After all, most consumers looking to make a purchase online start with a keyword search. So why splatter ads all over the Internet -- and risk having most of the people they reach treat them as nothing more than an annoyance -- when you can focus on people who show an interest in what you're selling and who are getting ready to buy.

"The difference between this and any other form of advertising is the customer is looking for you," says Heather Walls, an Internet content specialist at Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. The Philadelphia-based publisher of medical information started using search-related marketing late last year, and has since scaled back on banner ads and print promotions and stopped doing direct-mail campaigns. "With this, you know people searching on the Internet are looking for you and what you have to offer," Ms. Walls says. "That makes them twice as likely to buy from you" as consumers reached through any other marketing medium, she has found.

Results like that are fueling rapid growth in the industry. Spending on paid listings and paid inclusion -- two of the three forms of search-related marketing -- more than doubled in the U.S. from $419 million in 2001 to $1.19 billion last year, and is expected to grow 48% this year to $1.77 billion, according to brokerage firm U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. Globally, such spending is expected to grow fivefold to about $7 billion a year by 2007 from $1.4 billion last year, says Safa Rashtchy, an analyst at the Minneapolis-based firm. Outside the U.S., he expects tenfold growth to $2 billion in 2007 from about $200 million this year.

For all its promise, though, search-based marketing can be confusing for companies new to the game. And figuring out which of the three approaches to use -- paid listings, paid inclusion and search-engine optimization -- takes some work.

Tip Of The Month: Content Matters

According to OneStat the distribution of queries according to the number of words included is as follows:

Search-Engine Optimization - Mr. Sullivan, the SearchEngineWatch.com editor, defines search-engine optimization as "the act of altering your site so that it may rank well for particular terms" used in Web searches. The ideal is to get your site to the top of the results of a Web search, or at least on the first page of results.

One relatively easy change to make is to use simple terms or words that everyone would understand to describe your products -- and therefore be more likely to use in a search -- instead of industry jargon. Experts suggest doing research on keyword use to find out what terms Internet users are searching for, and then altering the content of your site to make sure it appears as a match for more of those words.

Changes below the surface, in a Web site's software, also can help the site achieve a higher listing in search results.

Firms like iProspect, help companies optimize their Web sites. The firm was hired last August by Aubuchon Hardware, a family-owned chain of 135 hardware stores based in Westminster, Mass. The hardware company had been paying for more than 4,000 keywords in paid listings. That was working well, says William E. Aubuchon IV, the company's Web manager. But the company wanted to be able to add products to its online store and alert prospective customers of their availability through search results without having to buy more keywords through paid listings. Under iProspect's direction, Aubuchon began to highlight new products, such as cordless drills, on its Web pages when they were added, to ensure that search engines picked them up.

Two months after it hired iProspect, Aubuchon Hardware's online sales volume had more than doubled.

One important advantage of this approach is that it allows companies to show up, and prominently, in Google's results. Since Google doesn't have a paid-inclusion program, the only options open to companies that want to ensure display in Google's search results are search-engine optimization or paid listings. A word of warning, though: Google will eliminate from its database companies that it believes are using unscrupulous methods to improve their rankings in search results. So familiarize yourself with Google's standards (spelled out at www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html) and be sure your strategy complies with them.

Search-engine optimization also has had to overcome some bad publicity from disgruntled customers who wondered what they got out of it. "It was thought of as more of a black art," acknowledges Jill Whalen, owner of HighRankings.

Search-engine optimizers and marketers advise merchants considering this option to take the same precautions they would with any service provider: Ask for references and interview them. Spend time interviewing the firm you want to hire, to understand what it offers and to communicate what your expectations are.

Of all the forms of non-verbal communication, color is the most instantaneous method of conveying messages and meanings. Before humans learned to appreciate the aesthetics of color, there were far more practical aspects of communications with color. Our very survival depends on the ability to identify necessary objects and/or warnings signs whether they are animal, vegetable or mineral and color is integral part of the identification process.

