Search engine marketing is definitely the best source of targeted traffic on the Internet currently. As most people make use of the search engines (up to 80% of surfers use a search engine to find info or products), the battle for search position is getting high day-to- day. There are arguably only two major marketing strategies being employed by companies/webmasters in the market to date: PPC and SEO. SEO has been there since the beginning of the Internet, while PPC is the "new kid on the block".

PPC or "Pay Per Click" refers to text-based marketing, where companies/webmasters get charged by the click whenever a surfer clicks on their paid ads. Search rankings are usually based on bidding prices. These are usually designated on the engines as "sponsored listings".

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Today WSJ announced that Microsoft will purchase Urchin Software. This reflects the trend for Search Engines to provide better analytics to Advertisers. At A-1 Internetdesign we use a number of tools for tracking including urchin.

NEW YORK and OAKLAND, Calif., March 21 — IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI) and Ask Jeeves, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASKJ) today announced they have signed an agreement under which IAC will purchase Ask Jeeves. Under the terms of the agreement, IAC will issue 1.2668 shares of common stock for each share of Ask Jeeves common stock in a tax-free transaction valued at $1.85 billion net of cash acquired. IAC intends to buy back through its previously authorized share repurchase programs at least 60% of the number of shares it will issue for this acquisition, thus effectively offsetting a substantial portion of the dilution from the transaction with cash. IAC expects the acquisition to be accretive to 2005 Adjusted EPS assuming the buyback at the 60% level.

http://www.irconnect.com/askjinc/pages/news_releases.html?d=74889