Very Helpful Search Engine Marketing Strategies

Articles and press releases are two very helpful search engine marketing strategies that a lot of marketers still use today. But unlike in the past wherein the articles and press release can easily be found by the online community, the massive amount of articles and press releases today have made it more difficult for one to be singled out from the rest. It is now close to impossible that a press release about your new product or an article would be read by everyone.

Nevertheless, many companies still send out press releases and articles .Fact of the matter is there are some articles and some press releases that are read by customers. Despite the heavy competition, there is still a way to reach your customers through the articles and press releases .For more details visit to www.writing-fast-cash.com. The key is to create something that will capture their attention and will intrigue them enough to investigate and go to your website, user profile, or information center.

Here are some tips on how to make an article or press release that would stand among the thousands of other articles and press releases:

1. Get to Know Your Target Audience

Press releases and articles also have target audiences. We know that. We don‘t write and publish something just for ourselves; we do it for the benefit of others, too. When marketing, press release and articles are meant to be read by your target audience and you keep them in mind when creating that press release or article.

Knowing your target audience will enable you to write in a way as if you‘re “speaking in their language.” you would know ho to communicate to your target market and in the process capture their attention. You‘ll be able to include facts and information that you know would be beneficial for them and therefore will appeal to them. You will also be able to optimize your press release or article by defining the best keywords, knowing what keywords your target audience would be looking for.

2. Optimize Through Keywords

In knowing who your target audience is, you can research on what keywords to focus on to optimize your article or press release. Once you‘ve found the best keyword for the article or press release, make it as a basis when writing. Optimizing through the keywords will help with your rankings in the search engines as the crawlers can read the press releases and articles. If your article or press release is about a certain subject, and you‘ve honed on it very well, it can rank very high on the search engines.

3. Be Creative and Stand Out!

Stand out. You know there‘s a very fierce competition out there. Thousands of pres releases and articles are sent across the Web through the sites, emails, directories, and feeds. You need to do more than just write correctly... you need to write creatively! You need to think on how your article or press release can be of better help to the customers than the other articles or press releases. You need to give the audience a reason why they should pick your article or press release among the many thousand others.

4. Optimize On the Title

The title of the article or press release, not just the keywords, also counts in optimization. Each article or press release should have a title that revolves around the keywords you chose. This will help in the search engine rankings and for more visibility when the keywords are being searched. For more information logon to www.article-writing-secret.com.Of course, you should not forget to make the title interesting to hook the readers to read your article or press release. It will help to communicate easily with your customers and can drive traffic to your website.

5. Add an Image to Go With the Article or Press Release

An article or press release with an image or picture is much more enjoyable o read and look at than a plain one. Many readers usually don‘t read much at their first glance at an article or press release. Adding an image could lead them to read your article when it captures their attention. It‘s another way for your article or press release to stand out!

6. Choosing the Distribution Channels

Submitting your press release or article on big PR distribution sites and article directories may NOT always be the best course to take. While the services will work just fine, you might want to take a course wherein you know you‘ll get more exposure and quality coverage in your own market.

Source:- promotionworld.com/

A Brief History of Search Engine Optimization

In the middle of the 1990s webmasters and search engine content providers started optimizing websites. At the time all the webmasters had to do was provide a URL to a search engine and a web crawler would be sent from the search engine. The web crawler would extract link from the webpage and use the information to index the page by down loading the page and then storing it on the search engines server. Once the page was stored on the search engines server a second program, called an indexer, extracted additional information from the webpage, and determines the weight of specific words. When this was complete the page was ranked.

It didn't take very long for people to understand the importance of being highly ranked.

In the beginning search engines used search algorithms that webmasters provided about the web pages. It didn't take webmasters very long to start abusing the system requiring search engines to develop a more sophisticated form of search upholstery cleaning new york optimization. The search engines developed a system that considered several factors; domain name, text within the title, URL directories, term frequency, HTML tags, on page key word proximity, Alt attributes for images, on page keyword adjacency, text within NOFRAMES tags, web content development, sitemaps, and on page keyword sequence.

