Four Reasons Why The Smaller Search Engines Matter

By Bill Platt

These days, all search engine optimization gurus only seem to talk about Google, as if Google was the only search engine on the Internet.

Of course, we all know that there really are hundreds of search engines and directories available to us, and we know that some of the smaller search engines serve a very tïght niche of users.

Honestly, I can understand why there is a lot of press on Google, because after all, granddaddy Google is the biggest of the big. We know that millïons of people use Google daily for their search activities, and we know that our websites receive a lot of traffïc from Google.

There are actually four reasons why you would want to extend your search engine marketing activities beyond Google. I will discuss each of those reasons here:

Reason #1: Targeted Traffïc

Niche content search engines can be a very powerful force in your marketing arsenal.

For example, suppose you have a website dedicated to helping sell real estate. Does it make better sense to list a house for sale in Google or in one of the many real estate search engines?

Let's face facts. When we look for tightly focused content such as real estate listings, we generally seek out a search engine that will serve our search the best. When searching for a new home, an individual may begin his or her search at Google to find the real estate search engines, but once the niche search engine has been found, there is no need or desire to return to granddaddy Google. The real estate search engine will allow the individual to search through cities and neighborhoods, prices, features and pictures, to find just the house they feel might strike their fancy.

Even in the game of Internet marketing, a niche content search engine or directory can be a very powerful addition to your marketing portfolio. It is only a matter of searching out and locating the niche content search engine or directory that serves your particular niche the best.

Reason #2: Costs Management

The Big Three have each developed their own pay-per-click search models. And, because they are the Big Three search engines, they can also afford to charge advertising rates that permit them to be among the most profitable enterprises on the Internet.

The perception of pay-per-click pricing at the Big Three is that the little guy can afford to advertise with them. But with every Internet marketer on the web trying to compete for Big Three search traffïc, their five cents per-click easily increases to sixty cents per-click, and in some industries, it can climb to five or fifty dollars per-click.

The pay-per-click "auction mentality" really kicks into hyper-overdrive in some industries. And the Big Three eat it up, as do their stockholders. Each day, they dance their way to the bank with your monëy in tow.

The smaller niche search engines may not serve as much traffïc, but they definitely allow you to reach more people for the same monëy. You can reach people who are more inclined to buy your goods and services, because they were searching on a niche website, and you can get their traffïc for a lot less monëy than it would cost you to get the same prospect from any of the Big Three search engines.

Reason #3: Linking for Google Placement

For those of you who are still involved in the Google PageRank chase, the smaller search directories can be counted on as a really valuable asset in your linking portfolio.

Many of the smaller search directories carry some pretty decent PageRank with them.

For example:

* Blog-Search.com carries a PR6.
* Search66.com carries a PR6.
* GoArticles.com carries a PR6.
* SearchWarp.com carries a PR5.
* SitesOnDisplay.com carries a PR5.
* SearchRamp.com carries a PR5.
* MixCat.com carries a PR5.
* TorontoMalls.com carries a PR5.
* OutdoorHits.com carries a PR4.
* FindYourForum.com carries a PR4.

As you are already aware, the PageRank of a website that is pointing to your website plays a role in determining the value of your own website in the Google PageRank calculations, thereby increasing your chances of gaining ground in the Google SERP's (Search Engine Result Pages).

Targeted directories pass their PageRank value to the websites that list with them, which is great for your website. Additionally, getting placed into these directories is often cheaper and easier to accomplish, than with any other method of linking for the purposes of increasing PageRank.

Reason #4: Extra Traffïc

Yahoo, MSN, WindSeek.com, ExactSeek.com, and many others are making changes, improving their results, and trying to position themselves to compete toe-to-toe with Google or to compete for searchers not happy with Google's search product (yes, there are actually people out there who do not like to use Google). These non-Google engines are currently serving millïons of additional searches a day or month.

The Big Three: Google, Yahoo and MSN only served 73% of the Internet's search traffïc in July 2005 (http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/3099931), and 81% of the search traffïc in November of 2005 ( http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156451). These percentages are based on a rough estimation of just over 5 billion searches per month.

Even on the November 2005 numbers, search engines that are NOT in the Big Three are delivering 950 million searches per month. That is a lot of additional traffïc!

