Pain is a greater motivator than pleasure. Pain of loss, pain of being laughed at, pain of being left out, pain of looking old, pain of looking unsuccessful…what pain does your customer have? How can you communicate your understanding of their problem and fact that you can take away pain?

Motivation is also affected by current trends. Today’s consumer doesn’t believe in promises, anymore. You only have to look at most popular shows on TV and resultant association phrase “You’re fired” conveys to see that people want reality. There is demand for an even a further extension of reality TV, demonstrated by need to see what goes on behind scenes….the real reality.

Stating a “truth” is not enough…form a connection. People look for verification of what they perceive to be a truth.

Delivering a clear, concise message, often, to a small group of receptive people is much more effective than using scattergun approach.

Be willing to embrace new ideas, be excited about opportunities presented by being seen as different, and have dedication and commitment to stick to your plan to reach out and touch someone.

As Azoos representative Andrew Greenstein says, "We originally set out to create a search engine that offered something unique not only for end-user but for site submitter as well. Now that our search technology has improved so dramatically, it’s clear that our initial vision has become a reality and our primary goal has been achieved."

And although bright yellow search engine may still have a long way to go before it can compete with "big boys" in terms of audience size, Azoos.Com may very well be one of most promising prospects on debt-riddled Internet today.

Well, I can certainly agree with them on one thing. They do indeed have a long way to go, before they can compete with big boys--a very long way!

Here's problem as I see it with Azoos. They want $69.95 to add you to their database. This despite fact that not one of top search engines charges money to spider your website. And those colors are brutal on eyes! Whose brilliant idea was that? Blue text on a screaming yellow background? When I first saw it, I thought Cartoon Network had developed their own search engine.

I wasn't impressed to say least. And I certainly wasn't interested in spending $69.95 to be included on some cartoonish looking search site.

While I was there I figured I'd check out their search function. But something interesting happened when I typed in a particular keyword. The following disclaimer appeared on right hand side of search engine:

"Remember! Azoos.com contains millions of web pages in its database, but our categorical listings (that's where YOU are NOW!) feature only a handful of our hottest picks and user- submitted sites.

Unlike other search engines who expect their users to navigate through dozens of categorical links to find relevant subject matter, Azoos.Com keeps this section of our site short, simple, and to point...listing only a few thousand reviewed and user-submitted links.

If you have a more specific topic in mind and need to conduct in-depth research, please enter your query in search box above for complete results. Use these categories only when looking for general lists, containing today's most useful sites to bookmark!"

Allow me to decipher above jibberish. In essence, what Azoos is saying is this: Unless you perform a number of inconvenient search procedures, results you receive will more often than not be those of businesses that have paid to have their sites listed in Azoos database!

Also, their traffic count is low, comparatively speaking, for a search engine.

In conclusion, I can't recommend Azoos. There are just far too many superior, free alternatives!

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net