Google developed a new concept of evaluating internet web pages called PageRank. PageRank weighs a web page's quantity and quality based on the pages incoming upholstery cleaning system This method of search engine optimization was so successful that Google quickly began to enjoy successful word of mouth and consistent praise.

To help discourage abuse by webmasters, several internet search engines, such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Ask.com, will not disclose the algorithms they use when ranking web pages.The signals used today in search memory foam mattress topper optimization typically are; keywords in the title, link popularity, keywords in links pointing to the page, PageRank (Google), Keywords that appear in the visible text, links from on page to the inner pages, and placing punch line at the top of the page.

For the most part registering a webpage/website on a search engine is a simple task. All Google requires is a link from a site already indexed and the web crawlers furniture cleaning chicago visit the site and begin to spider its contents. Normally a few days after registering on the search engine the main search engine spiders will begin to index the website.

Some search engines will guarantee spidering and indexing for a small fee. These search engines do not guarantee specific ranking. Webmaster's who don't want web crawlers to index certain upholstery cleaning methods and directories use a standard robots.txt file. This file is located in the root directory. Occasionally a web crawler will still crawl a page even if the webmaster has indicated he does not wish the page indexed.


Source:- corsavoo.com/

Chris Broadhurst SEO Tips And Tricks The Lowdown

Search

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Search engine crawlers may look at a number of different factors when crawling a site. Search engines may penalize sites they discover using black hat methods, either by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from their databases altogether. Search engine optimization is the way to pull massive amounts of free traffic. Search engine optimization as a part of your internet marketing campaign is only as effective as the quality and usefulness of the content of your site. Search Engine marketing is one of the most powerful tools available.

Google

Google attracted a loyal following among the growing number of Internet users, who liked its simple design. Google says it ranks sites using more than 200 different signals. Google algorithms prefer sites which have relevant content rich information related to the targeted keywords. Google PageRank™ Checker The Google PageRank Checker lets you know the PageRank of any domain or web page. Google is the most popular search engine and delivers upholstery cleaning charlotte to three times the traffic delivered by Yahoo. [8] The three leading search engines, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's Live Search, do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

Keyword

Keyword selection is imperative for SEO and can often decide how effective your website can be. Another class of techniques, known as "Black Hat" SEO or spamdexing, use methods such as link farms and keyword stuffing that tend to harm search engine user experience. To provide better results to their users, search engines had to adapt to ensure their results pages showed the most relevant search results, rather than unrelated pages stuffed with numerous keywords by unscrupulous webmasters. Early search engines, such as Infoseek, adjusted their algorithms to prevent webmasters from manipulating rankings by stuffing pages with excessive or irrelevant keywords. Before being included in keyword-based search results, a web page needs to be indexed by the search engines. Choosing the right keywords and keyphrases to target in your pages is extremely important steam cleaners people find your website. PPC Campaigns have tremendous reach, however if required can be targeted not only by keyword, but also by country and even city of origin; providing you with targeted and relevant traffic to your site with little or no wastage and increased conversion. Search Engine Optimisation typically includes keyword research and development, meta tags optimisation, linking strategy and implementation, website submission and results reporting.


Source:- corsavoo.com/

Search Engine Marketing-How it Differs from Search Engine Optimization

Non-profit organizations, universities, political parties, and the government can all benefit from search engine marketing. Businesses that sell products and/or services online can use search engine marketing to help improve their sales figures.

Some of the goals of search engine marketing are to develop a brand, generate media coverage, and enhancing a reputation, and to drive business to a physical location.

If you do not feel confident enough to try your own search engine marketing there are several companies that will microfiber upholstery cleaning to help you out for a price. If you decide to go with a search engine marketing company take your time and shop around, find a company that really suits your own businesses search engine marketing needs.

