I'm seeing a lot of businesses bidding on their own branding. Isn't this actually a waste of money? If someone wants to find me by entering my exact branding, why would I want to show an ad right above my organic Google result link?
directwheels
2:13 pm on Nov 15, 2010 (gmt 0)
It depends if other people are bidding on your name. If they are, then it may be a good reason to do it.
Or if you have some bad publicity in the SERPs and you don't want people to see it as easily, then bidding on your name is can help that a little as well.
netmeg
3:14 pm on Nov 15, 2010 (gmt 0)
I absolutely bid on my clients names. I want as much coverage on the page as possible. My client names / brands are so much more likely to convert, it's well worth the money. Plus my clients' competitors bid on our names, so we definitely want to be on top of that too.
RhinoFish
4:24 pm on Nov 15, 2010 (gmt 0)
why? cuz you control the messaging. :-)
very important for running sales, landing people on the best pages and much more.
use sitelinks to point people right to where your best sellers are, you'll see higher conversion rates (fewer clicks along the way).
remember these are the folks that know your brand, so it's also a great way to introduce them to anything new that may not yet have the seo power to lead. again, a sitelink snippet for anything new and exciting can be plopped front and center.
there are other strategies as well, concerning enhancing your brand strength, but they depend on what your goals / offers are. think of that ad space as being aimed at your best repeat customers - if you've got nothing to tell them, you might consider not running name ppc - but usually there is something you're trying to convey.
if you've got an aff program, you're gonna need to police that space - your best converting traffic is there - let some ashwipe aff take it for free and you're being unwise to say the least.
netmeg
5:32 pm on Nov 15, 2010 (gmt 0)
We make heavy use of Google Base and product extensions too. Can't beat that with a stick.
