PPC Hero, a web site devoted to all of the latest on pay-per-click advertising, recently conducted a survey looking to find the best second tier PPC search engines.

The survey asked over 100 users “Which second tier search engine produced the best results for you?” and eZanga.com turned up in the results, garnering 1 percent of the vote as one of just seven search engines named in the responses.

The report, which can be read here, also includes a chart depicting the results.

“To generate supplemental traffic, leads, and revenue, these search engines can be a useful resource (if managed and optimized properly),” it reads. “Also, diversifying your search marketing efforts can help stabilize your performance just in case you should incur any fluctuations in the “big 3.” And for certain advertisers, these search engines may even work just as well as Google (gasp!). This is some food for thought when creating a strategy to expand your PPC efforts beyond Google, Yahoo or MSN.”

Reports this week revealed that search advertising spending is steadily increasing in 2009, nearly matching the spending levels from a year ago.

Search marketing agencies such as Search Ignite and Efficient Frontier disclosed data that showed their clients’ spending had increased to between 5 and 10 percent from second quarter results. Year-over-year spending is still down nearly 5 percent, according to Efficient Frontier.

That trend has been witnessed at eZanga, where search spending has increased by 70 percent from last year.

The news brings a great deal of hope to the search marketing industry after the economic recession made an impact in spending over the last year. Reports from eWeekEurope, ClickZ and Advertising Age give some of the details about the recent rise in ad spending and what it could mean for the immediate future of search marketing as a promising fourth quarter begins.

Online Advertising has become the go-to way to advertise in recent years. But some businesses may not be aware of just how many different ways they can reach customers on the web to promote their products and services. Not only that, some may not know which of those ways is the best way to get a better Return on Investment.

A new article at BizReport.com aims to show businesses that instead of choosing between SEM and Display advertising, it just might be beneficial to combine the two to get the necessary results. “Why you should consider a multi-platform approach” by Kristina Knight points out that the two work well together and eZanga CEO Rich Kahn was interviewed to help explain why:

“Display ads have always been high on branding but haven’t been high on conversions. Search has been high on conversions but not on branding. When you combine the two, they are very powerful,” Kahn said. “It all comes down to the budget of the customer.”

Read the article in its entirety at BizReport.com for more on what Kahn has to say about combining multiple advertising platforms and why it is a favorable option in a struggling economy.

Yesterday kicked off the SMX East Expo in New York City. The eZanga team was hard at work setting things up this morning and has already been busy documenting the event with photos, which are only being posted on Jimmy Hoppa’s HopOnThis.com photos page.

Pictures will be added daily from the three day event so keep checking the SMX East 2009-10 gallery for a look at what the gang is getting into in the Big Apple.

News hit the internet on Wednesday that eZanga has rolled out its contextual advertising platform, adding to its many online services.

The article was picked up by many major industry outlets in short order, including Yahoo Finance, Earth Times and News Blaze. It details how the new service works and why eZanga’s integrated online marketing campaigns make a great option for advertisers. The article reads:

“eZanga’s contextual advertising technology uses geographic and demographic targeting, allowing advertisers to specify their target audiences based on their marketing goals. Using the system, advertisers are able to target text, graphics, rich media, pop under or interstitial ads with keywords, locations, time/day targets and channels of interest. eZanga offers pay-per-click, pay-per-view and pay-per-visit models for eZanga Contextual customers.”

WebProNews featured eZanga CEO Rich Kahn in an article about the company’s recent foray in combining display advertising with search.

The article, “Search Ads Convert Better With Display”, gives Kahn the opportunity to discuss the many advertising services which eZanga provides, as well as why advertisers should turn to the company for all of its marketing needs:

“Our new eZanga Display product is not only another place to buy display on premium sites (Yahoo, LinkedIn, CNN.com, BusinessWeek, Facebook, etc) but also offers our customers some advanced optimizations,” he said. “We can optimize a campaign based on the phone calls we generate, online sales, leads or fill in forms. We are not here to focus on impressions or clicks (any network can do that) we are here to focus on conversions, both online and offline.”

The article goes on to examine the future of display advertising in difficult economic times and how eZanga has been able to maintain growth over the past year.

The eZanga team is preparing for this year’s Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo, which will take place August 10-14 in San Jose, Ca.

The 11^th annual event will house over 100 companies and will also feature multiple workshops and over 70 speaking sessions that will cover a variety of industry-related topics including PPC management, keyword search and SEO.

Members of the eZanga staff will be all over the event, getting the word out about the many services eZanga provides. So make sure you come visit our booth and say “hello”!

More information about the event can be viewed at www.searchenginestrategies.com.

Econsultancy.com posted a case study article featuring an interview with Bedco Mobility sales manager Tim Pelton, whose company called on eZanga to help increase its calls and leads through its online advertising services.

In the article written by Rebecca Lieb, Pelton described how the increasing reliance on search and online marketing forced the company to rethink its presence in print advertising, which it has been doing for close to a century.

As Pelton described, the partnership with eZanga proved to be a wise move for his business which saw a 135.5 percent increase in online leads in just four months.

“It was cheaper to do search ads just here in Baltimore. So we were doing that just for economy, but I was getting lots of new leads. My business was back to what it was several years ago when we were basically the only ones around. There’s a lot of people who do what we do now. At that point, we realized we should have targeted the DC area, so we started a new campaign for that region. We’re really seeing results from it. It was fairly immediate and it’s been very steady…What they’ve been doing has been working. We’ve seen a definite increase and a steady increase since we started the campaign.”

The Middletown-Odessa-Townsend major league all-stars, sponsored by eZanga.com this summer, became the first ever three-time state champions after going undefeated in their regional and state tournaments this month.

Next up for the team is the Mid-Atlantic regional tournament in Bristol, Conn. from August 7-17. The all-stars will take on squads from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington D.C. Should they emerge the winner of the tourney, M.O.T. will then make a trip to Williamsport, Pa. for the Little League World Series in late-August.

Coverage of the team’s clinching win from Tuesday night, including photos and videos of the boys in action, can be seen here and here.

This summer, eZanga is the proud sponsor of the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend (M.O.T) major league all-star team, as it tries to punch its ticket to the Little League World Series.

The team is currently battling in the Delaware District I tournament and is a win away from advancing to the three-team state tournament, which will begin Saturday night at Camden-Wyoming Little League Park.

You can view a picture of the all-star squad with eZanga owners Rich and Beth Kahn at HopOnThis.com’s eZanga gallery here. Good luck to the M.O.T. all-stars!!