Among other uses, color stimulates and works synergistically with all of the senses, symbolizes abstract concepts and thoughts, express fantasy or wish fulfillment, recalls another time or place and produces an aesthetic or emotional response

Much of the human reaction to color is subliminal and consumers are generally unaware of the pervasive and persuasive effects of color. Psychological effect is instantaneous as color stimulates the senses and exerts its power of suggestion. The power that color wields is seen at every level of communication: in corporate identification and logos, signage, advertising on television, billboards, in print media and packaging, on the computer and at point-of-purchase.

As an example of color's power in marketing (and one we can all relate to) as consumers speed down the market aisles, their eyes rest on a package for approximately .03 seconds. In that blinking-of-an-eyelash timing, the package must rivet the observers' eyes, inform them of the package contents and, more importantly, appeal to their psyches.

#1) Conduct Field Studies -- Many designers are struggling with "Who are my users?" and "Why do they come to my design?" Field studies can provide answers that aren't available other ways.

#2) Utilize Usability Testing -- Testing can provide teams with a wealth of information about what's happening with the specific portions of the design. Info that can't be learned any other way!

#3) Build Design Patterns -- Take the knowledge gained from field studies and usability testing and embody it in design patterns that the entire team (and future members) utilize as powerful resource.

#4) Separate Style from Content -- Too many teams are using implementation techniques that require major changes to the code for every simple stylistic design enhancement. Tools like XHTML and CSS can make the designer's life tremendously easier.

#5) Write for the Medium -- Writing for the screen is different than writing for paper. Writing to encourage action (such as clicking on new links) is different than writing articles. Teams need to understand these differences to see an instant improvement in their designs.

#6) Organize Content for the User -- Our research has shown that users follow the scent to the target content by looking for trigger words. The discipline of Information Architecture offers much to designers working to help users through large information-rich sites.

#7) Design for the Experience -- The use of our designs is not done in solitude. It's part of an entire life, with intermingled objectives and constraints. Understanding how to design for the entire experience can dramatically enhance the user's perceptions.

If you are somewhat lost by now, let's take a brief step back to explain what "PR" and "Backwards Linking" is all about. From Google itself:

To download the Google Toolbar to see all site's PR, Go here!. You not only be able to have Google's PR Tool, but also an integrated search function, a Page Info tool and much more. A part of this Page Info tool is the capability of seeing any sites "Backwards Links". In other words, how many other sites link to the site you are viewing. As you read in the above quote from Google, this number of "quality backwards links" helps to determine a site's PR value. It is a rather complex formula, but that is the basics. If you do not have Google's toolbar and want to see how many sites Google THINKS there are linking back to a given site, just do a search on Google for "link:http://www.anysiteyouwish.com"

PR is on a scale of 0-10, where "0" is a poor site, with very little quality (in Google's opinion) and has very few if any sites linking backwards to it. A site which has a PR of "10" would be like Yahoo.com , Microsoft.com, Adobe.com, USAToday.com and CNN.com ; Extremely high quality sites that are industry standards and have many MANY sites linking to it. What I touched on in the beginning paragraph is the PR of many sites are stuck on whatever PR it had back in March. Many backwards linking number have also been very unpredictable. Back a few months ago, I had some 480 backwards links for www.RichsWebDesign.com . Now is shows the number at 184. ... No explanation!

According to many SEO experts, Google may be going through some major changing in the next few months and have just not updated there PR system. No one seems to know why, but it is unfortunate for newer sites. These newer sites have PR=0 or have not even been listed, therefore do not show any PR (graybar).

Some of the better places to hear news, anouncements and some interesting gossip about Google and Google's PR can be found @ www.SearchEngine-news.com, Google Guy and SEO Chat. Keep watching in Rich's Web Design News ... I will keep you updated AS SOON as I hear ANYTHING!