How to make the most out of "Paid Submissions to Search Engines"

By Alison Berke Morano
Posted Saturday, October 23, 2004

Okay, so the cards are on the table. There is basically no way into the top Search Engines without paying for it in SOME way.

I know, I know, Search Engines are supposed to be free and everyone has a level playing field when it comes to listings and "He (or she) Who Has the Best Meta Tags" wins. But, it’s now more than that. Your well developed Meta Tags still count for a lot, but if you even want them looked at, you’re going to have to pay for it.

Two Search Engines (Yahoo! & LookSmart) ask for money just to be considered for inclusion, others offer ways to ‘buy yourself to the top’ or additional advertising in your categories or through your keywords.

You could say that you’re standing firm, and refuse to give in to the extortion, and keep submitting the regular, old fashioned way, through the free submission pages or by using submission software. But, at this point, with some Search Engines actually blackballing you from using their own submission pages (e.g. Inktomi), you have an uphill climb on your hands.

So, if you are trying to decide where your money should go, and what the best Return-on-Investment (ROI) is, and who to give your hard-earned money to, there are few must-do submission payments you should make:

1.Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com)
– Yahoo!’s $199 for submission is the ONLY way you’re going get into their top-level categories. Even though they say that the money only guarantees ‘consideration’ for your listing, it’s a pretty good bet that you’ll get into their directory if you do it correctly. (For Yahoo! Submission tips, please see my page (http://www.keywordmarketing/yahoo.asp))

2.LookSmart! (http://www.looksmart.com)
– With 75% of Internet Search traffic, and alliances with: MSN, Alta Vista, Excite, Iwon & CNN, $199 (or $99 for a basic submit, which can take up to 8 weeks) is also an excellent investment of your marketing $$.

3.Inktomi (http://www.positiontech.com/inktomi/)
Formerly one of the largest Search Engines out there, Inktomi now has secure listing results coming up in over 125 Search Engine partners, including: AOL, iWon, MSN & HotBot. For $20 per URL (& $10 for each additional page per URL) you will be listed in the directory in 24-48 hours, and they will RESPIDER your page every 48 hours.

4.NBCi (http://www.nbci.com/LMOID/resource/0,566,home-1078,00.html?fd.ft.su.s-ld.s-1078)
– While NBCi (formerly Snap – a VERY popular Search Engine) doesn’t charge to ‘submit’ your website, they are now offering a "Promote Your Site" option. For $199 (after March 1, 2001), they will guarantee that one of their live editors will review your website for inclusion in their ‘recommended sites’ listings. Since NBCi is a human-edited directory, your placement improves greatly if a live person has a hand in your listing..

The above are a few "must do’s" for today Search Engine submissions, and please take note that "inclusion" in the Directory does not guarantee Top Placement. The only way to insure #1 positioning is through good Meta Tags & in the fast growing case of Pay-Per-Click & Sponsored Listings. But, that’s another article.

***Additional Note about Yahoo!: Once you’re in the directory, Yahoo! also offers the opportunity to "Sponsor" your category. For prices ranging from $25 - $300/month (more for REALLY popular categories), you can have a text ad running in the Sponsored Sites area above the regular results. This is great if you’re one of only 5 sponsors for that category. When the cateogry has over 5 sponsors, and the ads are rotated each time the page comes up. At Keywordmarketing.net, we’re still testing the results of these Sponsorships and will know more in a few weeks

About the Author
Alison Berke Morano, owner of (http://www.keywordmarketing.net), is an Inernet Marketing expert with 6 years of experience in Search Engine & Website marketing.