German PPC experiences

[Yidaki]

split off from the German Search traffic [webmasterworld.com] thread

>Wow, google's numbers are incredible then in Germany!
>Does this mean that for ppc, google adwords is the only
>one worth investing in?

IMHO, absolutely! Not only because of the traffic. The adwords reports and the real time processing (new campaigns, changes etc.) are unique. I don't need any other ppc.

[edited by: heini at 3:13 pm (utc) on Mar. 16, 2003]

[Fischerlaender]

I am not completely convinced that Google Adwords is the one and only PPC for Germany. I found that the traffic you get via Adwords is not that targeted as you would expect. The conversion rate could really be better.

The reporting and the administration interface for Adwords on the other hand is really superb, especially compared to Overture's horrible TrafficCenter.

[Yidaki]

Fischerlaender, it may depend on the keyword campaigns. I get a click through rate of ~ 10 % AND i know the click through rate. I tried espotting and they don't tell me the ctr. Their reports are quite poor allthough they say, they work on a better reporting system. However, currently it's like: they say, you have 60 clicks a day - and you can guess how many people saw your ad. Sorry, that's far from professional.

What espotting delivers me is a myst. Adwords are quite transparent.

The other thing is that at espotting i have to wait up to 48 hours (normally 24 hours) to get a confirmation on ANY changes. I can't set up my campaigns realtime. Allthough it *may* decrease the spam ratio, it's a shame and contra the fast moving web.

Next bad thing is the budget minimum of 150 EUROs.

After spending 150 EUROs to espotting i thought - hey, why spend this money to espotting - i could have more visitors from google than i can pay.

To break the "google monopoly" other ppc providers need to offer the same quality. From the tech point of view that wouldn't be a big deal!

[heini]

Hm, I like working with Adwords too, because it's flexible and fast. I have to agree though, OV tends to give better ROI. I think that's because of their partners.
The main problem with OV is, I'm having a hard time getting enough clicks without getiing to unspecific with the keywords. Which is a direct consequence of their partners searchvolume being rather small compared to Google.

[Shak]

do fellow members who use Adwords in Germany have any numbers for the following:

Creatives in German V English?

I have used Google premium listings in a number of European countries but "always" with English creatives, and have achieved very good CTR up to 20% in Sweden.

would love to know what the numbers for local creatives would be, followed by the impact there would be if the visitor then arrived at an English language site?

Shak

[Fischerlaender]

Shak,
I'm sorry I have no numbers. I just can tell you that in Germany there are a lot of people (even younger ones) who don't like reading an English page and too often they even aren't able to do so.

As far as I know from travelling through Europe the same situation you'll find in France and also in Italy and Spain. In Scandinavia however, nearly everyone speaks and understands English very well.

So I think it's no good idea to "catch" a surfer from France with an Adword ad for "vin" and then show him an english website about "wine" ...

[Shak]

So I think it's no good idea to "catch" a surfer from France with an Adword ad for "vin" and then show him an english website about "wine" ...

I agree with what you are saying, but then that leaves a major situation which is often ignored by many people.

Get localised language sites for each country. quite simple using quality translators.

but the problem arises when the german person wants to email/phone up the company, either we employ a German speaking person, or tell them we dont speak german.

does that make sense.

That is my reason for not going translation route, as I could NOT deliver 100% customer service unless I had German/French speaking staff.

Shak

[oLeon]

What else than Google Adwords could be make sense:

Google Sponsored Links ... okay, very expensive but it works better than Adwords.
Overture - to reach a lot of potential customers, itīs okay, and the ROI is better, yes - but as heini mentioned, not that many people are searching on the partners websites.
The same with espotting - unless that the reach is way behind that one from OV.
What else - banner? Does anybody here really reach some ROI with banner? Does anybody do anything with banner? We donīt. And we wonīt.
Anything else? Lycos Adwords? No. Not worth it. Less CTR and traffic than G-Adwords, of course.

I assume, beside the listings in Google and FAST, there is no way to generate traffic.

[Fischerlaender]

Shak wrote:

but the problem arises when the german person wants to email/phone up the company, either we employ a German speaking person, or tell them we dont speak german.

Of course this depends on the kind of goods or service you are offering, but I think that this shouldn't be a big problem. If you have a good german page where you tell the costumers that you are UK-/USA-based and so you just can offer english telephone support, this should be fine.

But this is just my opinion, nothing I can back with numbers or real experience.

[markusf]

Where do most of you spend your money on PPC?