How do you market on a portal site?

Very much same way that you market on any internet web site. You can purchase banner advertising or text links. You can provide valuable content to portal site and therefore often times get your marketing message out by way of a byline or a link free of charge. You can participate in community. You can sponsor contests or moderate forums or chat boards. Virtually anything you do on a relevant portal site will fall under category of marketing. Because any way in which you make your presence heard, seen, or felt you are reaching your target market.

There are portal web sites for just about anything you could want. http://www.primmart.com is a portal site for primitive and rustic shopping. http://www.mommyportal.com is a portal site for mom business marketing. http://www.moneymakingmommy.com is a portal site for work at home opportunities. http://www.wahm.com is a portal site for work at home mom resources on everything under sun. http://www.thenetworkforwomen.com is a portal site of all things of interest to women on internet. http://www.i-Cop.org is a portal site for businesses on internet who have made an effort to police themselves and each other, providing internet shoppers and consumers with superior service every time. Even category pages within The Open Directory Project http://www.dmoz.com are in effect portal sites. A brand new portal site for moms doing business on internet is http://www.internetbasedmoms.com.

If you want to find a portal site on which you can begin doing targeted advertising, run a search. Because of their high link popularity status, a great search engine to use is Google.com

What if, unthinkable though it might be, a portal web site doesn't exist that reaches your target market?

The answer is so easy I can hardly believe you would ask. Start one!

Internet real estate is still best buy going. Find a relevant domain name that is available. Register it. Host it. And build it. Shazaam. You are now in a position to portal market.

But how do I build a portal?

Compile relevant resources for people and build a site around it. As traffic levels grow you will be able to sell advertising space. But remember that whether portal site itself ever actually turns a profit or not, it is still cheapest and most targeted advertising space available.

What are added bonuses for setting up your own portal site to use as a marketing tool?

Much like publishing an ezine or writing articles, you are continuing to build yourself as a leader and knowledge base in your field. And that is probably most powerful marketing of all!

Adam: “Correct!”

Question: “Where paid placement is a cost per click, your placement is then based on bid placed for a particular keyword?”

Adam: “Yes, exactly.”

Question: “If you aren't indexed and would like to buy pay per click, where would cost per click be linked to?”

Adam: “The cost-per-click ads go to any page that you want provided that you have content that is relevant to keyword that you bid on. The cost-per-click ads are completely separate from index. You do not have to be in index to bid on ads. The ads are 'advertisement' on right hand side of page.”

Question: “We are talking about cost per click (ad placement) and paid inclusion. My question is, if you don't pay for inclusion and pay for ad placement, would you be indexed with FAST or Lycos search engines?”

Adam: “No, they’re completely independent. Paid inclusion gets you into Web index. Paid placement buys you space on Web results page. You can have either or both, but they do not work together per se. However, it helps to purchase both for broad exposure through paid inclusion and targeted exposure through CPC ads.”

Question: “In your new InSite AdBuyer program, FindWhat provides technology but NOT results for your pay-per-click ads, is that correct?”

Adam: “We have private labeled FindWhat ad auction platform end-to-end. Lycos engages in relationships with advertisers directly.”

Question: “Where are sponsored listings from?”

Adam: “Those are provided by Overture, which is similar in concept. Advertisers are bidding for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions throughout Overture's network.”

Question: “What is purpose of “Fast Forward” button in your search results? I notice that using button opens up a framed page where left frame shows search results including Overture ads, and current site is highlighted. Does this button make it easier to visit current results, and is that its purpose?”

Adam: “That is exactly purpose. We are trying to give searchers an easier way to browse through pages that are served as results.”

Question: “Is it necessary to submit to both FAST and Lycos, either through free Add URL or pay inclusion, or does submitting to FAST get your site listed in both indexes?”

Adam: “Web site owners and marketers can submit to FAST index either through Lycos or directly to FAST. There is no difference in indexes. Lycos search results are powered by FAST.”

Question: “Does #1 result from Kanoodle still show up in some Lycos searches?”

Adam: “No. Kanoodle does not provide results on Lycos.”

Question: “Are results from Lycos Web Sites Directory (ODP results) mixed in with FAST results or only available through Web Directory link at top of page?”

Adam: “Only FAST results appear in Web result listings.”

In Conclusion

If you don’t have visibility in Lycos search engine (http://www.lycos.com), you have several choices. You can pay for inclusion in FAST index (http://www.positiontech.com/fast/index.htm), which will get you in regular search results for Lycos. You can also participate in their InSite AdBuyer program (http://insite.lycos.com/searchservices/), a new cost-per-click advertising program. Or, purchase keywords through Overture (http://www.overture.com), which will also get you visibility in Lycos.

At top of Lycos page, you’ll see a link to Web Directory, which is where ODP results are found. ODP results can only be found through this link, and they’re not mixed in with FAST results. However, making sure that your site is listed in ODP (http://dmoz.org) is another way to get added visibility through Lycos search engine.