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The Blog Search Engine, a search engine for blog entry results, has recently announced that it has increased blog searches by over 10% with the implementation of a new Blog Search Toolbar powered by EffectiveBrand. Search toolbars allow users to employ search engines from within their browsers without going to the particular search sites themselves. However, many people do not want to perpetually use conglomerate search toolbars, such as Google or Yahoo, but would instead prefer to find news or stories related to their personal interests. Blog Search Engine has capitalized on this need by developing their Blog Search Toolbar.

Blog Search Engine says their Blog Search Toolbar has attributed to a jump in searches. "Using EffectiveBrand, we created our toolbar in less than 10 minutes, placed an image and link to download it on our site and then downloads started almost instantaneously," said Loren Baker of the Blog Search Engine. "Since distributing over 700 Blog Search toolbars to our users, we have seen an increase of over 10% in total searches, more traffic and branding, and an increase in overall revenue."

With an increase of over 10% of searches done via the Blog Search Engine, this does not take into account searches done directly on the site after the user has done their initial search using the toolbar. With jumps in searches also come increased, loyal and repeating traffic, which can be something that is difficult to build online and usually is only done via email subscription services.

Besides branding their search engine on user's desktops and increasing new searches, marketing and promotion of the toolbar also led to the sharp increase. Blog Search Engine attributes their large number of toolbar downloads to its marketing efforts on their onsite promotional channels. "We've strategically placed links to our Blog Search Toolbar on our homepage, on search results pages and in outgoing emails to bloggers who submit their blogs to the Blog Search Engine." Baker added, "We are also looking into other marketing channels to distribute our toolbar after measuring its effectiveness in generating more searches."

In addition to generating more searches, EffectiveBrand also adds more to the web searching experience. "The incorporation of Effective Results in the Blog Search Toolbar has increased user's satisfaction as it complements the Blog Search Engine by suggesting related links and resources," said Effective Brand's CEO, Ronen Shilo.

To create a customized search toolbar for their sites, publishers can go to EffectiveBrand and follow a simple, 4-step procedure in order to create and/or upload a logo, search string, custom buttons and an optional RSS feed aggregator. The final product–a cutting-edge, site branded custom toolbar–is then completed and ready for immediate distribution. An "effective" solution for publishers, the EffectiveBrand interface also permits sites to see how many users have downloaded their toolbar, filter out competitors, and even set up for your own site's search results. More importantly, it builds repeat web traffic.

About the Author
Loren Baker is the Editor of the Search Engine Journal, a search engine news blog reporting on search oriented news daily.