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For those of us selling things online, one of the most talked-about areas recently has been all the changes in the search engine community. From the ongoing changes in search engine "secret sauce" algorithms, Google's AdSense, Google's Froogle, Overture's new Content Match, and now eBay's new ad keywords program, keeping on top of all the ways retailers can make their products more visible to people doing Internet searches has been a challenge.
It's also fascinating watching the alliances form. Overture is working with MSN, so users doing searches will see links on that network's relevant Web pages. Google is now working with Amazon (I noticed the new line, "Customers interested in this title may also be interested in/Sponsored Links" during a recent hunt for a book on Amazon). And eBay is working with AdMarketplace for its new Keywords on eBay Advertising Service.
And just this week, Yahoo announced plans to acquire Overture!
In this issue, Nancy Preiss gives us a quick rundown of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) basics, and then Susan Heywood gets more specific, looking at the customer experience of eBay Stores, and the efficacy of using services like Google Adwords to drive traffic to the stores. I'm also going to share some of my experiences from eBay Live, other than the experience of the Florida humidity making my hair frizz out worse than Weird Al Yankovic's.
In future issues, we'll of course keep on top of the search engine and pay-per-click (PPC) search engine ad world, which seems to turn on a dime. Meantime, I think it behooves retailers to experiment - but carefully - with the myriad of new options available to them.
Some Webmasters were grumbling about how some pages of their sites were recently dropped from one of the search engines, and the search engines have gotten more stringent about dealing with people who try to use "tricks" to improve their rankings. We'll continue to monitor these issues, but for now, the best advice seems to be to keep up a good site, with quality products and relevant content, and let the Web spiders do the rest.
In playing around with pay-per-click ads, try to keep your keywords targeted, and monitor your results closely and often; if you bid for the expensive, too-broad terms, you can lose your shirt.
If you have comments or questions about the search engine optimization, PPC services, or anything else, feel free to write me about it and to post in the online discussion forums at http://www.myezsale.com/forums/phpBB2/index.php. Until next issue, stay cool!
Julia Wilkinson
Email: Julia@myezsale.com
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