Now two years old, the Pasadena, Calif., company starts bids at 1 cent. Unpaid results are supplied by search engine Inktomi. Brewer dismisses critics who say that his service isn't a true, unbiased search engine. Only companies that get quality click-throughs will continue to pay for placement and raise their bids, if necessary, showing that the sites are relevant to consumers, he says. The company has a stringent editorial policy that governs which Web sites it includes.
Advertisers also receive preferred positioning as answer sources when someone asks a question.
He notes that some corporate customers modify their sites to answer specific questions that they see being asked repeatedly. The name obviously helps draw traffic. You must do other things to draw people to your site.