We’re Crazy! No, Seriously, We Are

7search is always looking to do things that other PPC’s are not willing to do, like answer your phone calls and emails and give you free campaign assistance. Now, we’ve decided to get a bit crazy.

Every Monday during the month of July, we are going to randomly select every one new Advertiser who funded their account with a minimum of $25 and give them a $250 Visa gift card! How crazy is that?! We’re just giving money away!! Who can’t use an extra $250? The person writing this post could certainly use it!

Here's a summary of the rules:

1. You must register as an Advertiser with promo code CASHCOW
2. Submit your campaign, keywords and bids.
3. You must fund your account with the minimum of $25.00
4. That’s it! Well, there are a few rules.

We will then randomly draw a winner of the $250 Visa gift card from the pool of Advertisers who registered the week prior. Good Luck!

Maintaining The PPC Edge

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising has fast become the leading choice in worldwide advertising. Some would even argue that this billion dollar industry is the benchmark for advertising in the 21st century and beyond. It's a jungle out there, and maintaining a competitive online presence is the key to ensuring the success of your online business.

Maintaining this edge can be a tricky proposition. PPC veterans have the knowledge to build successful campaigns and maintain a competitive engine placement through bidding. For the novice, however, deciding the "right" bid amount to occupy an ideal position can present a stressful choice. Do I save a few cents by occupying a lower position and risk minimizing my exposure? How much is too much? Where do I begin?

7search has taken the guesswork out of bidding by including a Smart Bid suggestion for every keyword in your campaign. To maximize your ad's exposure, your goal is to rank high enough, per keyword, that the various search engines in our affiliate network will display your ad with their results. The Smart Bid is a value derived from the current bid data provided by select 7search affiliates and is an excellent starting point for all 7search advertisers. While the Smart Bid values tend to be higher than the 7search.com bids, the increase in quality traffic you can receive makes it a risk worth taking.

7Search - New and Improved Search Results!

This morning 7search unleashed its newest search results page!

The Highlights:

• New Sponsored listing sections.
- Our Advertisers are prominently displayed.
- The top 3 bidders remain at the top of the search results, while the following are on the right hand column of the page.
• New Related Searches list.
- If you didn’t find what you were looking for we’re now offering a short list of additional keywords to search.
• Images!
- We put the images right on the results page! No need to visit another page within 7search.com to see related images, its all right there.
• News!
- Read the top 5 news headlines right on the results page too!
• And real time Twitter results!
- Who but 7search is cool enough to integrate Twitter results? Nobody in the PPC world!
- Oh, and you should follow us on Twitter too @7search

So go ahead and give it a try and let us know what you think!

See You in Boston!

7Search will be at Internet Retailer in Boston, Booth 1001

Beginning June 15th, 7search.com will be prominently displayed at Internet Retailer in Boston. There will be an estimated 4,500 attendees at the Boston Convention Center making this one of the biggest shows of the year! Our Sales Team is excited about meeting new Ad Agencies and Direct Advertisers so come visit our booth, number 1001 and receive a 20% credit towards your deposit on a new Advertiser account.

Internet Retailer in Boston
Location: Boston Convention Center
Dates: June 15 – 16
Booth: 1001

Customers Like Simplicity

No matter what products and services you might be developing, they will be more likely to succeed if they can simplify customers’ lives. Think about it: would you be likely to buy a new product if it seemed like it would demand your time and energy? Would you buy a recent service if learning and concentration were important in order to use it?

Most people are busy. It’s not that they are lazy – they just have a lot on their minds. Therefore, they’re looking for things which will make their lives easier. People may not be able to afford using much time or mental effort in order to comprehend and fully appreciate what you’re trying to sell them.

Therefore, how can you assure customers that your company can simplify their lives? Tell them, but be sure to show them. Make it clear in your ad copy that your product is easy to use, or that your service only requires a moderate amount of time and commitment. Encourage sales staff to send this message. However, don’t just state that your company can simplify customers’ lives. Make sure your product/service is actually as convenient as it is advertised. If it doesn’t perform as it should, then your company can receive negative feedback and equally negative publicity.

4 Benefits to Using Negative Keywords

7search.com has recently enabled a great new keyword feature for all of its advertiser accounts. Negative Keywords are now a reality! How does this benefit the 7search user?

What is it?

