Anyone involved in an Internet-based home business will soon come to recognize the importance of search engines as a vehicle to attract potential customers.
Since the inception of Google in 1998, the popularity of using search engines has increased dramatically. Nielsen NetRatings reports that about 114.5 million Americans, or a whopping 39 percent of the US population, currently use search engines.
Through February of 2004, Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN ranked as the two favorite spots on the Internet with 87.3 million and 86.2 million unique monthly visitors, respectively, according to figures produced by Nielsen NetRatings.
Microsoft.com, ranked third, with 64.2 million visitors, but this figure is somewhat misleading because this site attracts much of its traffic by repairing flaws in the Windows operating system. Google was the fourth most popular site with 60.8 million visitors.
The market shares of MSN and Yahoo haven't changed much in the past three years while Google has emerged as a powerhouse without spending much of anything on advertising. Google's audience is now approximately six times larger than it was in early 2001, when it was the 26th most popular destination on the Internet.
As they vie for position, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft plan to continue upgrading their services - healthy competition that can only serve to improve the search experiences of Internet users in the future.
According to comScore Networks, an estimated 3.5 billion online searches are performed in the United States each month, making searching the second most popular online activity, ranking behind only e-mail.
In 2003, businesses spent an estimated $2 billion on advertising related to searches and some knowledgeable sources expect the search-related advertising market to triple during the next three years.
There are various search engine formats including natural search, pay for inclusion (PFI), pay per click (PPC), and hybrid approaches which combine both PFI and PPC characteristics. Because of the immense and growing popularity of search engines, their effective utilization is the life blood of Internet-based home businesses.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This article is freely available for reprint provided that the resource box at the end of the article is left intact and the article is published complete and unaltered. If you are using this article on a website or e-book, please make sure that the link in the resource box is live or clickable.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business.
Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.
Links are a crucial part of attaining high search rankings,... Read More
"HLE" is a bit of a joke term, (or possible... Read More
Email marketing once proved to be immensely effective, but the... Read More
What's more important to your business success - the question... Read More
Welcome to part seven in this ten-part search engine positioning... Read More
Question 1.What do you mean by conversion? Do you mean... Read More
Google is currently one of the dominant entities on the... Read More
While searching the web these days, it's hard not to... Read More
Most Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts agree that links back... Read More
If you spend much time reading the various webmaster forums,... Read More
Rankings, Rankings, Rankings!How do you get your website ranked well... Read More
As the economy begins to recover in certain parts of... Read More
First, here's the rundown of some of the terminology I'm... Read More
SEO training can be overwhelming. There are literally hundreds of... Read More
There are those that get on the computer one night... Read More
"Dear David: I just created a website on baby toy... Read More
I was recently struck by the fact that the top-ranking... Read More
SEO companies come in all shapes and sizes. You've got... Read More
It used to be that designing an attractive website to... Read More
This article is actually the summary to a book soon... Read More
What we are hunting for?Unique Domains,One Way Links,Text Link copy... Read More
About 80% of website traffic comes through search engines. And... Read More
More and more search engines rank your web pages based... Read More
Chances are you have been on the Internet and have... Read More
You must have heard the stories how people became rich... Read More
There are methods to increase your search engine rankings which... Read More
Sometimes questions will arise around the subject of gateway information... Read More
The internet is the largest market place on earth. It... Read More
Anchor Text (also called phrase linking) can significantly improve your... Read More
It seems the excitement about search engine optimization fades in... Read More
Want to avoid being blacklisted by the search engines and... Read More
We've all heard that familiar expression, "Good things come to... Read More
If you have any interest in getting high search engine... Read More
Hilltop is one of the major concepts underpinning Google's search... Read More
Have you ever stopped to think how much time is... Read More
With the ever evolving internet market for just about anything... Read More
Welcome to the second part of our series of articles... Read More
Search engine optimization is THE most cost effective way for... Read More
A good link building strategy has become an essential part... Read More
When people think of search engine optimization, they immediately think... Read More
In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had... Read More
Achieving a top ranking position in Google is every webmasters... Read More
Some web sites receive hundreds or thousands of unique visitors... Read More
As with any good web developer, the ability to time... Read More
With search engine algorithms changing seemingly daily, the quest to... Read More
Keyword optimization involves vital keyword selection and placement strategy depends... Read More
Anyone involved in an Internet-based home business will soon come... Read More
In order to tap the huge stream of targeted traffic... Read More
Everyday, the Search Engines average 300 MILLION searches. In a... Read More
Why valid HTML code is crucial to your web site's... Read More
I am sure the first thought provoking question that popped... Read More
When search engines first appeared, they were simple affairs consisting... Read More
Ever wondered how one search engine is dominating the entire... Read More
I built my website, it's perfect. My chosen subject of... Read More
Welcome to part two in this search engine optimization series.... Read More
The higher the PR of your site the higher will... Read More
Yesterday you should have read the third course out of... Read More
It is no secret that Google and Yahoo are on... Read More
If you are like me, you created web site metatags... Read More
What does all this SEO jargon mean.Have you ever been... Read More
Search engine optimization experts are having fun with Google. Experts,... Read More
When Google Adwords first came on scene, it was not... Read More
In October 2002, the Yahoo! portal changed the way it... Read More
Google has always been the search industry's innovator and that's... Read More
So you want to get listed on Google? And you... Read More
This is the first lesson out of 6 that teaches... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) |