Stay away from companies that promise top rankings. Most companies that promise tope ranking are more interested in your money then they are in keeping your business. Quite often this upholstery cleaner company of company will charge you top doller, spend a few days making sure your website has a few basic requirements and that is the last you hear from them. This type of search engine marketing company is not really interested in repeat customers.

Tread carefully around companies that promise first page rankings on the major search engines like Google and Yahoo. Make sure these sofa cleaner are talking about sponsored listings and not just natural listings. Companies that are only after natural listings traditionally charge a large monthly fee, using a small portion of the money on sponsored listings, and pocketing the remainder.

The false promise most commonly used by shady search engine marketing companies is the money back guarantee. Generally if you read the contract very carefully you will lean that these companies have a very strange idea of major short term memory loss wiki engine. Companies that have a money back guarantee typically don't deal with the search engine movers and shakers like Google and Yahoo, instead they use small obscure search engines that are hardly ever used.

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) was created in 2003 to offer the public educational resources about search engine marketing and to also promote search engine marketing. Currently SEMPO represents over 500 global search engine marketing companies. Sempo is happy to offer their resources to the public for free. SEMPO has offers upholstery cleaner company engine marketing training courses for any and all interested parties who would like to expand their knowledge of search engine marketing. SEMPO's objectives are to teach search engine marketing strategies, techniques, and successful practices, to increase the availability and quality f its professionals, and to offer training courses that will help to establish a benchmark for search engine marketing. The cost of a SEMPO training course can range anywhere from five hundred dollars for a fundamentals of search marketing class, to over two thousand dollars for an advanced search advertising course.


Source:- corsavoo.com/

Search Engine Optimization Tips: Going Beyond Keywords

Search engine optimization plays a key role in keeping any online store running successfully, and it's a task that has many critical components that Web shop owners have to continually address. This is due to both the sheer amount of time it takes to keep the basics in order and to the ever-changing search landscape.

Still, with a checklist in hand, you can figure out what type of SEO service makes sense for your business. Or, you can use it to prioritize these jobs and with a bit of time set aside each week, do it yourself and keep your site optimized for the best search results.

To help, we spoke with Julian Chu, director of client success at Demandware, who provided his list of "Top 10 SEO Must Dos."

1. Create relevant, keyword-rich product and category names, titles and descriptions.
Often e-tailers wonder if it's best to use manufacturer descriptions, or write their own. Chu's advice: "It's always better to have content that is directly relevant to what people are searching for, so if your own product descriptions and attributes are better, you'll get better results." But you have to decide where you want to spend your time. If you have hundreds of products, you should focus on the top sellers, what's driving people to the site in the first place."

2. Add relevant, keyword-rich content to the site.
Chu said there is a fine line between stuffing your copy with popular keywords and making copy flow. "I think you need to start with writing the best copy you can for your target audience, then step back and look at it from an SEO perspective, not just a marketing perspective," he said. "Any place where you can modify the language and add wording for keyword phrase, is an opportunity, because sometimes in the context of the copy, you might not add it because it would already be understood."
He added that at the same time, you don't want to keep repeating the product name, for instance, too many times, because then the copy is awkward and unreadable. Still, he said, there are synonyms and phrases you can use in place of the product name that can give your site more chances of showing up in searches.

3. Populate SEO-relevant attribute fields in your product catalog.
Often, busy Web shop owners fail to fill out attributes in their catalogs, and Chu said this can be a costly move. He advises that you include both short and long descriptors and landing page URLs. By devoting a bit of time, e-tailers can boost their optimization by making sure the catalogs are complete.

4. Ensure proper redirects from legacy URLs.
Chu said e-commerce sites typically have lots of external links back to the site, whether from affiliates or other related pages, and making sure these are updated is paramount to SEO. "If you change a platform, or where a product is located, and people can't find it, that's obviously bad for business," he said. "You need to set redirects from the old URL to the new. Unfortunately, this is one of those tasks that can take an inordinate amount of time if you do it one by one manually, so if you have an SEO platform, be sure to set rules based on the data to have this done automatically and you'll save a lot of time."

