Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising will rock in 2002. PPC engines like Overture and FindWhat are performing extremely well.

Sites displaying Overture's listings include America Online, Yahoo, Lycos, Hotbot, Altavista, Netscape, InfoSpace, Dogpile and Excite.

Overture's partnership with Yahoo ends in June 2002. Yahoo is likely to roll out their own PPC system.

I expect more search engines to adopt PPC model or offer co- branded Overture listings in months ahead. Google, which runs a CPM AdWords model may start experimenting with PPC.

If you are advertising on Overture, expect gradual increases in traffic from most keywords.

To read more on PPC advertising, go to http://www.internetmarketingfocus.com o.cgi?l=topic-ppc

Prediction #2: Ads Grow BIGGER

Yahoo has begun displaying larger banner ad units that are 720 x 90 in screen size. I expect more sites to follow. The standard 468 x 60 banner size may be replaced with a larger one.

Sites that depend largely on advertising for their revenues are likely to roll out more of these large ad units.

It is an inevitable trend as fight for advertising dollars intensify. When web users become immune to these ads, what will content publishers do next? Try even larger ads?

To read more on banner advertising, go to http://www.internetmarketingfocus.com o.cgi?l=topic-bn

Prediction #3: Rich-Media Ads Gain Respect

In this article, I will discuss various forms of viral marketing (VM) being used online. I will also provide examples of each form of VM and how you can use it.

VM #1. Word-Of-Mouth

The most common implementation of word-of-mouth VM are "Tell A Friend" or "Recommend This To A Friend" forms on most websites.

Usage rate differs from site to site. For some entertainment sites, usage of tell-a-friend forms can be very high. Yet for other large content sites, usage may be insignificant.

The usage rate depends a lot on kind of content being recommended and user group.

However this form of VM can be cheaply and quickly implemented and its efficacy can be enhanced with a contest or lucky draw.

There are a number of free tell-a-friend service providers online. For a list of them, go to http://www.internetmarketingfocus.com o.cgi?l=a010p1

VM #2. Pass-It-On

This is a popular activity for most email users - be it corporate, home or academic account holders.

When we receive attachments of funny pictures or cool Flash games, we usually forward them to friends. And they in turn forward attachments to their contacts.

The snowball effect can create a distribution channel easily reaching hundreds of people within a few hours - from just one original email.

Here's how you can implement pass-it-on VM:

Create a fun game using Macromedia Flash and send it out to contacts in your address book. Include your website URL within Flash program and invite people to click to your site.

Also make it available for download on your website .. and watch it spread virally!