The Internet gives even the smallest business a wide reach into a global marketplace, but that depends on people actually being able to find a business' Web site.

To make that happen, companies are finding ways to make their names pop up in prime positions when someone enters a term into a search engine, such as Google or Yahoo.

Nobody wants to be the company that shows up on the ninth page of search results.

There are two ways companies can use search engines to their advantage. They can purchase certain keywords so their name pops up in the paid links when someone types in a matching keyword, or they can build content into their Web sites that search engines pick up.

Search advertising revenue hit $6.8 billion in 2006, making up 40 percent of online advertising.

When you type in a search term on Google, which dominates the search market, you'll get a few listings along the top and right hand side of the page. These are the paid search listings.

Under the paid search listings on the left side of the page are the results of the search engine combing the content on the Web and returning the most likely results. These results are not generated through buying keywords, but by the words the search engine finds on the site.

Some companies turn to "search engine optimization" as a way to put the best content on their sites to rank high in those search results.

"It is critical for anyone who's currently not engaged in search engine optimization to dip their toes in the water and find out what it's all about," said Kevin Heisler, an analyst with JupiterResearch who reports on search engine marketing.

He recommends using both search engine optimization and paid search advertising to drive traffic to a Web site.

Fred Simanek, chief executive officer of MyNextDeal.com in Thousand Oaks, uses both for his commercial real estate Web site.

Simanek started MyNextDeal.com because he was tired of going to six or more sites each morning to see what commercial properties were listed. His Web site is an aggregator of commercial real estate listings, allowing those in the business to go to just one site.

The five-person company started in January 2006 and launched a public test site in February 2007. The site becomes official, shedding its "test" label, in September.

Simanek said an important part of launching a new site is driving traffic to it. He found a product called HitTail, which gives Web site owners, whether casual bloggers or large businesses, a piece of code that tracks how people find their Web site.

It uses that information what keywords people used in which search engines to create a report for the site operator. That allows a business to incorporate the search terms into its Web site content so people using similar keyword searches in the future can find the company more easily.

It even creates a "to do" list.

Gaining intelligence

Simanek said he liked that it was so simple to use.

"Who doesn't want to have a to do list telling you, Here's some improvements you can make on your site,'" he said.

Simanek said he checks the report every day.

"You want to know how people are finding you what do they type in to get to your site," he said. "It's intelligence that's addicting, particularly to start-ups."

Simanek said he works about 50 percent of the recommended keywords into his blog. He buys all of the recommended keywords for paid search advertising.

Often the recommendations that come from HitTail are strings of words. For example, Simanek's recommendations have included "entitled retail in Baton Rouge Louisiana" or "vacant restaurants in Van Nuys California." Such combinations are cheaper to buy than the more commonplace and expensive "commercial real estate" or "commercial property."

Simanek often buys the part of the phrase that doesn't include the location, such as "entitled retail land," to capture more general searches.

While the most popular keywords can get expensive, less popular words can be much cheaper and still help drive traffic to a site.

Price per click varies

Simanek pays for a premium version of HitTail, which is available in both free and paid versions. The monthly fee ranges from $9.95 to $99.95.

A popular form of paid search advertising is called "pay-per-click" advertising where the company pays the search engine a certain amount each time a customer clicks on one of those links to go to the company's site.

Pay per click can start as low as 1 cent per click. Some companies, such as Google's AdWords, vary their pricing based on things such as the country where the business is located.

With AdWords, advertisers can set an upper limit of how much they want to pay each day or the maximum number of click-throughs giving them more control over the cost but also potentially missing customers.

Other approaches charge each time an ad is shown after a keyword search.

"Organic" searches, where content on the site causes the search engine to place a Web site near the top of the search results, don't come with a price tag.

Mike Levin created HitTail with organic searches in mind. The initial target was bloggers, but the program can work for almost any company, he said.

Levin is a vice president of Connors Communications in New York.

Levin said he wanted to create something that would make recommendations based on the activity on a user's Web site, as opposed to using aggregate industry data.

"HitTail makes suggestions based on what nearly worked very recently," he said.

That's not to say that the business should use all of the suggestions.

"There are the occasional HitTail fanatics that work everything into their writing," Levin said. "We don't encourage that."

Instead, it is best to use suggestions that fit into what the person wants to write about in the blog or are most helpful to their customers.

JupiterResearch analyst Heisler said it is important for those creating Web sites to focus on content written for people, not search engines. In the past, companies had used some tricks to try to get higher rankings in the search results, such as putting keywords on the Web site in the same color as the background.

Thwarting tactics

Search engine operators have become wise to such tactics and found ways to thwart those tricks.

"Number 1 is to really focus on developing original, fresh content on a frequent basis," Heisler said.

Site designers should think about search engines and keywords when designing their sites and make sure there is content that will be valuable to people likely to use that site, he added.

But a business shouldn't be built on search engine traffic alone. Companies still need to use the old methods of marketing, both online and off, to drive traffic to sites, Heisler said.

Perhaps more common than relying too heavily on Internet searches is not relying on it at all.

It is sometimes difficult to get a company to sign on to using search results as a way to meet customers, said Levin.

"The traditional route of advertising is so well understood and strong, the idea that you can just type words in not the company name and discover what you're looking for ... is still a concept people are coming to understand," he said.

He sees it as a transition similar to other marketing shifts in the past. First, people move to the obvious paths, such as banner ads. Then to newer offerings such as paid search advertising.

Now, businesses are moving toward those organic search results. As more do it, others will follow rather than be left behind, Levin said.

"It's a double whammy when a competitor gets on the first page for free, and you're paying money to be there," he said.