Let's look at three search engines that factor link popularity into their overall search term rankings.

AskJeeves.com and their new search engine, Teoma, consider what they term general popularity. They consider similar sites and then note whether they have one link coming in or multiple links coming in from other web sites. Higher consideration is given to web sites that have what AskJeeves deems more quality sites linking in rather than lower quality sites. Weight is also put on sites that appear to bear authority within their given content communities. Management of a portal site would be a great way to become a recognized leader in your knowledge content community. Ultimately, for good ranking, you must have recognized authority sites in your outgoing links; sites of quality content among your incoming links; and numerous sites with large amounts of links among them.

FAST, or All The Web, and Lycos which it powers each look at quality of sites you are linking to and that are linked to you. The integrity as well as content of sites within your link community are evaluated in overall value given to your links.

Submitting to search engines/directories is a smart idea, but it seems like an eternity before you see results of your efforts. Meanwhile, you're anxious to get traffic and make sales, right?

I have just site promotion technique for you: pay-per-click (PPC) search engines.

PPC programs work like this: you bid on keywords related to your site's content/products/services. The higher you bid, higher your link appears in search results. One of great things about PPC is that you don't pay unless someone actually clicks your link - in other words, you pay only for results. PPC campaigns can be surprisingly affordable, even for sites on a limited budget.

Another benefit of utilizing PPC is that you begin generating traffic almost immediately. There is no 6-8 week waiting period for your site to appear in index - it's usually more like 2-3 days.

Before you rush off to open an account, though, there are a few basic things to do beforehand to maximize your campaign's effectiveness.

First, calculate how much you can afford to pay for each visitor to your web site. If you have a product that sells for $100.00, 1 out of every 100 visitors buys product, and you pay $1.00 for each visitor, you'll break even on campaign ($1.00 x 100 visitors = $100.00 spent/$100.00 sale). If you pay more than $1.00/visitor, you'll lose money and if you pay less than $1.00/visitor, you'll make a profit.

Know what you can afford to spend per visitor (per click) before making your bids. Armed with this knowledge, you'll be better equipped to execute a profitable campaign.

Second, create a list of keywords related to your site/product/service. Develop a list of at least a few hundred keywords; preferably 1000 or more. I realize that's a lot, but as a general rule, a list of 10-20 keywords won't net you much traffic.

If you're having trouble brainstorming keywords, many of PPC engines have tools to help you. GoTo's Search Suggestion Tool generates a list of search terms related to keywords you enter and ranks them in order from most to least popular. Try GoTo Keyword Wizard at JimTools.com (http://www.jimtools.com) too.