to acquire links, but I have a certain strategy that worked well for me.

My advice to you is to write articles and press releases and submit them to article directories and press release distribution services who will then distribute your articles and press releases to other websites who will publish them and in return link back to you. Also, you can submit your site to bloggers through a popular service called Blogitive (Blogitive will get blogs to post one-way anchor text links to your site in their blog, which will greatly enhance your search engine ranking).
If you are not patient enough to wait for your search engine ranking to improve, you can attract visitors to your web site instantly by using pay-per-click advertising (PPC). With PPC, you pay a certain cost per click to have an ad for your web page run at or near the top of the search engine listings for certain keywords. This can be extremely costly and ineffective. It is not uncommon for webmasters to blow thousands of dollars on PPC advertising and make only a few sales.

The best way to promote your site, if you are actually selling something, is through an affiliate program. You need to provide an affiliate code to other online merchants so that they will place your banner on their site; every time you make a sale that resulted from an affiliate referral, the affiliate gets a commission. Some internet companies have thousands of affiliates, and get all the business they would ever need or want this way; and it costs you nothing.
To recruit affiliates, you should submit your affiliate program to as many directories as possible (there are directories where you can list your affiliate program for free). The best way to find affiliates is by listing your program on forums or message boards visited by webmasters who are looking to generate additional revenue for their online business. You will have to consult with an experienced programmer who can set up the affiliate program so that the codes used to track sales for each affiliate will work properly.

So, to summarize, you should first optimize your website and submit it to search engines. You should then begin submitting articles and press releases to article directories and press release distribution services. You should also submit your site to Blogitive so that bloggers will write a review of your site and link to it, further boosting your link popularity. You might want to join a link exchange, but trading links often proves fruitless. Also, you should set up an affiliate program. And finally, you should budget a small amount of money to spend each week on pay-per-click.

If you are persistent and use all of these methods, you will continually increase your traffic over a period of time. It will probably take approximately 3 years of performing each of the tasks outlined in this article, on a daily basis, to get where you want to be. Just stick with it and your efforts will be rewarded in the long run.

About the Author: Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make an HTML form.

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ClamWin is a Free Antivirus for Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP and 2003.
ClamWin Free Antivirus comes with an easy installer and open source code. You may download and use it absolutely free of charge.
Please note that ClamWin Free Antivirus does not include an on-access real-time scanner. You need to manually scan a file in order to detect a virus or spyware.

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Comodo Antivirus Free

Eliminates Viruses, Worms and Trojans from desktops and networks
Detects and eliminates viruses from desktops and networks. Constantly protects with real-time On Access scanning online. Proactive Heuristic analysis intercepts unknown threats. Daily, automatic updates of virus definitions. Isolates suspicious files in quarantine preventing infection. Simple to use: install and forget.

Do not download if you are running Windows 95/98/ME
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Cyberhawk Basic Free

Cyberhawk's ActiveDefense technology hunts down and paralyzes threats that are too new or too clever to be recognized by traditional security software.
Cyberhawk uses behavioral analysis to detect malicious computer activity. Traditional antivirus relies on old fashioned "signature" technology that needs to be updated every time a new threat occurs.
Free Basic version blocks threats only—no cleanup.

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PC Tools AntiVirus Free

With PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition you are protected against the most nefarious cyber-threats attempting to gain access to your PC and personal information. PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition provides world-leading protection, with rapid database updates, OnGuard real-time protection and comprehensive system scanning to ensure your system remains safe and virus free. PC Tools products are trusted and used by millions of people everyday to protect their home and business computers against online threats.
Free version does not allow changes to the message tagging options in Email Guard.

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Active Virus Shield Free (Kaspersky Antivirus)

Advanced detection technology to help stop known and new viruses, spyware and other malware before they attack you. Always-on, automatically checks for updates every hour- providing real-time scanning and protection against virus threats. Easy-to-install, works with most Windows operating systems. (Windows 98, 2000, ME & XP). Free to everyone- No AOL subscription required

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CyberDefenderFREE

CyberDefenderFREE is an all-free Internet security suite that finds infections other security software misses, offering protection from spyware, viruses, spam, phishing and Internet identity theft.
CyberDefenderFREE includes non-intrusive advertising banners.

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For a comprehensive list of free Virus Removal tools or softwares, please check this link:
http://antivirus.about.com/od/freevirusremovaltools/Free_virus_removal_tools.htm