People often ask about the difference between Organic and Sponsored Results.

When you do a search on Google, or just about any other search engine, you usually get at least two types of results – Organic and Sponsored. In some cases you may also have Local Results.

Sponsored results appear at the top and right of search results. If your website appears in sponsored results, you are paying a fee every time someone clicks through to your site. Sponsored results can get your site listed at or near the top of search engine results very quickly, but they go away as soon as you stop paying for them and can grow to be very expensive. Visitors consider sponsored results to be less trustworthy than organic search results so even when people click-thru to your site, only 1 in 100 will take action beyond that.

Organic or natural search engine results appear below and to the left of sponsored results. Organic listings are free on a click-for-click basis, but a website must first be optimized to improve its search engine rankings. Costs for that vary, but as a rough guideline, assume optimization will probably cost as much as it did to build the site in the first place. Organic optimization takes 6 to 12 months before its full impact can be measured, but it produces longer lasting, less expensive, and more profitable results.

Below is a chart that illustrates the different placement of Organic and Sponsored Results.

Organic vs Paid Search Listings

———————————————

The process of getting your listing (or Ad) on the Sponsored Results is called Pay Per Click Advertising. Google’s pay per click program is called Google Adwords.

———————————————

The process of getting your site listed on the Organic Results is called Search Engine Optimization. You can hire us to do this or take a workshop to learn how to do it yourself.

———————————————

Below is a chart that illustrates the differences between Organic and Sponsored Results. It includes characteristics of Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click Advertising, too.

What is most effective? Much has been written about this and all agree that Organic Results are more effective than Sponsored Results. The problem is that Organic Results are not guaranteed and they may take months to achieve. Therefore, many effective websites employ both techniques and constantly monitor and maintain them.

The most successful companies view search engine results as dynamic advertising campaigns.

A study conducted by Penn State  reinforces the need for companies to include organic or natural search engine optimization into their online marketing programs. Over 80% of the test searches conducted, respondents went to the “organic” search results.

“Consumers have a bias against the links that businesses pay search engines to rovide,” said Jim Jansen, assistant professor in the Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST). “By themselves, sponsored links appear not to be a viable business model and should be only one part of an online advertising campaign.”

Source: AllBusiness.com

How to Set Up Hosting on My Fabulous Hosting

My Fabulous Hosting is the hosting service provided by Enter The Net. It is powered by GoDaddy, the largest and most reliable hosting and domain name provider in the world. I have chosen to partner with GoDaddy because of their integrity, reliability and their legendary customer service. If you need help with your hosting, domain name or any other service at any time, just call 480-624-2500.

Here is how to get started with your hosting set up.

Go to:  MyFabulousHosting.com (will open in new window.)

Choose your hosting screen. Click to enlarge.

Choose your hosting plan.

For most websites, the following selections are adequate.

…Next to Choose Your Operating System, Linux is fine. You will know if you require Windows hosting or not.
…The Economy Plan is adequate for almost all single websites. You might want to consider purchasing the Deluxe Plan if you intend to have multiple websites under the same hosting plan. One Deluxe Plan can accommodate many websites and it is much cheaper than buying an Economy Plan for each site.

Then, choose your payment term. You may customize this later (for example, if you want six months or 17 months.) If you want to customize the number of months, be sure to choose “3 months” as your term. You will be able to change the number of months (minimum is 2) on the next screen.

You save on the monthly amount by purchasing more hosting up front.

When all selections look good, click the Add button.

————————————-

The review screen. Click to enlarge.

Review Your Shopping Cart

On the next screen, be sure to review what is in your cart. If you clicked twice, the hosting may show up twice, for example. Removing items or otherwise adjusting what is in your cart can be accomplished by clicking the “Remove” or “Update Cart” buttons.

…If you want to add a domain name to your purchase, please note that you can start that process easily from this page. Your hosting package will stay in your shopping cart while you research names.
…If this looks okay, click the Continue to Checkout.
…If you have any questions, contact Support at 480-624-2500. If you have not yet signed in or created an account, you may need to give them the Program ID number for My Fabulous Hosting. It is 449869.

————————————-

Create account screen. Click to enlarge.

Create Account

If you are already a customer of My Fabulous Hosting, you can login here with your Customer Number or Log In Name and Password.

Otherwise, complete the Account Information in the area marked “1. Account Information.”

Complete the fields in the area “2. Log In Information.” There are some important things to consider here.

…Your Log In ID can be the number you see there or you can erase that number and create your own Log In Name. PLEASE WRITE DOWN THE NUMBER ANYWAY AND STORE IT IN A SAFE PLACE. You will need this if you call support or if you forget the Log In name you made.
…Be sure to write down the password you create and the four digit Call-In-PIN. You may need those if you contact Customer Support. If you would like to download a nice sheet of paper you can use to keep track of all of this information, please click the appropriate link below.

–Website Information Sheet (in PDF)
–Website Information Sheet (in Word)

In the area marked “3. Stay informed and SAVE BIG” please note that My Fabulous Hosting will periodically run promotions that may interest you. We will never send more than one promotional email in a month. You are, of course, welcome to opt out of these offers by selecting No on the questions posed in this section.

When finished here, click Continue to Checkout.

————————————-

The payment screen. Click to enlarge.

Payment

Complete your Billing Information.

In the section “1. Select Your Payment Method” you can choose Credit Card, Check or PayPal. All three provide immediate payment to My Fabulous Hosting. The Check option is actually an e-check and requires you to complete your checking account and routing numbers.

Section “2 Enter Your Billing Information” will allow you to simply use the same information as your account information (filled in on previous screen,) or you can customize it here.

Section 3 asks you to fill in your payment information. Important:
You can choose Express Checkout and/or Alternate Payment Method. Here are the quick definitions:

…Express Checkout saves your payment info so you can make purchases later without re-entering payment information.
…Alternate Payment Method sets your entered information as the back up payment system, in case My Fabulous Hosting (GoDaddy) is unable to process your primary method. This could help when it comes time to renew your hosting or domain names automatically.

Section “4. Final Step: Accept Terms” requires you to check the “I have read…” box.
Click Place Order Now.

You will then be invited to log back into your account, where you can set up the hosting account. You will also receive an email receipt for your purchase.

Thank you for supporting Enter The Net and My Fabulous Hosting!

The commercial use of the internet by American adults has grown since the mid-2000s, with 58% of Americans now reporting that they perform online research concerning the products and services that they are considering purchasing. That is an increase from 49% who said they conducted product or service research online in 2004.

Additionally, 24% of American adults say they have posted comments or reviews online about the product or services they buy, indicating a willingness to share their opinions about products and the buying experience with others.

“Many Americans begin their purchasing experience by doing online research to compare prices, quality, and the reviews of other shoppers,” said Jim Jansen, Senior Fellow at the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and author of a new report about online product research. “Even if they end up making their purchase in a store, they start their fact-finding and decision-making on the internet.

Source: Pew Internet Project