Exactly what do you pay for at MSN

Is LookSmart collecting for normal Inktomi results?

[jaeden]

I get a few referals from MSN from the results by Inktomi. Then once a month I get a few from MSN, until my 100 clicks from LookSmart run out. If I were to start paying LookSmart on a monthly basis to keep those listings live, will I be paying for EVERY referal? Would my Inktomi results still be free, or would I be paying 15 cents for those too?

[heidibear]

Hi,

There are a few ways to keep your listings live on MSN but as far as I know, you will have to pay for each referral with any of these ways.

The first is to advertise through MSN directly as a featured site. MSN has a pretty high monthly minimum for spend and won't even consider your site unless your terms get the searches meet this minimum.

Sponsored listings pull from Overture.com. You'll pay Overture for each of these clicks and you have to stay within the top sites to get listed on MSN.

Web Directory pull partially from LookSmart. Through a deal with LookSmart, you can pay them to push your website to MSN all the time. You'll pay per click for all referrals for this.

I hope this answers your question and helps.

[sinbad]

can you tell me to get featured position on msn is it looksmart that you need to advertise with, i have an account with overture that gives me a sponsored position but my competition keep outbidding me for the top of sponsored listings no matter what the cost , and their is no one listed as a featured pos on msn under the term.

[heidibear]

Featured listings are sold through MSN at their discretion whereas the directory listings are the ones pulled from LookSmart. To advertise with MSN directly, they require you to spend something along the lines of $50,000 yearly for them to even consider you for advertising.

The cheaper option would be to go through LookSmart and pay for constant listing in the web directory category.