Negative keywords help prevent your ad from appearing for search terms that are unrelated to your website. For example, if your ad sells new plasma tvs and you have specified "plasma tv" as a keyword, you can prevent your ad from being shown when searches are made on "used plasma tv" by specifying "used" as a negative keyword.

Negative keywords can be applied on two different levels. Account Level negative keywords are applied to every campaign in your ppc account, while Campaign Level negative keywords are ad specific.

Advertisers are also allowed to bid on 3 different matching options: broad, phrase & exact. Read more about this feature here.

Benefits

• Easily accessible by clicking the Negative Keywords link.
• This industry proven tool gives the advertiser more control over the traffic they receive for each ad. The user can create a list of undesirable keywords under which they do not wish their ad to appear.
• It can also improve the click-thru rate (CTR) for your ad as you potentially have fewer irrelevant visitors viewing your listing.
• Improved CTR equals more qualified leads for you, which in turn improves your conversion rate.

Keep in mind that Negative keywords can reduce the overall views of your webpage. Also, users will still need to monitor the keyword reports and update the list as needed.

When choosing Negative Keywords, be sure to use the updated Keywords Report found under the “Reports” tab to view a detailed breakdown of the searched phrases for your ads.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about Negative Keywords. We know that the best way for us to grow as a business is to help you grow yours, and we will always do our best to assist you.

How Can I Make My Blog More Profitable?

PPC Advertising Guideline for Success

There are two sides to this coin – the advertiser and partner sides.

On the advertiser side, the key is in getting targeted and converting traffic. The following is a general guideline for being successful with PPC traffic.

Using PPC traffic and a decent analytics package, like Google Analytics, you can set up and track different landing page designs and keyword performance. And in doing so you can discover which keywords make money and which are dead ends. The technique works like this;

Break your keywords into groups of similar keywords. For example, one group could be based on “Rocky Mountain Football” and include words like;

• rocky mountain football
• rocky mountain football league
• rocky mountain rumble football
• rocky mountain sprint football
• vs rocky mountain football
• rocky mountain college football schedule

For each keyword group, create a landing page that focuses on that group. So for example, create a landing page that focuses on “Rocky Mountain Football” and that uses that phrase in the title tag and in the page content.

Submit those landing pages to a PPC network. Make sure to use the correct corresponding keyword groups with the correct landing pages. Also make sure the ad copy matches and uses the keyword theme of the respective pages. The idea is to create a seamless experience for the web surfer from keyword search, to ad copy, to landing page, to sale or sign up.

Experiment with different layouts, keyword groups, and ad copy. Decent analytics packages allow you to “tag” URLs used in specific ads to see how they perform compared to one another. This is essence allows you to root out the poor or under performing keywords and focus your budget only on keywords that convert.

Rinse and repeat. Once you have this process of creating keyword groups and keyword themed landing pages down you simply need to go through a trial and error process to bring your campaigns to maximum efficiency.

If you're interested in advertising your blog on the 7search PPC network, we may be able to offer a special bonus for a limited time. Contact us to find out details.

On the partner side are PPC Partner Programs sometimes referred to as PPC Affiliate programs. These partner programs allow bloggers to monetize their blogs by using different types of ads on the blogs themselves. These ads, when clicked, generate revenue for the blog.

At 7Search, we have many PPC Partner options for webmasters and bloggers to generate revenue. Some of the more popular ones include:

1. Accessory Ads - The Accessory Ads program from 7Search provides affiliates with a way to integrate an AdZone of advertisements into their pages and earn 60% of the revenue.
2. Pay-Per-Text - generate searches from subject-related text to our search return lists. It is a text advertisement with a keyword already in the text, prompting surfers to click on the text advertisement, which in effect searches for that word on 7search and gives the user all of our Advertisers relates to that search. If the user selects a web site on the list, affiliate get 60% of what that web site pays us per visitor.
3. Private Label Search - Put your own name on the search box and let 7search generate web results for you. You earn 60% of what the advertiser pays us per visitor. For full details, please visit http://7search.com/private.htm
4. SearchAdRoll – the fastest and easiest way to generate blog revenue! SearchAdRoll is a widget that can be placed anywhere on your site. Simply submit keywords that define your blog content and SearchAdRoll will display those terms as sponsored links. When clicked they open a search return list of advertiser’s websites. Each time one of your users visits one of these websites you get paid!

