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AdWords for Content Site Launch

         

RobinL

5:34 pm on Jul 31, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



We run a fairly large product review site with completely informational based pages that is only ad supported. We're launching a second site and I'm very worried about building our traffic numbers up to offest the quite expensive costs of mainating a full time editorial staff. We're very close to launch and our PR plans are have a few spokes:

1. High profile one-way link building. We brought on a pretty well known link professional to help us with our initial link buidling to get one way links.

2. A mass recipricoil link effort. We are doing a huge effort to get links from a large number of sites completely in house. We're not going to send out requests until we have a little page rank from number 1.

3. A press release which we'll distribute on a wire service.

4. Links from our exisitng site.

My big worry however is getting new traffic in during the first few months. I'm considering spending $1k-2k on a google adwords campaign for the keyword wideget reviews. The problem is it's very expensive and I will probably have to bid around $1 a click which is huge for us. Do people think this is worth it? My goal with this campaign would be to get long term visitors who will stay in the door. Is this too small of a campaign to even consider? Any ideas?

skibum

5:52 am on Aug 1, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



It might be worthwhile looking at prices on just "widgets". The search volume may be substantially higher which would could yield significant traffic at lower click costs. "Brand widgets" may also be keywords worth looking at.

I would guess that people just typing in "widgets" aren't very far along in the buying process and a review site may be just the thing they need to get some ideas on what to buy.

Also think about what people do with the widgets and explore those keywords. If it was a If it was a site selling turntables for example, keywords like DJ, dj equipment, & mixing.

Then use the creative to qualify the visitor.

Want to be a DJ?
Read reviews of professional
turntables & pick the right one!
www.************.com

There are so many keywords that relate to almost anything. It'll take some research & testing but there there are almost always affordable keywords other than the obvious ones that aren't terribly expensive that will work well.

In most cases there is plenty of traffic to be had without being in the top-2 spots and sometimes not even being on the first page.

<edit typos>

[edited by: skibum at 2:58 pm (utc) on Aug. 2, 2004]

vibgyor79

9:17 am on Aug 2, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



If you cannot afford to pay $1.00 per click, then don't.

For your campaign, enable content network advertising. Content clicks are sometimes 50-75% cheaper than search clicks. However, the quality of content clicks might not be as good as that of search network clicks.

Teshka

6:51 am on Aug 3, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I'm a little skeptical about paying for visitors for a content site unless your advertisements/affiliate programs convert really well. Even at $.05 a click and a few thousand visitors, how many would actually bookmark the site and become a part of the community? It's hard to say if it would be worth it.

Have you considered trying a small PPC campaign on your current site and seeing how well it converts (i.e. how many extra members sign of for the forums or whatever)?

If it was me, and money was somewhat of an issue, I would start the site on my own elbow grease, wait for it to get PageRank and some loving from the search engines, then hire the writing staff. You could always take that 1-2K and pay some freelance writers to create content. That's just me, though. I hate paying for something that I know will come with time for free. =)

Whatever you do, good luck.

hdpt00

1:44 pm on Aug 3, 2004 (gmt 0)



I just started using adwords for my content site (with some advertisers). I get about 150 clicks at 5 cents a day to my site. I would take all the targetted traffic I can get at 5 cents, I set my budget so high I want to spend $1,000/day to get people there. For my niche it worked out very well and am already turning a profit just from adwords.

I think you should give it a try.