Ocimnet - If your sales depend only on Google traffic and Google adsense or adwords then you could be in for a big dissapointment. Constant search engine rankings can make or break you. I know. I've been there. Riding high on Google rankings then dropping like a 2 ton rock in the Altlantic ocean.
Do NOT put all your eggs in one basket. There are several other ways to drive traffic to your site and depending on just one, like Google, is just plain bad marketing efforts.
Yahoo, Yahoo's YPN, and other search engines along with pay-per-click programs can bring you extra traffic and maybe even more sales.
I currently have Google Adsense and Yahoo's YPN ads on my site and I can tell you right now that Yahoo's YPN is paying me THREE times the amount that Adsense is paying. Why? Not sure, because both ads are featured on the same based keywords. I divided pages up equally between Adsense ads and YPN ads and Yahoo is the "bigger Daddy".
"He who only puts one iron in the fire will not set the world alight"
Distribute your advertising in several different ways. Test, test, then test again. Optimize your pages for good content and keyword density and then let the search engines gobble that. DON'T optimize your pages for Google only. You might number 1 today and then number 378 as soon as they have their next algorythm change. Nothing they do is "personal", but it sure fells like it when they dig in your pocket after all the work you did to make THEM happy. What I don't understand is why Google is constantly changing except that it gives engineers something to do for those hefty paychecks. If it ain't broke, why fix it? Google is constantly "fixing" a well oiled machine.
The other day I was searching for business loans and the first few pages were all listings from the UK even though I was on the main search engine, and not the Google.uk. If I had wanted a loan, I had to search several pages deep to find on in the US.
Pay per click sites:
1. Yahoo! Search Marketing has a well organized system.
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/
2. Miva distributes your keyword text ads throughout a distribution partner network.
http://www.miva.com
3. GoClick no monthly fee, no startup fee, and low 1 cent CPC
http://www.goclick.com/
4. 7Search results appear in over 35% of the top 150 search engines
http://www.payperranking.com/
5. Kanoodle has partnerships with sites CNET, DogPile, NetZero and more
http://www.kanoodle.com/about/advertise.cool
6. Search123 sports some cool tools to help you control your pay-per-click budget.
http://search123.com
There are MANY other search engines and advertising opportunities for you out there. Just look around to find them. After awhile you will see that Google is not the only phone company in town even though they act like it!
[via - readbud]