rmjvol
04-16-2002, 12:41 PM
LookSmart has changed their inclusion structure from a paid review model to a pay per click (ppc)/paid inclusion model. IMHO, the change is very bad for site owners and especially bad for currently listed commercial sites that were getting traffic from LS's partnership with MSN.
Previously, LS charged a $299 or $149 fee for a guaranteed review of your website for inclusion into their directory. They were very lenient (compared to Yahoo) on allowing sites to be included. Once in, most sites would get excellent exposure on MSN as MSN used LS Directory listings as their primary results. That means your site would rank relatively high when people searched on MSN. Many sites get hundreds or thousands of visitors each month from their LS listing in MSN.
The new structure (http://listings.looksmart.com/top_pop.jhtml?page=help/HowAListingWorks#) requires a $49 setup fee and then a flat charge of 0.15 per click (visitor) that your site listing gets. Similar in theory to Overture's ppc program but with a flat cost per click. LS requires a minimum $15 spend per month.
LS was gracious enough to convert all previously paid listings to the new ppc program and even gave the sites $300 of free clicks. But wait, that $300 is given out only $15/month for the next 20 months.
That's 20 months in internet time ;)
And wait, if you run through those "free" 100 clicks, your site is deleted err, umm... I mean "traffic to your site will be temporarily paused" for the rest of the month unless you pony up more $$. (Not implemented yet apparently.)
Some siteowners I know have already blown thru their "free" 100 clicks on the first day of the new program. They've received emails from our friendly LS team encouraging them to "increase their monthly budget" to $660, $3,300 and $7,650 to keep receiving traffic from the LS network.
That's traffic that didn't cost them any extra last month. And the rules of the game were changed with no warning. LS happily accepted the $299/149 submission fee even after they had initially announcd there would be a change to a ppc structure. This is just the latest of LS's questionable business practices.
For searchers, one of the problems will be that as listing drop out of the MSN results during the month, the search results will become less and less relevant.
For site owners, the cost of getting traffic on MSN through LS just went from a one time fee of $299/149 to $49 +15 cents per click. That's maybe not a big deal if you only get a hundred visitors to your site through search engines per month but I've got several site that would now be spending hundreds or thousands of dollars each month.
Bottom line, LookSmart paid inclusion is NOT a good deal as it stands today for most website owners.
Good luck,
rmjvol
Previously, LS charged a $299 or $149 fee for a guaranteed review of your website for inclusion into their directory. They were very lenient (compared to Yahoo) on allowing sites to be included. Once in, most sites would get excellent exposure on MSN as MSN used LS Directory listings as their primary results. That means your site would rank relatively high when people searched on MSN. Many sites get hundreds or thousands of visitors each month from their LS listing in MSN.
The new structure (http://listings.looksmart.com/top_pop.jhtml?page=help/HowAListingWorks#) requires a $49 setup fee and then a flat charge of 0.15 per click (visitor) that your site listing gets. Similar in theory to Overture's ppc program but with a flat cost per click. LS requires a minimum $15 spend per month.
LS was gracious enough to convert all previously paid listings to the new ppc program and even gave the sites $300 of free clicks. But wait, that $300 is given out only $15/month for the next 20 months.
That's 20 months in internet time ;)
And wait, if you run through those "free" 100 clicks, your site is deleted err, umm... I mean "traffic to your site will be temporarily paused" for the rest of the month unless you pony up more $$. (Not implemented yet apparently.)
Some siteowners I know have already blown thru their "free" 100 clicks on the first day of the new program. They've received emails from our friendly LS team encouraging them to "increase their monthly budget" to $660, $3,300 and $7,650 to keep receiving traffic from the LS network.
That's traffic that didn't cost them any extra last month. And the rules of the game were changed with no warning. LS happily accepted the $299/149 submission fee even after they had initially announcd there would be a change to a ppc structure. This is just the latest of LS's questionable business practices.
For searchers, one of the problems will be that as listing drop out of the MSN results during the month, the search results will become less and less relevant.
For site owners, the cost of getting traffic on MSN through LS just went from a one time fee of $299/149 to $49 +15 cents per click. That's maybe not a big deal if you only get a hundred visitors to your site through search engines per month but I've got several site that would now be spending hundreds or thousands of dollars each month.
Bottom line, LookSmart paid inclusion is NOT a good deal as it stands today for most website owners.
Good luck,
rmjvol