Pay-per-Click Advertising

“LookSmart”

Pros and Cons-   LookSmart is another great way to make money online through ads.  LookSmart offers two targeting options: keyword targeting, where you bid for placement on keywords, and inclusion targeting, where your listings automatically show up for all searches where they are.   Here you have advanced campaign management where you can keep your eye on your tracking, reporting, and keyword selections.  You also have the greatness of a strong customer service if ever you need them for help or assistance.  They do not charge you to update or change any keywords or ads on the site.  This company has been rated on the Nasdaq.  The only problem or con that I can see would be that they charge a flat cost per click of .15 - if you cannot justify a click-thru cost this high you are out of luck – for inclusion tracking and the minimum bid for keyword targeting of $0.10, and lastly there is a $15 minimum monthly spending.

Recommended?  "Recommended" - Based on a distribution network that cannot be ignored through distribution partners like Lycos, InfoSpace Network (Dogpile.com, Excite.com, MetaCrawler.com and Webcrawler), CNET, Cox Interactive, Apple's Sherlock and LookSmart.com.

If your site is in a competitive sector - one that traditionally has a high cost per click and you can get your site to rank well within Looksmart's algo - You are set!!! You will be getting a click-thru that could cost $2.50 with other service providers for only $ .15 -- This is a steal for traffic from quite a list of distribution partners, but most importantly it levels the playing field for the little guy.

On the flip side - if your site just cannot seem to list well within Looksmart's SERPs or cannot justify a cost per click of $ .15 - To Bad!!! You are out of luck.