Does it "pay" to pay to be found instantly at the top of Yahoo! or MSN?

Sometimes it does, especially if you are targeting a very specific market for your products or services. And if your industry is too "keyword-competitive," this approach may be the only viable way to reach exactly the audience you want.

"Pay-to-Rank" or "Pay-per-Click" services such as Overture offer an alternative method of obtaining high rankings in directories and search engines. The concept is simple. At the top of many search engines' results is a special category called "Sponsor Matches." If an advertiser is willing to pay a premium to get listed in those top spots for a given search, then it follows that exposure to a potential audience on the Web will be that much greater.

For example, Overture enables advertisers to bid for placement in its search results for terms that are relevant to their business. These search results are screened for relevance by Overture's editorial team and are distributed to thousands of websites across the Internet, including Yahoo!, MSN, Lycos, AltaVista, and InfoSpace. Advertisers pay Overture the amount of their bid only when a customer clicks on their listing. If properly researched, the return on investment with this form of advertising can be significant.

To learn whether your website would benefit from using a Pay-to-Rank strategy, please contact us for a free Internet Marketing consultation.