We encourage you to sign up for a 7Search affiliate account and explore which of the PPC Partner / Affiliate Programs make the most sense for you.

Online Advertising is Up!

IAB.net is reporting that a full year of Internet advertising revenues of 2008 totaled $23.4 billion, which is up 10.6 percent from the $21.2 billion reported in 2007.

Search revenue accounted for 46 percent of 2008 fourth-quarter revenues, up from the 42 percent reported in 2007. Display Banner advertising, the second largest format, accounted for 21 percent, and followed by Classifieds (13 percent), Lead Generation (7 percent) and Rich Media (7 percent) of 2008 fourth-quarter revenues.

You can read that article here.

Lowest PPC Bids for Web Hosting Keywords - WHIR Magazine

7search was mentioned in the March 2009 issue of Web Host Industry Review (The Whir) magazine as having the lowest bids across the board for web hosting keywords.

This means that if you are in the web hosting business, you need to be advertising on 7search to get the

Highest ROI available in ppc search engine marketing!

Thoughts on Finding Paying Customers, by Alan R

How can you find paying customers in your niche? First, write down a few keywords which are relevant to your website. Then begin entering them into the 7search Keyword Suggestion Tool. Look at the results, and make sure to exclude any phrases which are irrelevant or difficult to understand. Take the rest, and ask yourself, "Will people interested in my website/products/services search for terms such as these?" If you believe that potential customers might enter these terms, then choose them as your keywords.

The 7search Keyword Suggestion Tool is also a device for determining appropriate bid prices. It will let you see how many searches that words and phrases get, as well as how much other advertisers are bidding on them. Look at the information, and then consider how much demand there is for particular phrases, compared to how much competition exists for those phrases. Consider how much you are willing to compete in order to reach the top.

Negative Keywords

Did you notice the new "Predefine Negative Keywords" link in your Advertiser account? 7search has been working on this feature for some time now and its finally here! You've seen negative keywords before on other PPC's. So you know how it works; if you’re selling new cars and select ‘used’ as a negative keyword, your listing will not appear if someone searches for ‘used car’. Prior to this new feature, 7search was an "exact match" PPC, meaning if you are bidding on the keyword 'car' and the surfer searches for ‘Nissan car’, your listing would appear.

The new "Predefine Negative Keywords” link allows you submit your negative keywords. 7search is allowing you to specify your negative keywords in two different levels.

1. Account Level - negative keywords will apply to all campaigns within your advertising account. For example, if none of your campaigns promote "free" products, you can add the negative keyword "free" at the Account Level and it will apply to all of your campaigns.
2. Campaign Level - negative keywords will apply only to the campaign in which they are specified.

We are limiting the amount of negative keywords per account to just 100. This is so our results pages will continue to appear at the lightning speed you’re used to seeing.

The "Predefine Negative Keywords" link is located in the blue box on the CAMPAIGNS page of your account.

Let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!

The Smart Way to Bid

New Advertisers hear great things about 7search.com and how much traffic we generate. What those new Advertisers don’t know is that the majority of the traffic is delivered from our Search Partners and Affiliate Network. You see 7search.com generates only 1% of the traffic delivered to our Advertisers. Our Partners such as Genieknows.com and in Explorer.com feed our 7search results with their own results to make one search return list.

This is a great advantage for the Advertiser because listings aren’t relegated to just 7search.com. Advertisers are getting listed and displayed on hundreds of other portals, search engines and web sites. 7Search then monitors this traffic to provide the highest quality these sites can deliver!

This is where our Smart Bid feature needs to be utilized!

Advertisers can bid to be in the #1 position on 7search.com, but this listing might be lower on our Network and Partners results pages. Remember, our Network and Partners combine the 7search results with theirs. Meaning a #1 ranking on 7search could very well be a #13 ranking on our Network and Partners results page depending on the 7search bid. The Smart Bid gives an average of what it will cost to bid to be ranked within the top 5 rankings of our Network and Partners results pages.

Example:

Advertiser A is bidding on the keyword ‘fish’ at $0.05 on 7search, which is a #1 ranking. The Smart Bid (or average of the top 5 bids on our Search Partners and Affiliate Network) is $0.36. Chances are this listing will not be visible on the Network and Partners page because of the low bid at $0.05. However, by bidding around $0.36 or more, you’re guaranteeing to be listed within the top 5 on the Network and thus receiving more quality traffic that will convert into sales!