5. Configure 404 error pages.
Nothing turns off a prospective buyer more than getting hit with a "404 Error" page, and yet Chu said it is bound to happen from time to time. "You can't manage all the external links to your site perfectly, so the best thing is to be prepared for when some other site generates a broken link to your site. The backup plan is to capitalize on the opportunity by customizing and merchandising the error page. Don't just show the dreaded generic error page."
He said you can configure the page with your own brand elements, so it looks like an integral part of your site, and you should include a search box, links to product categories and even a humorous line about the glitch. "At a minimum, you should show some products there, and humor always helps, anything to draw the customer back in once they've found you through a search link."

6. Submit Sitemaps to search engines and directories.
Many e-tailers aren't even aware that there are two types of sitemaps. One is the kind commonly found at a site that helps visitors find what they're looking for by outlining how site content is arranged and organized. The other form, usually with a captial "S" and in XML format, is what Chu basically calls a "blueprint" of your site that is used to show search engines, namely Google of course, exactly how your site is set up.
"This is another thing can have a huge impact on your search ranking, but something that takes a lot of time to do right, so if you have an SEO platform, you want one that can automatically generate a Google Sitemap," he said. "It's like submitting a roadmap to the Google crawler of what the key pages are in your site, what the structure is, so it can crawl your site effectively. You can also tell Google how often your pages change, so the robots know how often to come back. Essentially it ensures Google always has updated information on your site set up."

7. Analyze site for broken links.
Chu said checking your site frequently for broken links is just "good site hygiene," and again, something that can be automated in an SEO platform if you're not finding the time to do it as often as you should.

8. Fix landing pages.
In addition to keeping standard pages updated, Chu said it's wise to give your landing pages some extra special care and nurturing. "Follow similar practices as you do for standard pages, but be sure to keep landing pages up-to-date, for instance, if you sell seasonal products. Think of specific topics for landing pages that will cause them to show up high in search results. You can even make them dynamic, meaning that the content that shows up depends on the search words used, tailored to that more specific search."

9. Add tags to images and video.
Another way e-tailers can sharpen their SEO is by adding tags to video and images. Chu said you should consider pictures in the same way as text. "These objects have keywords like any other page, so if you put in tags, they'll be more likely to be found."

10. Keep abreast of major changes in the search engine market landscape.
The search engine sector is constantly undergoing change. For instance, the addition of video and images in Google's main search results, could impact your rankings. Or, Changes in search patterns, such as shoppers often entering sites on product pages instead of home pages, can also influence decisions you make about your site, but if you're not aware of these trends, you can't capitalize on them.



source:- ecommerce-guide.com/

Top Five Strategies To Improve Google Search Engine Marketing

In the face of a struggling economy, it is essential for companies to increase marketing dollars in areas that offer the most potential sales. Achieving first page exposure on Google or other major search engines is one of the most effective ways to reach the most potential customers and produce immediate sales results. Heather Lutze, a nationally recognized Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Expert, Speaker, Author and CEO of Lutze Consulting, offers the Top Five Strategies To Improve Google Search Engine Marketing Results Using The FindAbility Formula(TM) at her upcoming workshops and speaking sessions. Lutze, who has a proven track record of helping thousands of online businesses increase their bottom line results, targets these strategies to business executives across all sectors who want to learn SEM. To learn the Top Five Strategies To Improve Google Search Engine Marketing Results, please go to http://www.lutzeconsulting.com/topic.asp?P=topfive.

Meeting Managers and Conference Organizers are eager to bring to their clients one of the most notable Internet Marketing expert trainers. Lutze offers non-technical training sessions on how to create and manage successful search marketing campaigns. As organizations are searching for ways to cut costs and limit travel, Lutze brings search engine marketing education to businesses around the country during a high-energy and informative presentation designed for business promoters responsible for gaining more customers and driving sales.

