5. Join a link co-op. Co-ops such as one found at http://www.digitalpoint.com/ are an amazing source of valuable back links and free advertisement. What is a co op network? A Co op network is a network of site owners/webmasters that offer ad space to network. In return, ads they define are displayed across entire network. The best part of ad networks such as one found at digital point, is, they are free. Having your site in a co-op can literally mean thousands of back links for your site.

6. Buying ezine ads is a paid method of advertising, but it works, because it is most targeted of these approaches. Write a concise ad for your business, and link to either a lead-capture page or directly to your autoresponder. Then, begin contacting ezines to place your ad. (Do a search for “ezine directories,” and you will find enough lists to keep you busy.) When you contact an ezine, look for rates for both classified ads and solo ads. The advantage to a solo ad is that your ad goes out by itself in a separate email, but they can be more expensive. Because these ads are targeted (you should NOT advertise in an unrelated ezine), you will definitely see traffic, but you will need to track your results to see which ezines bring you most and best traffic.

7. Ad Swaps can be an exellent source of advertising. Start by writing some killer copy (to coin a phrase...there are many free articles and ebooks writen on subject). Simply use your favorite search engine and type in...how to write ad copy. I googled this as I am wriying this and it showed 12,400,000 results. WOW! Once you have your ad written, search out Ezines that are in same catagory as your business or service. Again use your favorite web search. Build yourself a list of ezines and then email them asking if they except ad swaps. Include your ad in your corrospondance with ezines so they can see what you are offering. Another place to check for ezines is to type in Ezine directories in your seach engine. Look up ezines in your catagory of business or service. Most listings will tell you if they except ad swaps and peramiters of ad such as how many lines and how many characters per line. Don't forget to ad your website url in your ad.

If you want to have a successful site, whether-it-be a hobby or for business, you have to understand how search engines work. Part of that understanding, is knowing about link development. Maybe in early 90’s idea of “if you build it they will come” might have been true. But in year 2005 internet is a far more competitive and complex place. To be successful today, you have to work at it. Without a quality source of back links search engines will all but ignore your site.

Click Fraud Percentages

Neither Google, Overture nor any other search engine has been willing to publish click fraud rates for their paid advertising program. Hints have been provided regarding a rate of 20 percent. Active advertisers know, however, percentages can be much higher depending on competitiveness of keywords in question. Click Defense, Plaintiff in lawsuit, is claiming a click fraud rate of 38 percent.

Will This Impact PPC?

The lawsuit against Google was inevitable. Every site using Adwords is aware of problem with click fraud. Frankly, it is a problem with every pay-per-click search engine although our experience has been better with Overture.

So, will this lawsuit force search engines to clean up their act? It’s hard to say, but there should be one definite benefit. As part of lawsuit, Google may be forced to reveal true click fraud percentages occurring in Adwords. If Google moves to quickly settle case, you should take it as an indication it wants to keep rates confidential. This, of course, will mean click fraud percentages are high.

You should watch progress of this lawsuit if you use pay-per-click search engines to promote your site. Some very interesting information should be revealed. Regardless of outcome, click fraud is just another reason to pursue search engine optimization strategies.