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What search engine do you use?

Most people only use a few search engines. About 44% of all online Americans use only one and 48% use 2 or 3, according to Pew Internet (http://pewinternet.org). Only 7% use more than three search engines. More than 84% of US Internet users have done an online search (that's about 108 million people) and on any given day, about 56% of us use a search engine to find something (55% admit half is trivial and half is important to them), says Pew. So it makes sense to make search engine marketing part of your web strategy. There's two kinds: paid and organic.

What's that mean?

Paid search means signing up to put your ad at the top or side of the search results. You can look into Google (http://adwords.google.com), Overture (http://overture.com) or any of a dozen others. But those two are at the top of the heap. The cost is generally a performance-based, pay-per-click model. Google, for instance, asks for from $.05 to $100 USD per click thru -- whatever you're comfortable spending. The amount you pay obviously influences the number of times you appear. To avoid going overboard, you can cap your budget at a certain dollar amount per day. (Which I strongly suggest!)

Searching for the best search engine to advertise on? I suggest you put your name on the top of the top search engine: Google. The interface is simple and the price is right. But, more important, you'd reach more potential prospects than any other. In fact, the brand has become part of the American vernacular: "Google it!"

- Phil Sasso