If your search engine marketing activities are focused only on the Big Three, or even worse, only on granddaddy Google, you are throwing away anywhere from 20% to 53% of your potential customer base!

Locating The Smaller Search Engines and Directories...

Below are a few resources that can help to find hundreds of the smaller search engines and directories that may be available to you:

Independent Search Engine & Directory Network
Yahoo Search Engine & Directory Listings
International Directory of Search Engines

Small Search Engines and Directories Really Do Matter...

I have just outlined four reasons why the smaller search engines and niche directories should matter to those of us who market our goods and services on the Internet. I have also given you a starting point for locating these excellent search websites.

Sure, it might take a little bit more time to get listed in these smaller resources, but if you calculate how much time you spend developing your positioning in the Big Three, then it really is not that much of a time investmënt after all.

The smaller directories can help us to improve our Google PageRank. They can help us to get more mileage from our advertising dollars than what we can get from the Big Three. They allow us to tap into additional sources of targeted traffïc with a real potential for increasing our salës and profïts. And, the best reason to use the smaller search engines and directories is that they actually serve another 950 million searches a month.

About The Author
Bill Platt is the owner of thePhantomWriters.com (http://thephantomwriters.com/x.pl/tpw/index.html) Article Distribution Service. He has been ghost writing for clients since 1999, and he has been distributing client articles since 2001. Bill regularly maintains his database of submission resources, and he applies the human touch to every article distribution. By reviewing every article and manually selecting where it will be distributed, publishers and webmasters trust that he will send only the most appropriate articles to them.

The UK Says “What’s A Yahoo?”

In a Cockney accent: In the United Kingdom, three out of four punters use Google - yeah, mate, that's some 75 percent. That's what WebSideStory, Inc. said anyway. Yahoo! barely gets a mention, and Jeeves, no wonder he retired, hardly anyone was making use of ‘im.

WebSideStory collected searcher data for the month of February 2006 and found that Google referred an average of 74.67 percent of all U.K. visitors to other sites on the Web.

Yahoo! commanded just 9.3 percent as Google's nearest competitor. Google search percentage in the U.K. exceeds both the U.S. average (55.39 percent), and the global average (62.4 percent).

"Even more so in the U.K. than in the U.S., when people think of search, they think of Google," said Rand Schulman, Chief Marketing Officer for WebSideStory.

"This has large implications for U.K. marketers, whose search engine marketing and optimization strategies should be Google-centric."

The U.K. top five search engines are the same as the U.S. with a bit of a smaller share of the market. After Yahoo!, MSN referred 5.46 percent, AOL 4.21 percent, and Ask Jeeves 2.28 percent.

Jason Lee Miller
Staff Writer - WebProNews

Google Updates AdWords Keyword Tool

A recent update to the Keyword Tool in AdWords allows advertisers to view additional information about keywords the client may wish to select for a campaign.

Google last released an updated Keyword Tool in November 2005. That provided information on the general popularity of a keyword based on competition for it. They also made a feature available that allowed clients to generate keywords based on a webpage's content.

The latest update to the Keyword Tool has something new: global traffic trends. Google explained what those are in its help section:

Review global trends and traffic histories for your keywords (Avg. Search Volume) and fluctuations in traffic for a twelve month period (Search Volume Trends). The graph represents traffic trends during the last twelve months.

Each bar in the graph is shown relative to the keyword's overall performance for the twelve month period. (The baseline for search volume is considered to be an average of 100%.) You can also see in which month a given keyword received the highest volume of traffic during the twelve month period (Highest Volume Occurred In).

AdWords clients can access the new feature from their account or from the AdWords home page, the team noted in its post. They also "added the option to add keywords of any match type, including negative keywords, directly to any Ad Group."

David A. Utter
Staff Writer - WebPro News

Disaster Preparedness - Five Top Tips Everyone Needs to Know when Disaster Planning for your Family and your Business

Hurricane Katrina, one of the most powerful hurricanes in our nation’s history, Hurricane Wilma and Hurricane Rita’s left behind catastrophic damage. Families were displaced; homes destroyed, and now come the task of trying to put the puzzle together. This task remains difficult even today. For those who aren’t in the effected areas, you have no idea how hard the day-to-day struggles are.