Lutze frequently delivers search marketing success strategies at national conferences/events and speaks competently on all SEM elements from implementing campaigns to increasing market share on Google, MSN, Yahoo! and more. Since 1991, she has been an expert trainer and speaker at leading workshops including, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Pay Per Click (PPC) Summit. She will present at the PPC Summit in Los Angeles, Sept. 25-26, 2008.

Lutze will also speak at the National Speakers Association (NSA) Conference in the session, "Become the Easiest Speaker To Find Online - Learn How to Achieve First Page Search Engine Presence Using FindAbility Formula," on Aug. 4 at 10:00 a.m. at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square. Lutze will also preview her new book, "FindAbility Formula, The Easy, Non-Technical Approach to Search Engine Marketing," which outlines strategies for optimal online marketing exposure.

Raving early manuscript reviews include:

"The FindAbility Formula book is literally worth its weight in gold! After following Heather's advice, traffic on our site is up and our sales have increased dramatically," according to The Guerilla Group's Senior Partner and Co-Author of Guerrilla Selling Orvel Ray Wilson. "Heather has definitely 'cracked the code' and de-mystified search marketing for the rest of us!"

Most recently, Lutze appeared on Speaker Magazine's May cover and was featured as an up-and-coming new speaker in 2008. She is also a contributing writer for Search Engine Marketing Journal. Lutze is committed to educating online businesses and helping them understand all aspects of Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click and more. To download a free report on the Top Five Strategies To Improve Google SEM, go to http://www.lutzeconsulting.com/topic.asp?P=topfive. Lutze tackles Internet marketing issues and has successfully trained 2000+ online business promoters.


source:- eworldwire.com/

Search Engine Optimization Journal Adds Website Analytics Section to Blog

Having a web design firm build an e-commerce website is easy these days. Interview a few firms, find one that fits a specific budget and have them start building. There are details that many start up online entrepreneurs forget about, analytics (http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/category/analytics/).

Search Engine Optimization Journal has added a new analytics section to their already established industry blog. Search Engine Optimization Journal knows there is a tremendous need for knowledge on this important aspect of building a website that they have added an entirely new section dedicated towards this information. When launching a website it is just as important to know where all visitors are coming from as it is just driving visitors to a site. How can a website visitor make informed decisions on marketing their website when they don't even know their visitors patterns on the site? It is very important to know when a visitor sits on a page for five minutes or fifteen seconds so that a website owner knows where to make adjustments on a website. Knowing your websites visitors patterns will allow you to have an advantage. When it comes time to make adjustments to a website they can be made according to well gathered data instead of guesses. When a business owner has just dumped their life's savings into a business the livelihood of that business will depend on how website visitors use every square inch of that particular website.

Before diving into any marketing and search engine optimization (http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com) for a freshly built website the website owner should allow the privilege of having some sort of analytics information to not only present to their team but also for themselves to analyze. No successful online business makes in today's industry without being able to analyze all analytics data. If the plan is to have an in-house team of marketers for a particular website they will base many of their marketing decisions on this analytics information. With analytics information the team will be able to see what countries visitors are coming from and how long they are spending on a specific page. They can also see exactly which links are working to help grow a business. If a marketing department has been performing social media marketing for 6 months and the website analytics tells the team that nobody has used that link to make it to the site than they know that shifting gears in a different direction will be beneficial. Without have analytics information they would never see if a referring link was actually working or if it was just sitting there quiet. In today's ever changing industry it is important to have as much ammo as possible otherwise a businesses marketing efforts could be wasted and that is something that is just not acceptable these days. Well gathered analytics information will allow any business to allocate their marketing dollars in the direction most beneficial to the success of that specific business.

source:- pr-usa.net/

Search Engine Optimization Firm Develops New Methodology

Everyone wants to create more web traffic, but finding a very progressive and forward thinking search engine optimization firm that is fast, dependable and affordable is not an easy task. Simply put, most SEO firms are still using antiquated methods that no longer work to get clients highly ranked.

