OK, yes I have said it before, but I think 50 yen is too high to start the bidding at. There are so few advertisements currently running in Japanese Adwords that clearly the market is saying the price is too high.
What do you think Bill? You are in a similar market.
None of our clients would be prepared to pay these prices. I have only seen one advertisement (apart from our test ones) relating to Australia. (Japan is Australia's largest trading partner).
We even looked at domain names and car rentals (in Japan)the other day. No ads. Well where are all these ads that people keep telling me are being run?
Lower the entry price and let the market determine the top price. Many small ads are worth far more than just a few at the higher price. PPC ads are relatively new to Japan so their use needs to be encouraged.
We have over ten years experience in advertising and marketing in Japan, but then what would we know. After all it is Google's money not ours!
Google Japan is not really looking at attracting the international advertisers..they are looking at the Japan market in a Japanese style from their offices in Tokyo. It's a very limited world view, but as you've probably seen from your dealings with Japanese clientele, that's how many companies here operate. However, it's still my opinion that they're pricing themselves in line with what the market here will bear.
I can understand your frustrations at the high minimum bid rates for AdWords in Japanese. If you haven't already, I'd suggest you sign up for Overture Japan ASAP. You can get a special grandfathered click rate that is much cheaper than AdWords. Overture is basing their Japanese operations in California, so there's a slightly different mindset you're dealing with there.
