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

Okay, so the cards are on the table. There is basically no way into the top Search Engineswithout paying for it in SOME way.I know, I know, Search Engines are supposed to be free and everyone has a level playing fieldwhen it comes to listings and "He (or she) Who Has the Best Meta Tags" wins. But, it’s nowmore than that. Your well developed Meta Tags still count for a lot, but if you even want themlooked 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 orthrough your keywords.You could say that you’re standing firm, and refuse to give in to the extortion, and keepsubmitting the regular, old fashioned way, through the free submission pages or by usingsubmission software. But, at this point, with some Search Engines actually blackballing youfrom using their own submission pages (e.g. Inktomi), you have an uphill climb on yourhands.So, if you are trying to decide where your money should go, and what the bestReturn-on-Investment (ROI) is, and who to give your hard-earned money to, there are fewmust-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-levelcategories. Even though they say that the money only guarantees ‘consideration’ foryour listing, it’s a pretty good bet that you’ll get into their directory if you do itcorrectly. (For Yahoo! Submission tips, please see my pagehttp://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 anexcellent investment of your marketing $$. 3.Inktomi (http://www.positiontech.com/inktomi/)Formerly one of the largest Search Engines out there, Inktomi now has secure listingresults 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 inthe 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 yourwebsite for inclusion in their ‘recommended sites’ listings. Since NBCi is ahuman-edited directory, your placement improves greatly if a live person has a hand inyour listing..The above are a few "must do’s" for today Search Engine submissions, and please take notethat "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 theopportunity to "Sponsor" your category. For prices ranging from $25 - $300/month (more forREALLY popular categories), you can have a text ad running in the Sponsored Sites areaabove 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 comesup. At Keywordmarketing.net, we’re still testing the results of these Sponsorships and willknow more in a few weeks