ThinkBIGsites.com (www.thinkbigsites.com) based in NY, WA and AZ is on the cutting edge of a newer and more effective Search Engine Marketing strategy that is comprised of four powerful components, 1) Search Engine Optimization 2) Strategic Inbound Linking 3) Blog Marketing and 4) Social Networking. ThinkBIG's co-founder and Managing Partner, Marc Arner has formulated a unique and valuable understanding of how the various search engines such as Google, Yahoo & MSN respond to various social networking/Inbound linking strategies. The architect of this proven strategy, Mr. Arner has developed a state of the art, leading edge internet marketing process that is routinely getting 95% of clients a page 1 organic ranking on the major engines within 90 days. This proprietary method has its roots firmly planted in Web 2.0 using corporate blog marketing, strategic inbound linking and social networking strategies that are now gaining a great deal of popularity around the world. When asked about this technique, Marc Arner said, "Most SEO firms are experts in one, two or even three areas of internet marketing, but very few if any have a deep understanding of how all the important components that make up a solid Internet Marketing campaign should be seamlessly woven together in sync. It's that broad level of understanding that really separates ThinkBIG from the pack."

"Many organizations of various size and scope throughout industry have struggled for years trying to figure out how the search engines operate, what criteria is used to rank websites and most difficult of all, how to get a website highly ranked 'organically' on the major search engines such as Google. ThinkBIGsites.com has mastered this technique and is now one of the fastest growing Internet Marketing companies in the world with revenues increasing at a staggering rate of 20% per month," said Managing Partner PJ Cammarata.

Web 2.0 or the "humanization of the internet" has changed everything when it comes to Internet Marketing. With the advent of blog marketing, video blogging and social networking in general, an entirely new industry has emerged lead by many new popular, social media websites such as: YouTube, My Space, Facebook, Craigslist, StumbleUpon, Digg, LinkedIn and Wikipedia to name just a few.

Unlike in years past, website owners around the world can now rest easy knowing that there are knowledgeable experts in the Internet Marketing field such as ThinkBIGsites.com who can help them with all of their web related needs especially the most formidable of which is increasing their online visibility via the major search engines. Creating value in a website, putting it front and center so that potential customers can find you within seconds has forever changed the way the world does business.

source:- http://sev.prnewswire.com/

Google pulls some map images at Pentagon's request

Google pulls some map images at Pentagon's request A Google search page is seen through the spectacles of a computer user in Leicester, central England July 20, 2007. REUTERS/Darren Staples

By Kristin Roberts and Eric Auchard

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc has complied with a request by the Pentagon to remove some online images from its street-level map service because they pose a security threat to U.S. military bases, military and company officials said on Thursday.

Gen. Gene Renuart, head of the military command responsible for homeland defense, said the Pentagon had talked to Google about the risks and expected the company to cooperate in removing selected images from its Street View service.

"We have been contacted by the military," Google spokesman Larry Yu said. "In those instances where they (the U.S military) have expressed concerns about the imagery, we have accommodated their requests."

The Defense Department, which is still studying how many images are available, has also banned Google teams from taking video images on bases.

"We've got to get a sense of what is there and see how we can mitigate it," Renuart said.

But because many images were taken from public streets, the military may not have a legal right to request that videos be pulled.

Street View, a feature of Google Maps, offers ground-level, 360-degree views of streets in 30 U.S. cities. Web users are able to drive down a street, in a virtual sense, using their mouse to adjust views of roadside scenery.

The feature has become a popular service for drivers seeking to plan a trip to an unfamiliar neighborhoods. But from the outset, Street View has been a magnet of controversy over potential privacy invasion of people captured in the images.

In one instance, a man was pictured exiting a San Francisco strip club. In another case, a woman was shown sunbathing. Complaints have even included a woman asking that a picture of her cat be taken down, a request Google denied.