You long for life to return to normal, but everyday brings new challenges of the devastation caused by these disasters. And it’s not just hurricanes that can cause this damage. The Mideast recently got hit with record number of tornados, over 100 in one day. The nation has experienced floods, mudslides, wildfires, and then the constant threat of a pending terrorist attack. Are you ready?

Diana Ennen, co-author of Home Office Recovery Plan: The Disaster Preparedness Guide for Your Home Business, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com was hit by 8 hurricanes since last August. Hurricane Wilma left catastrophic damage in her city of Margate and her home suffered tremendous damage. Without power for two weeks and facing the stress of trying to run a family and business, she advises, "Being prepared for a hurricane or any natural disaster takes away the stress and anxiety. When timing is critical, I want to focus on the safety of my family, not on taking an inventory of my business, or deciding where I need to go. I also need to know that my family members will know how to find me after the disaster.”

Dr. Paulo J. Reyes, a First Responder in California and author of the fiction thriller Sledgehammer http://www.pauloreyes.com has firsthand disaster recovery experience and participated in various disaster relief efforts in California including the Air Mexicana crash in 1986, the last major earthquake in L.A. in 1994, and the influenza epidemic 1997-1998. He advised, "Loss of lives can be greatly reduced if everyone has a complete plan of action prior to the event. Not only with the reduction of heart attacks and stress related illnesses, but people tend to get to safety quicker if they have already planned ahead and know what they are going to do.”

Here are some steps you can take to prepare:

Step One - If you do not already have flood and windstorm insurance, you should consider getting it. Keep in mind that windstorm insurance policies are not sold when a storm threatens, so you need to think far enough ahead. You can find out about the National Flood Insurance Program through your local insurance agent or emergency management office. Homeowners polices do not cover damage from the flooding that accompanies a hurricane. Find out everything you can about your coverage now. Ask questions. You need to know this information now, before it’s too late and you discover you aren’t covered when you thought you were.

Step Two - Identify a safe place for everyone to meet. This pre-determined place should be discussed with family members prior to an emergency. Depending on the type of emergency you are planning, you might want to consider establishing a second location in case the first is inaccessible. Tell out-of-state family members where this meeting place is.

Step Three - Have a safe place in the home that you can go. During Hurricane Wilma we found firsthand how critical this was. One room of our house was badly damaged and winds of 110 mps were blowing through. Under the extreme stress we faced at that time, our pre-planning allowed us to be safe and secure in a room with no windows and all the essentials we needed. With the kids screaming, I knew at the time that I had done everything I could to ensure the safety of my family. That advance planning is priceless.

Step Four - In addition to a safe place, each person should have a list of phone numbers for your immediate neighbors and family members not living with you. We suggest using 3X5 index cards and laminating them. If my family were to be displaced, I want relatives and friends to be able to contact them immediately.

Step Five -- For businesses ­ you should have client contact phone numbers and email addresses in a safe place so that you can notify them immediately of the situation. Also, prepare a disaster recovery plan and have someone you trust keep a copy of it. This should include vital information including medical information, family and friend’s names, your complete contact information, where valuable information such as wills and trusts and legal documents are kept, serial numbers for equipment and names of equipment and household and business supplies, and a disaster escape route in the event you need to evacuate. Make sure you have back-up all data and keep off site. This would be beneficial even if you home suffered a theft. Get a generator if possible. If you are without power that can greatly affect the livelihood of your business.

To prepare your home and business now is the time to write a Disaster Recovery Plan. Additional information is available at our site. Prepare now for the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’ve done everything you can to protect your home and business.

Diana Ennen is the author of numerous books including Virtual Assistant -The Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA, Words From Home, Start, Run and Profit from a Home-Based Word Processing Business and the Home Office Recovery Plan (http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com). She also is the publisher of the science fiction thriller, Sledgehammer, http://www.pauloreyes.com/

Small Businesses Can Win a Free Web Site

Jon Clarke Publishing Group offers free website to winner.

Jon Clarke Publishing Group, one of the leading Graphic Design and Marketing Companies in the DFW area, is giving away a free website to help a small business advance its online marketing program.

