The real future of search engines is yet to be seen but I can tell you that presently, search engine marketing does still work and is still an effective way to advertise online -- inexpensively if you know how to prepare you site yourself.
Sure, you can pay for hits in pay-per-click engines such as Overture, Kanoodle, 7search and so on. If you have the marketing budget available, its a terrific way to promote your business with just a little bit of effort.
You can pay for submitting your site through pay inclusion programs such as AltaVista, Inktomi, Lycos, ect. But, you still are not guaranteed any top listings if your site isn't properly prepared and wont give you any more of a ranking boost than if you submitted through the free submissions.
Getting listed in Yahoo! can be quite expensive for a business oriented site but it definately does reap many benefits and much traffic -- This is definately one paid submission that I would recommend but is not completely necessary.
To gain the most benefits from search engines while spending as little money as possible, learn what you need to do to make sure that your site gets indexed, stays indexed, gains desirable rankings and generates traffic.
In all honestly, this isn't as hard as it may seem -- the hardest part is finding the right resources with updated information that is easy for the average web master / site owner to understand and implement. Be wary of bad and outdated information. Search engines have changed drastically over the course of the last few years -- especially the last year. What worked 12 months ago, could get your site banned entirely today. What had no relevance at all 2 years ago may be what gets your site to the top today.
Most importantly, learn what NOT to do when preparing for search engines. Many are not educated on what search engine spam is or how to avoid it and end up with a severely penalized or banned site before they ever even knew that a spider had been to their site.
The second most important and probably the most difficult and frustrating is determining what keyword phrases to target. Figuring out exactly how your target market is going to try to find you isn't always easy. Keyword research can definately take many, many hours before the right combination is found.
A lot of time and patience is definately required with search engine marketing, especially if you are working with a slim marketing budget -- but done the right way, it normally pays off in the end.
The future of search engine marketing is yet to be seen, but I believe that in some form or fashion, it will remain an effective and cost efficient method to advertise for years to come. ( I sure hope so anyway or I will be seeking a new career!)
Dawn Rowlett
Search Engine Positioning Specialist
www.SEO101.com
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