Adwords alternative due to increase of CPC

Do you consider changing?

[silverbytes]

As you said in the long post about how Adwords advertirsers now must pay up to ten times more than before to show ads on same keywords perhaps Google is confident on forcing advertisers to pay more. Specially because they have stats (Analytics) on your ROI and because you have no other chances since Google is a #1 by far.

Do you consider changing (or at least complementing) your CPC campaign to other companies?

I can't imagine where to go but Overture, but perhaps you already tried other CPC engines that worked for you...

[bostonseo]

There really are no other consistently profitable alternatives. Just because Google has raised their prices, be very careful about 'throwing' your money at the 2nd and 3rd tier CPC programs. Go that forum and about peoples results - they are NOT good.

Unfortunately Google pretty much has a search monopoly.

[silverbytes]

So there's no many chances out there huh?
It's very clear why the CPC raise then...

[bostonseo]

silverbytes,

How can you have over 1,000 posts on this message board and not know what the good CPC programs are and which ones are awful?

[silverbytes]

Acording to you none

[bostonseo]

At least now you know the correct answer.

[hobbnet]

Acording to you none

At least now you know the correct answer.

Ha! That was classic.

Anways, the next step I'd take would be Ask and MSN.

[eWhisper]

How can you have over 1,000 posts on this message board and not know what the good CPC programs are and which ones are awful?

WebmasterWorld has close to 70 different boards. It's quite easy to have 3000+ posts on one board and only a few (or none) in others boards.

No one here is an expert in every area WebmasterWorld covers, just isn't possible with the number of disparate topics available.

[Alex_Miles]

Is MSN still an American monopoly? I need an alternative to Adwords. Preferably one that doesn't involve dealing with Overture. I didn't get caught in the recent price hike, but its only a question of time.

I'm still cheesed off about the minimum bid being twice as much as a US minimum bid all that time as well.

I did apply to MSN, for the second time recently. Not heard a word back. Is the entire PPC industry run by amateurs?

[silverbytes]

At least now you know the correct answer.

Yes, a Guru like you was needed to that. Thank you!
Perhaps when I reach 10.000 I'll get some other illumination.

BTW perhaps MSN is the alternative as you other guys say. It would be intersting to hear those who actually uses MSN...

[poster_boy]

Do you consider changing (or at least complementing) your CPC campaign to other companies?

MSN is definately worth adding to your list of partners... small, but growing - with high quality traffic. They won't catch Google (ever, IMHO), but they'll offer a different perspective - which is a good thing.

[BananaFish]

I haven't done adwords since the shopping season, but at that time overture was comparable and had a higher conversion rate. If you want the latest and soon to be greatest check out adbrite. There's more than a fare share of spam sites there, but if you're lucky you'll find a legitimate site that fits your demographics at a reasonable price.

[silverbytes]

I went to MSN adcenter and says: "

Thanks for your interest in MSN adCenter. This product is currently under development and available for use by invitation only. If you have received an e-mail inviting you to try MSN adCenter, please enter your e-mail address below to start the signup process"

I have no invitation. May somebody send me one? (sticky me)

[clinyi]

silverbytes, you need to fill in the form on this page and wait for invitation from adCenter. Other people cannot invite you. (it's not like gmail)

[deep_alley]

Well dont see much volumes on MSN, even thought its up to 70%. Also their UI is pretty horrid...adding keywords can be such a task. Everytime I tried to import keywords I got an error. I gave up after 5 attempts. The good thing is that they are listening to the feedback and making changes.

[Quantam Goose]

I am "in" the MSN beta. So far, the conversion or transaction results are on a Par with Google - success per click. BUT, the cost is 1/4 with the same position or better. Msn is going to be very compettive. Another feature of MSN - you can preprogram in 4 hour segments 7 days a week to have your campaign on or off. Also you can specify a click rate multiplier based on age demographics.

[wildbest]

You may try AdBrite for your CPM campaigns and track which sites will convert best?

[FiveTone]

If you look hard enough you can find some good sites on Adbrite.

[BillyS]

silverbytes -

From a CPC standpoint, I think there are limited options, in my order of preference:

Adwords
Overture
GoClick

I base this on spending my close to $1,500 a week on CPC advertising about 18 months ago. I'm a small enough player to watch carefully and I'm big enough to get a good feel for when invalid clicks are coming in. I'm not going to post the others I tried but found problems with, but this is how it typically goes:

1. - Money disappears with no coversions.
2. - Complain to company about click fraud, being specific about the site where the clicks are coming from.
3. - Refund placed back into account.
4. - Money disappears with no conversions.
5. - Go back to step 2.

There were distinct patterns that I observed. I conducted an experiment with each advertising network. I even kept the results of my experiments using identical positioning (where possible) traffic generated and conversions. When I left that business I deleted all that information, I wish I had kept it but I didn't know WebmasterWorld existed and how useful that information could have been for others.

Sticky me if you want more information.

[gc43]

my ad budget used to be 100% adwords.

now it is 20% adwords, 40% overture and 40% msn adcenter.

The performance is the same or better. I really wish I could spend more with adwords but it just wont let me.

but I have been optimizing and adwords has been treating me a little better recently..

just remember there are plenty of alternatives out there.

[exmoorbeast]

MSN is hugely profitable for us compared to Adwords. This will change when they open it up out of BETA. It was thanks to WebmasterWorld that we found out about the window of opportunity for new sign ups!

[silverbytes]

Still have no news since I signed up in msn 3 days ago. Did it take that long for you?
Somebody mentioned Goclick? Any experiences with?

[biking4jesus]

I think the success of alternatives greatly depends on your customer base. Tech savvy internet users will definately be using google, while farmers from Kentucky might use Ask or other 2nd tier engines. We have great success with Adwords, building up an Adcenter account, and frustrated with Overture.

Overture- cuts out some of our keywords, prevents unsearched keywords from being purchased, changes made to our ad copy, delay in approval process
MSN- many keywords cut out based on similarity, delay in approval process.

[TerriGW]

Farmers from Kentucky probably do not use computers much... I know many farmers! That is unless it is a big corporate farm that has tech savvy employees... Farmers using a computer is like bikers using a computer. :-) Just kidding biking4jesus!