Along with the U. S. Small Business Administration’s celebration of Small Business Week 2006, held in Washington, D. C., April 12-13, Jon Clarke Publishing Group will also be honoring and awarding one small business owner a FREE Web Site as a tie-in to this occasion.
During Small Business Week 2006, more than 100 outstanding small business owners from around the country will be honored in our Nation's capital. Four major awards will be presented, culminating with the announcement of the National Small Business Person of the Year.

“With a professionally designed web site, it's now easy for a small business on the Internet to raise their company profile,” says Tina Clark, senior partner of Jon Clarke Publishing Group. But we know taking that first step can be difficult, especially for a growing business. That’s why we are hosting a drawing to give a business the opportunity to experience our services first-hand.”

Today the technology is available to all businesses large & small. So it doesn't matter whether you're a 'one man band' or a multi national company or whether you operate nationally or locally. You have equal status on the Internet. Your web site becomes your store front, sales letter, marketing pitch and advertisement all in one.

Compared to other media, the Internet enables a business to advertise at considerably lower costs. It may not be a replacement for other marketing but the Internet is generally cheaper than advertising on television, radio, or in newspapers, magazines and even direct mail.
“By automating a web site, a business can be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No extra staff costs and no overtime rates to pay! Your site is accessible to anyone, anytime,” says Clark.

Small Business owners can visit www.jonclarkepublishing.com to register to win the grand prize of a website design and development, a $2,500 value.


About Jon Clarke Publishing Group:
Jon Clarke Publishing Group is a full service publishing company which includes graphic design, website design, printing, and small business marketing services.

Your Time Is Important - But Do You Know How Much It's Worth?

By Janice Sharman

Ask any part-time employee and they will tell you: $9.50/hour (or whatever their wage is). Hourly workers know the value of their time. Successful salespeople who work on commission know the value of their time. Some salaried workers, particularly the successful ones, know the value of their time.

But what about you? It's a different story for the online business owner! You probably work more than eight hours during the day (or night) and then think about your business even when you are not sitting at your computer working on it. And, if it's a passion of yours (and many online entrepreneurs turn their hobbies and passions into a business), then you've got an even greater challenge in figuring out the value of your time.

Maybe you don't know the value of their time. Many people don't, so you are not alone. But it's a calculation that will help you manage your time, so it's worth the five minutes that you will spend trying to figure it out.

The best thing to do is just do a basic calculation: income divided into total hours worked. No, it's not a perfect calculation because it doesn't account for the hours that you spend thinking and it doesn't account for your expenses...but you are also busy enough that a rule-of-thumb idea from a quick calculation is just as effective and takes less time.

It's probably a good idea to make this calculation for a week's worth of time or even a month's worth of time. That way, you will help to smooth out the fluctuations that occur in your schedule and in your customer's buying patterns. This calculation might require you to actually monitor your time for a week. It's a good exercise to do anyway, regardless of whether or not you end up trying to discover the value of your time.

For most entrepreneurs who are just starting out, the value of their time is just a few dollars at best. Don't feel badly if that is the case with you.

Once you have that number, you have a baseline. Now what?

Now you have something to work for. Now you have a goal to shoot for. Currently earning 25 cents an hour? (Don't laugh. Many entrepreneurs earn that when they just start out. It will get better!) If you are earning that much, make it a goal to earn 50 cents an hour, then a dollar, then five dollars. Keep track of your current "hourly worth" in your business planner and use it to constantly remind yourself to build it up over time. That is the American Dream! And you are living it!

AdWords Addresses Click Fraud Questions

By David Utter

Google's Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager for Trust & Safety, provided answers for some common questions about click fraud after Google disclosed it was nearing a settlement in a lawsuit filed against it over the problem.

For one thing, Google isn't going to tell how they detect invalid clicks. Ghosemajumder noted in the Q&A posted at the AdWords blog that a lot of smart people developed the methods and technology used in tracking those down. "Doing so would make it easier for fraudsters to try to defeat our systems," he said.

Google also sees a problem with all invalid clicks being called fraudulent. Many clicks happen due to other causes, like someone double-clicking on an ad. While Google can identify a click as invalid, it is "practically impossible to "prove" that an impression or click was caused by deliberate deception," Ghosemajumder said.

There is a wide discrepancy between how much activity is believed to be invalid versus how muchreally is not valid. Ghosemajumder dismissed a report used in some places as a source for a click fraud figure of 30 percent.