The images that worry the Pentagon include views of bases, including security at the entrances to those installations.

"It actually shows where all the guards are. It shows how the barriers go up and down. It shows how to get in and out of buildings," said Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command.

"I think that poses a real security risk for our military installations," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

The Google spokesman said his company's policy was to photograph only those images visible from public roads.

"It is against Google's policy for a driver to seek access to a military base," Yu said.

Street View has yet to be introduced outside the United States. Web-based Google Maps and a related computer-based service called Google Earth have drawn criticism from a variety of countries for providing images of sensitive locations, such as military bases or potential targets of terror attacks.

The services rely on civilian versions of satellite maps that it licenses from commercial mapping services.

Source: sciam.com

Ask.com abandons pursuit of Google, seeks makeover as women's site

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In a dramatic about-face, Ask.com is abandoning its effort to outshine Internet search leader Google Inc. and will instead focus on a narrower market consisting of married women looking for help managing their lives.

As part of the new direction outlined Tuesday, Ask will lay off about 40 employees, or 8 percent of its work force.

With the shift, the Oakland-based company will return to its roots by concentrating on finding answers to basic questions about recipes, hobbies, children's homework, entertainment and health.

The decision to cater to married women primarily living in the southern and midwestern United States comes after Ask spent years trying to build a better all-purpose search engine than Google.

The quest intensified after Internet conglomerate InterActiveCorp bought Ask and its affiliated Web sites for $2.3 billion in 2005. But Ask.com remained an also-ran, despite spending tens of millions of dollars on an advertising blitz about dozens of new products that impressed many industry analysts.

Through January, Ask ran the Internet's fifth largest search engine in the United States with a 4.5 percent market share, according to comScore Media Metrix. Google dominates the industry with a 58.5 percent share.

"No matter what (Ask) did, it just wasn't enough to get people to leave Google," said Chris Winfield, who runs a search engine consulting firm, 10e20. "This looks they are raising the white flag."

Jim Safka, who became Ask's chief executive two months ago, predicted the retooling will breathe new life into the search engine.

"Everyone at Ask is excited about our clear focus and the trajectory-changing results it will deliver," he said in a statement.

Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li said Ask's new strategy could help boost the company's profits because married women - particularly mothers - dictate many household spending decisions, making them a prime advertising target.

"It's a smart move," she said. "I still think Ask has great technology, but it's just really hard to fight against Google."

With Ask scaling back, the online search market could winnow to two dominant players, Google and Microsoft Corp. Now third in the market, Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo Inc., which runs the second largest search engine, for about $40 billion.

Ask's inability to increase its market share had spurred widespread speculation that Barry Diller, InterActiveCorp's chief executive, might hire Google to run the search engine's results to save money. Google already posts text-based ads on Ask and InterActiveCorp's other Web sites in a five-year deal that Diller expects to generate about $3.5 billion.

New York-based InterActiveCorp plans to break itself into five separate companies later this year. Ask will remain under Diller's control at InterActiveCorp.

When it first started out in 1996, Ask positioned itself as a search engine that could spit out answers to requests that were posed as natural-language questions instead of being entered as a string of loosely related words.

But the search engine, then known as AskJeeves, frequently misinterpreted requests and produced nonsensical answers that triggered widespread ridicule.

After investing in more sophisticated technology, Ask tried to reposition itself as a cutting-edge alternative to Google and even dropped its cartoonish mascot - a genteel butler named Jeeves - in an effort to be taken more seriously.

Even after adding more bells and whistles, Ask still primarily appealed to women who used the search engine primarily to get simple answers. Women are also a familiar demographic for Safka, who was chief executive of InterActiveCorp's online dating site, Match.com, before taking the reins at Ask.

Li predicted many married women and mothers will be thrilled to have a search engine focusing on their interests. "It's not so much that these women have simple questions," she said. "It's just that they are so busy that they need fast answers."

Source: klewtv.com