Experienced 7search Advertisers take full advantage of this feature because they understand the importance of being listed in positions with a higher average click through rate; that being the top 5 positions of any search return list.

The Smart Bid is found to the right of your bids within your 7search account interface.

If you have any questions about this feature or any other questions don't hesitate to contact us!

7Search is @ Web 2.0 this week! Booth #801

We will be exhibiting at Web 2.0 this week, Wednesday & Thursday. Come visit us at booth #801 and enter to win an iPod!

Or just say "hi"!

- @7Search

Top 3 Places to Find 7search

3) Twitter

Everyone is on Twitter so I’m sure you’re already following us! If you’re not, then you need to get with the rest of the cool kids. Our handle is @7search. Find out what’s going on in the world of 7search like: new partnerships, latest blog posts, what’s going on at the 7search head quarters, and you’ll get promo codes for additional credit towards your advertising too!

2) Facebook

On Facebook our friends notice one thing right off the bat, we’re not going to bother you with silly IQ Challenges and pokes all day long. That’s why we’re the perfect friend to have on Facebook. In fact, 7search is the perfect friend to have when it comes to looking out for your advertising dollars. 7search makes sure you’re not paying for bad traffic! Visit us on Facebook, its yet another place to find out what’s going on with us.

1) SES New York

7search recently gained yet another great Search Partner in Sagoon.com. (You can read that awesome release here. Today we’re looking to create more great partnerships at the SES Show in New York! We all know how big SES is and the last word we heard from out staff said it was standing room only! Incisive Media estimated over 6000 attendees. So we know we’re going to walk away with many great partnerships. If you visit us at booth #112 you’ll get a chance to win an iPod just for stopping by and saying “Hi”.

Yes, we’re awesome! ;P

7Search Expands its PPC Reach

7Search Taps Sagoon.com to Form Strategic Traffic Distribution Partnership that Expands its PPC Reach

DES PLAINES, IL – 7Search, a leading pay-per-click search engine and advertising network, announced it has formed a strategic traffic distribution partnership with Sagoon.com, which leverages semantic search and natural language processing to provide large volumes of high-quality traffic. The announcement was made by Charles Meyer, 7Search Business Development Director.

“This is a very significant addition to the 7Search search and advertising network,” Meyer said. “By working with Sagoon as they offer their beta site, we are establishing this relationship on the ground floor to build upward. We are their first search partner.”

Because of its advanced semantic and natural language search capabilities, Sagoon is known for providing excellent traffic. “7Search is very excited about Sagoon’s search technology because it delivers targeted, relevant traffic to our advertisers,” Meyer explained. “Not only that, but Sagoon is at the cutting edge of ALL categories of interactive search technology – search, news, video hosting, directories, retail portals and much more. With all of these avenues through which information can be explored, this will be a very successful partnership for everyone involved – especially 7Search advertisers.”

Govinda Giri, founder and chief executive officer of Sagoon, said he and his team are excited about the new relationship as well. “We’re very pleased to partner with 7Search, which provides both value to our company and top-notch search services,” said Giri. “7Search has proven to be the most dedicated of all the major search engines and it is always a pleasure to work with their proactive business manager. They have shown a commitment to us as a business partner.”

About 7Search.com: 7Search.com has been a leading pay per click search engine advertising and affiliate network since our inception in 1999 and is dedicated to providing value and service for online businesses. Continually recognized as a premier online advertising solution and a respected Web partner network, 7Search has provided thousands of Web businesses with an economical and measurable opportunity to obtain Internet traffic and generate revenue through their online presence.

About Sagoon: Sagoon is a privately owned company. It is dedicated to providing a new window for web search that combines the largest Web index with content-based relevance methods and organized results. Sagoon derives its name from Sanskrit “Shakuna” meaning “auspicious or ushering good results.” This christening reflects Sagoon’s sincere wish that the exploration of information and resources on the site ushers in “good luck” and augurs well for all businesses and users. For more information, please visit www.sagoon.com.

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NOTE: Please send inquiries to Charles Meyer, 7Search, 999 E. Touhy, Des Plaines, IL 60018.
Telephone: 1-800-577-1165, x. 6907. Email: cmeyer@7search.com.