Use proven SEO tools to get high search engine rankings.

"When invalid clicks are detected after an advertiser is charged, we reimburse for them. Because of our detection efforts, losses to advertisers from invalid clicks are very small," Ghosemajumder said. He also claimed that while some invalid clicks make it past Google's defenses, they believe that amount is very small.

Two issues come to mind when considering these questions and answers. First, Google does not provide numbers to back up their contentions. The lack of transparency frustrates not only its advertisers, but also its investors. Google has plenty of motivation to continually improve their system for defeating invalid clicks, and will continue to do so.

The other issue is the marketplace. The lack of transparency has begun to open a market for products that claim to be able to detect fraudulent clicks and clicks resulting from ad campaigns that need to be fixed. I spoke with a marketing executive from a well-known firm offering such a solution, and he flatly refused to answers questions regarding how much click fraud versus problematic clicks may be taking place based on his firm's research.

That was unfortunate because it could have shed some more light on the issue. But it could also indicate Google's claims are correct, and click fraud is a small portion of invalid click traffic. Definitely not small enough to avoid a $90 million settlement for its click fraud case, though.

About the Author:
David is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

How To Succeed As a Work At Home Mom

By Janice Sharman


It is heart rending to a new mom when she has to leave her young child in the care of strangers and go back to her job. Consequently, many moms dream of being able to work from home so they can guide their children through the perilous journey from babies to young adults. But how many really consider working at home a serious option? How many moms actually follow thru on their work at home dreams and turn them into reality?

Multi-level marketing programs and work at home schemes have been around for decades, selling everything from detergents to vitamins. It seems that each day several more appear on the scene - Stuffing envelopes, selling real estate, Amway, etc. Do these programs work? Can stay at home moms or dads make a realistic income doing these jobs from home? How does one know which programs are legitimate and which ones are not?

Besides the legitimacy factor, there are the start-up costs. If you want to start a real estate business, or sell vitamins or cosmetics from home, the start up costs will set you back a tidy sum.

Inexperienced or "would be" entrepreneurs tend to start their small home business as a result of attending a meeting or seminar . The offer of help to start a business may be legitimate but many of these businesses still fail. According to the US Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail within the first year and 95% fail within the first five years. This report suggests that only 5 in 100 small business are slated to succeed. So, it seems that the average small business entrepreneur, is destined to fail if he starts his business without adequate skills, proper guidance or education. Is it any wonder that people have become wary about putting their hard-earned cash into small business opportunities or work at home schemes?

So what is the answer for parents whose entrepreneurial spirit and work ethics are strong? Where can they find legitimate, low-cost, work at home opportunities?

Start an Online Home Based Business.

You can create your own home based business using your computer. There are several legitimate affiliate programs that cost under $50 to join, and if your funding is limited, there are even "free-to-join" affiliate programs.

If you begin by building your own website, it will cost you hosting fees plus domain registration fees. Easy to use website building software is freely available on the Internet, and there are also several ways to obtain a website. You could build it from scratch, start with a template, get one built for you with several affiliate programs ready for you to join, or if you have some money to spend, get someone to build it for you.

Once you have your website, join the affiliate programs of your choice. Affiliate programs or opportunities eliminate the need for inventory, property leases or rent. You are free to concentrate on finding ways to promote and sell the opportunities or products you have chosen to put on your website. It is even possible to sell affiliate products without purchasing them, although I strongly advise you to use as many of your affiliate products as possible. Promoting a product you have used is a hundred times easier than one you have only read about.

Putting a number of banners on your site might be very tempting, and when you are inexperienced, it may seem like the perfect answer. Unfortunately the average online shopper is smart, educated and wants more than a few flashing banners. They want to read about the products and opportunities you are promoting. They want to learn successful online and offline marketing methods that they can duplicate. This means you have to find ways to educate yourself as well as your customers and prospects about the your products, opportunities and the methods that bring you success.

Starting and running an online home based business is much easier and less expensive than the equivalent offline business, but although the cost may be minimal compared to its offline equivalent, a successful home based business will still require that you have good work ethics, dedication and education.

So, moms or parents who want to stay at home with their kids and start their own online home business, can do so with the knowledge that it is not really difficult if one goes about it the right way.

