Archived Articles / Historical Web Marketing Information, circa 2001

Paid search engines and directories are important part of the World Wide Web. They have their advantages and disadvantages. An obvious disadvantage is the additional cost. However they also provide more rapid listings, some protection from abuse of the submission process, and some valuable information. This article describes the major paid services and Webconsuls' programs for paid submissions for its clients.

You can submit your site yourself to the paid services. However since many of our Silver and Gold clients are too busy growing their own businesses, Webconsuls will, for a small fee, submit their sites for them. Webconsuls consults individually with Platinum clients.

There are three different types of paid submission programs currently in widespread use; lets look at them.

Paid Directories
The best-known directory is YAHOO. When you submit a site to directory a reviewer will look at the site and determine IF the site should be included and in which category.
This process takes time and manpower. When YAHOO allowed free submissions the backlog was often 6 months or more. YAHOO, and some other directories, now require paid submissions for most sites.

When submitting to pay directories remember that you are paying to have a reviewer review your site and determine IF the site will be included. There is no guarantee that they will include the site, in which case you have paid the fee to learn that they will not take the site. We believe that using a professional web site development firm will increase your chances, but will not guarantee that your site will be included.

The directory fees are often one-time fees, but some Engines, like Inktomi and Yahoo, have started charging on an annual basis. If you are already listed, there may be no need to resubmit. Your Webconsuls Position Report will show if you are listed. However, if you have made major changes to your site you might want to resubmit to revise your directory listing.

Paid Submission to Search Engines
Search engines differ from directories in that their computer programs, called "spiders", find many of the sites they list. The others come from submissions. One of the most popular search engines is Inktomi, who provides its listings to hundreds of other services including Hot Bot, AOL and MSN.

Inktomi now offers an optional paid submission service. This is a rapid method for getting into the Inktomi database. However your position is still determined on a variety of factors. So a professional web site development firm can help you build a site that will be well positioned when listed, and this service can help get you listed.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Services
Overture is the best known of the pay per click services. In these systems the client selects key word phrases and how much he will pay for someone to "click through" the search engine listing to the client's site. The more the client will pay, the higher the client will be listed. Similar programs are offered by Findwhat, Sprinks Lycos, Ah-ha, etc. For Example:

An interesting feature is that through Partnering arrangements, the pay-per-click option is extended well beyond the host engine. For example, highly-positioned sites on Overture can be expected to appear in respective order in specialized "sponsored links" categories on Yahoo, Lycos and MSN.

In 2002, Google (Adwords) and Looksmart started offering a Pay-Per-Click variation as well. Google has a partnering arrangement with AOL.com.

Clients initially set up a bank. The charges for the clicks are taken from the bank, which
limits your exposure.

These services provide valuable information and can be an excellent source of traffic to your site. However it can be expensive traffic. For example, suppose you agree to pay 10 cents per click through. If only 1 out of 100 who clicks actually calls you and only 1 out of 10 of them actually become your customer, then you have paid $100 for each customer. A professional web site development can work with you to improve your economics..

* The Internet is dynamic and registration costs fluctuate regularly. Accordingly the rates and administrative fees shown by Webconsuls are subject to change without notice.