Making its debut on 02/23/2012, smart beta exchange traded fund iShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (DVYE) provides investors broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs category of the U.S. equity market.What Are Smart Beta ETFs?The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.Fund Sponsor & IndexThe fund is managed by Blackrock, and has been able to amass over $432.62 M, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index before fees and expenses.The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index measures the performance of the companies in emerging market countries that have provided relatively high dividend yields on a consistent basis over time.Cost & Other ExpensesFor ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.49% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.Sector Exposure and Top HoldingsEven though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.Looking at individual holdings, Severstal (CHMF) accounts for about 2.12% of total assets, followed by Seaspan Corp (SSW) and Barwa Real Estate Co. Q.s.c. (BRES).DVYE's top 10 holdings account for about 18.13% of its total assets under management.Performance and RiskDVYE has lost about -3.52% so far this year, and as of 06/25/2018, it's up approximately 4.40% in the last one year. In the past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $39.53 and $46.10.With about 126 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.AlternativesIShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Emerging Market ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) tracks FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China An Inclusion Index. IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $46.75 B in assets, Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $62.94 B. IEMG has an expense ratio of 0.14% and VWO charges 0.14%.Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Broad Emerging Market ETFs.Bottom LineTo learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ISHARS-EM DIV (DVYE): ETF Research Reports Seaspan Corporation (SSW): Free Stock Analysis Report VANGD-FTSE EM (VWO): ETF Research Reports ISHARS-CR MS EM (IEMG): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research