For a tiny investment you can become the President of your own home based business, stay at home with your children and be a vital part of their lives, while you earn more than you ever did working at your job. The pros in this instance far outweigh the cons.

Janice Sharman has helped lots of ordinary people start and run their own home based business. For FREE information on how you can start a successful
Computer Work at Home Business go to
http://www.computer-work-at-home-job.ws/splash.htm

Google Click Fraud Settlement: $90 Million

By David A. Utter

Staff Writer - WebProNews


A class-action lawsuit filed by Lane's Gifts and Collectibles in Arkansas against Google could end soon if the presiding judge approves a proposed settlement.

Google provided an update in its year-plus battle with Lane's Gifts over accusations of the search advertising company charging businesses for fraudulent clicks on paid search advertisements.

Should the settlement be approved, Google will change the window of time where advertisers can apply for reimbursement of clicks they contend were not legitimate:

They can do this for clicks that happen during the 60 days prior to notifying Google. Under the agreement with the plaintiffs, we are going to open up that window for all advertisers, regardless of when the questionable clicks occurred. For all eligible invalid clicks, we will offer credits which can be used to purchase new advertising with Google. We do not know how many will apply and receive credits, but under the agreement, the total amount of credits, plus attorneys fees, will not exceed $90 million.

This agreement covers all advertisers who claim to have been charged but not reimbursed for invalid clicks dating from 2002 when we launched our "cost per click" advertising program through the date the settlement is approved by the judge.

Danny Sullivan reported more details based on his conversation with Steve Malouf, a plaintiff's attorney working on the case:

Why Settle? Given Google's overall revenue, along with some high estimates of click fraud, why not fight for more? "Within the context of the risk that each party faces of losing, it was a reasonable settlement," Malouf said.

Protection From Click Fraud Going Forward: What's going to prevent future cases like this? Malouf said it was a combination of giving more data to advertisers along with more third-party assistance.

"They could all do a better job in terms of transparency and providing a more robust data set to perform analytics," Malouf said. "The solution going forward is going to be an industry solution, with transparency in the form of a third party or several third parties to help advertisers with auditing."

Are Spam Blockers Too Strict?

By Joanna Glasner
Wired.com


America Online's controversial plan to charge mass e-mailers a fee to bypass their anti-spam system highlights the other, lesser-known, horn of the junk-e-mail problem: Filters that allegedly work too well.

At issue is the problem of "false positives," industry-speak for legitimate messages mistakenly filtered out by anti-spam software.

"If AOL or another ISP decides that someone's a spammer, then no e-mail from that individual gets through," said EFF attorney Cindy Cohn, whose group opposes the AOL plan. "But there's a fundamental difficulty at the heart of the spam debate: The only one who knows what you want delivered in your inbox is you."

For years, e-mail users complained that torrents of unwanted messages clogged their inboxes and crimped their productivity. Now, e-mail users, marketers and mailing list operators are more worried that spam filters are blocking out too many wanted messages.

AOL isn't the only company to face charges that it improperly blocks legitimate messages. But, as the world's largest ISP for years, it has long borne the brunt of complaints from mass e-mailers over the problem.

Those concerns are seeping into the debate over a planned AOL program, set to go live in the next month, in which approved e-mail senders pay to guarantee delivery of their messages.

AOL's CertifiedEmail service – which allows "accredited" senders to ensure their e-mails won't be blocked by a spam filter -- gets praise from some internet marketers who see it as a way to get legitimate messages to customers' inboxes.

"False positives have been a problem with e-mail marketing for a very long time," said Lou Mastria, vice president of interactive media at the Direct Marketing Association. He sees certified -e-mail as "a response to a market desire for at least one option for guaranteed delivery."

The plan evokes other efforts to create premium and regular versions of the internet, with a superior experience reserved for those willing to pay the price. Telecommunications giants, including Comcast, complained recently that companies like Google get a free ride on their pipes and proposed charging different rates for different levels of service.

The move would be a blow to the longstanding tenet of net neutrality that requires carriers make their best effort to deliver all the bits handed off to them. That rule -- enforced primarily by the honor system -- is coming under new pressure as ISPs begin to use traffic shaping software to limit high-volume applications such as BitTorrent or apply usage caps to throttle so-called bandwidth hogs, among other things.

