We are just building in proper tracking now so I have no data to share yet. But for those who do, what's your experience?
My 2cts...
I'm surprised the conversion rate is similar since Adwords will put your ad anywhere these days. We come up on all sorts of experimental searches, often in the wrong language.
For the record, we have disabled content searches and are running a strictly phrase and exact match campaign. I like to do my own targetting :-)
Rob
They also change on a weekly basis depending on what partners they sign, etc.
I advertise on both Google and Overture but I get, and can document, far better volume and ROI on Google.
I sell project management software. People visit my site and if they like the product description they download a time-limited trial copy of the program. If they like that they return later and make a payment for a fully-licensed copy.
I wrote an extensive custom web-log analysis program and based on a couple months results I can say;
1.) For the same keyword/phrase I get up to 10 times as many clicks from Google as from Overture. Reading my reports on Google and Overture substantiate that I get the same CTR on both, but about 10X the impressions on Google.
2.) Of the people who visit my website via Google adwords, steadily 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 download the program. On overture, the number is 1 in 10 or worse.
Also, I'm paying on average 6 cents per click on Google and about 9 cents per click on Overture (I have some pre-10cent legacy keywords)
I cannot tell from the weblog which customers who return to buy the program originated from which advertiser. However, my order entry form has an optional-response question as to where the buyer found the program, and Google responses greatly outweigh Overture.
Given all the above, Google has much higher volume and ROI for me. (Granted, other people's results could be much different.)
Bob
[edited by: Shak at 5:30 pm (utc) on Dec. 27, 2003]
[edit reason] no sigs, thanks [/edit]
I can undertand its your its post. Brother you need to remove the URL you posted in your *sign* - Very nice post...keep it up!
I will of course observe the expectations here.
Bob
That's the sort of feedback I was hoping for. It looks like you pay more on Overture mainly because of the min cpc.
We are building some tracking software now and it will use cookies to track the visitor from referal right through to sale. So I'll post the info when we start collecting it.
Anyone have feedback about more competitive keywords?
I sell handmade jewelry for three very niche markets. My conversion rates are lower than many, but still in the 1% to 3% range with much higher margins than many here. Even then, I prefer to keep my advertising costs down. On Adwords I have no terms over 15 cents and my average CPC is around 8 to 9 cents. Average daily ad costs are $10 to $15 total. I worked up to this from a max budget of $3/day after carefully watching ROI.
I started Overture back in early 2001, and it did fairly well back then. Most of my bids were in the 2 to 5 cent range. The problem is that the competition there is fierce, and many of the bids have been run up to 50 cents or more for the terms I want to be in the top three or four positions which is vital for Overture. Since my highest bids are 10 cent, most are not even in the top 10 any more. I tried to run up my bids on a couple of very profitable items so I would be in the top three, but the conversion rate wa so poor that it just wasn't worth it. I throw $25 in every three weeks or so. Even before Christmas, my daily average was under a dollar for the whole campaign.
I think a lot of the success I have with Adwords is due to the fact that CTR is involved in the positioning instead of having a straight auction for the spots. Good ad copy that highlights why my work is better than mass produced "junk jewelry" gets me clicks from people who are inclined to want to buy from me which helps the conversion rate at the end of the day. The only other big "want to have" is a bonus factor for bidding on the exact phrase people are looking for to raise me above Walmart and Target who just bid on generic terms.
The long-term trend is that Overture is actually becoming cheaper and AdWords more expensive. For all of those who posted that they only do AdWords, keep it up, and please get others to join you. It helps me make money on Overture.
MQ
The main target audience of software of that sort would be B2B so using Overture or Espotting would mean significantly less traffic due to the lack of affiliates operating in that arena. Google doesn't suffer the same problem in that category.
For sectors like travel, insurance, dating then the roles will be reversed, which is where the "horse for courses" will come into play, there is no right or wrong, or a definitive answer as to who is better or worse, you just need to know what works.
By the way, for any of you affiliates out there, the sectors like Bob's could do with some of you paying attention to traffic delivery, just look at the CPC of some of the advertisers and you'll see it's an untapped opportunity.
This would be a lot more beneficial thread if people will list the area of expertise their website is and which of the big two works best for them.
As my tests have found, Google gives a much better ROI than Overture in this casual field. To be able to see other industries and which one works best for them would be great.
Do you target Yahoo or Google users? Very different type of people.
I can give many examples of either converting better than the other, or costing a lot more or less - just depends on the KWs being targeted, your competition's intelligence factor, and the end user demographics.