The trend has caught the attention of Congress. On Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) introduced a bill that would prevent internet companies from introducing two-tiered service.

Also last week, a varied coalition of interest groups, including MoveOn, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Gun Owners of America, announced their opposition to AOL's program, saying it will create an unfair system for delivering e-mail. The groups say payment does not ensure a message is legitimate and the certified e-mail program won't help non-profits and mailing-list operators whose missives are frequently misidentified as spam.

Estimates vary as to how large a problem "false positives" represent. JupiterResearch estimated that in commercial mailings, 12 percent of marketing e-mail was blocked because of false positives in 2005, down from 18 percent in 2004.

Ken Schneider, chief architect with Symantec, which sells spam-filtering tools used by most large U.S. internet service providers, says false positive rates are actually much lower than the Jupiter research indicates. It's hard to get an exact figure, however, because determining what qualifies as spam is a matter of opinion. What marketers call "false positives" may be messages that aren't technically spam, but nonetheless do not contain information that end users want.

"There's a very gray notion of what's spam and what's not," Schneider said.

A particularly troublesome gray area, Schneider said, involves affiliate marketers. These marketers often send e-mails to people who signed up on a website with whom the affiliate has a marketing agreement. The recipient of the e-mail, however, probably isn't aware of the arrangement and has no idea why they're receiving the message.

Meanwhile, the amount of obvious spam getting blocked is high as ever. Last Monday, AOL estimated it had blocked 1.4 billion spam e-mails by late afternoon. Schneider estimates that two-thirds of all e-mail sent today is spam.

The battle lines are largely the same as they have been for years, while spammers get sneakier and the technology for tracking them continues to evolve.

Some of the oldest tactics for spotting junk e-mail still work. Spam filters isolate bulk mailers who generate a lot of complaints. ISPs and filtering firms also maintain blacklists of known spammers and "whitelists" of legitimate bulk e-mailers.

More recently, however, Schneider said, junk-mail fighters have been incorporating "traffic shaping" technology, which allows an ISP to restrict the rate at which it accepts incoming e-mails based on a sender's reputation for spamming.

Cohn said ISPs would better serve users by quarantining suspect spam messages in special mailboxes. That way, recipients would have the option of checking for false positives. If an ISP does block an e-mail, she says the sender and recipient should be notified and told why.

While AOL's certified e-mail program may help marketers, not even the system's developer, Mountain View, California, Goodmail Systems, sees it as a way to fight spam. Goodmail describes the program instead as "a way to identify good mail."

To join the CertifiedEmail program, e-mail senders must meet accreditation criteria and pay $200 to $400, plus a quarter of a cent per e-mail. In exchange, AOL guarantees the e-mails will get to a user's inbox and will bear a seal identifying them as certified messages.

AOL says it plans to launch the service in the next month. Goodmail said it is also working with Yahoo on a certified e-mail program.

Under current laws, opponents of certified e-mail can probably do little to prevent its adoption, said David Sorkin, a professor at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

Sorkin doubts the program will be popular with e-mail users. Even so, given the strides ISPs have made in reducing inbox clutter, a few "certified" marketing messages aren't his biggest worry.

"Personally I'm much more concerned about missing a few legitimate messages than figuring out what to delete," he said.

Troubleshooting Forum is a Godsend!!

My mind has been unsettled for about a month. Why? My beloved eMac has not been as responsive to my touch as usual. The beautiful young man of just one and a half years kept on behaving as if he (all my computers are male) had a bad dose of gastroenteritis.

First Dreamweaver refused to open. By the time I got it working again Firefox decided to do the same thing. This continued with several programs until I could no longer repair the permissions on my computer.

Living on an island where there is no Macintosh support and not much of a Mac community. I have had to learn to do my own troubleshooting. I attacked my task of finding a solution to my computer's problems with great gusto this morning. I had made a decision that today was the last day I would live with them. I searched the web until I found the solution in the MacFixItForums. Now my eMac is again healthy and strong and working like a the finely tuned machine that it is.

I just want to say Thanks to the people in the MacFixIt Forum who made it possible! Without my computer I cannot run my home business which is not only highly profitable but a whole lot of fun!