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After you are done with it, check FindWhat.com. Does not have the "reach" of Google AdWords and Overture but is quite adequate. Minimum CPC - $0.01.
Google is all about relevancy (again IMO) and they probably have something going there. Those guys have gone from nothing 4 years ago to #1 search engine in the world, and did it slowly, surely, and with forethought. They ain't stupid. And theirs is still the best search engine around. They won't ruin it with irrelvant ads that don't pertain to what the searcher seeks.
I sound like an ad for Google, but I have to say, they seem to know what they are doing.
If the "Google Guy" reads this post, he should correct me about what I say in para 1 above, but that is the way I understand (from my own experience and the way I read their policy) they work.
Only drawback: Overture is easier to understand. Google ADs is complicated, as to figuring out how to get your ad to the top; what I say above is not the "end all and be all."
You also have to set daily advertising $ limits and click $ limits that will affect your position for your ad. The higher the better. You may not get charged that much, but you won't drop to the bottom either, if your limits are set appropriately.
Trick is to figure out "appropriate.' And I have to say I have not figured that out in the case of the advertising I do there. But I am higly satisfied with the advertising I do. 80% or better of my sales come from Google. I advertise pretty high on Overture and Find What and still: Google returns the best for ad dollars spent, no ifs ands or buts.
There are several anoomlies in our terms..
for example:
"countryname industryname agency" = 35c
"industryname agency countryname" = 5c
Note they are in quotes, as without quotes we are far too broad, dont meet the .05 click thru and get the bid suspended. As a result our reach is far less. We cant filter by country domain as most of our clients are worldwide. (We are in Asia, but have mainly US clients)
when we use a popular two word term like "industryname agency" obviously it costs a fair bit per click. But when we try to target that term and make it more specific - for say "industryname agency countryname, the cost does not go down as expected, but sometimes even higher. It seems once popular terms are in your keywords, reducing the target by adding a second or third term (say a country, or a specific product within the generic product class), google does not generally reward or encourage this by reducing the cost per click.
That is the major failing from where we sit, and hardly reinforces the comments above about Adwords being better at targeting. For niche terms, Overture is generally much lower cost.
Im also guessing that Ov is concerned by this and is one of the reasons behind their Matchdriver. (niche terms with just a few bidders are not good revenue earners for Ov - they want broad terms with hundreds of bidders where the auction system inflates the top bids) The result of course is increasingly broad and not specific results provided by the OV SERPS in partners - which should be concern to partners IMHO.
We like adwords but at these costs per click we are as careful as a porcupine making love.
I have some campaigns that get more traffic from Google and some that get more from Overture - identical kw's with roughly analogous titles, and the same clickthrough pages. I have yet to find a pattern in the numbers, except to say that the Google searcher may in general be looking more for information and the Overture searcher may have a higher percentage of shoppers.
However, now that AOL runs Google ads, that difference isn't as prominent.
But that could just be me and my particular business, because I am also very high on Google for the keywords for my business. And I am not that much of a techie, have to say, so cannot tell which sales come from Google free listings I have, and which come from the ads. But I know Google drives my sales. Of that I have no doubt.
Saw some interesting news/comments on searchengine.watch.com recently that says most searchers skip the paid ads, that searchers have now come to recognize them for paid ads, and go to the regular listings for their searches.
Now that -- should worry a lot of the PPCs.
Also has anyone had any luck with some of the lessor PPC engines such as 7search?
Google AdWords also has a set of disadvantages too -
1) $5 setup fee - non-refundable (ahem!)
2) you got to pay more than $0.05 per click for certain high traffic keywords with AdWords. Some of the keywords have a minimum CPC of $1.00 per click. At Overture, you get fairly decent traffic even if you are not in top 3 at $0.05 per click
I revisited Google a year later, and found that these expensive keywords were somehow related to the original adwords CPM impression model, and they had to keep the keyword prices high to not offend the original adword clients in favor of the new adwords select model (CPC). However I found that I could buy my secondary adwords for a nickel a pop. A real bargain. A 100 clicks a day for $5 dollars a day. Wow !
The original adwords CPM model is being retired on Sept 30. Whe the original program dies, i presume those expensive primary keywords will fall back to a nickel. I will be there a midnight Oct 1 PST to pick up my primary keywords cheap.
Google Adwords Select appears to be mostly devoid of bidding wars. Perhaps the more complicated, interface brings in more intelligent business clients, who know how to calculate ROI, and not get suckered into bidding wars.
Come Oct 1, I may be kissing Overture BYE BYE !.
I hope you are correct, because I get great conversion from my ads there, and so I love Google's Ad Words Select, even though it has a cumbersome interface management system. But I wonder if that will really be the case. I cannot imagine Google will give up charging me the present 40-70 cents a click to go back to say 5 cents or 10 cents or even 30 cents.
Anyone else have thoughts on the quoted opinion?
Yeh and verily welcome: As a newcomer myself I have often been confused and confounded by the use of acronymns (sp?) used by these worthy webmasters on this webmasters world site. The old timers here have gotten so used to communicating with each other, they often do not know: not everyone speaks their language.
IMO (I think, whether it refers to Google or anything else) = "In My Opinion" (IMO). Then there is: IMHO (In my humble opinion).
Don't be embarassed if that seemed easy to decipher. The old timers here use a lot of that type stuff and we newcomers have to figure it out.
And you will also discover: there are posters here from all over the world, so ignore their English language mis-spellings & grammar mistakes, which can get confusing, and get on with the conversation. It can be rich and rewarding. They can offer you great knowledge and up to date information.
I certainly enjoy their knowledge and helpfulness.
Cheers. :)
If enough webmasters were to Create New Campaigns and set their bids at what works for them Google could then do the math.
6 bidders in the 20 cent range is better than 2 in the 50 cent range.
The old formula is fundamentally flawed.
It can set pricing dramatically too high on some KWs while at the same time offer you 5 cent ads on words that cost $1.00+ at Overture.
Will they change it? Prolllllly not. ;)
The high minimun bid for some keywords is due to a formula with the old Adword CPM model which is disappearing on Sept 30.
With the old Adwords model gone, those minimun bids should disappear, or represent the minimun bid of the 8th place adword select advertiser.
Most of my favorite keywords that are high priced under the old model has either 0 or 1 adword advertiser. Google can make more money off of 8 adwords advertiser's than off of one high price one.
I believe their is an insider from Google, in this forum. Maybe he can at least hint on what happens on Oct 1, when the old Adwords program disappear.
I believe there are minimum bids for adwords select. I have tried making my max cpc lower and if I go to low you get a message below your traffic estimator in red that states:
"*** Your maximum cost-per-click is high enough to display your ad in all of the countries you have targeted except those shown above. If you want your ad to reach those countries, please set your maximum CPC to at least the amount indicated."
So if you want your ad to display in all countries you have to have a minimum CPC.
If you do indeed teach, you know there is no such thing as a dumb question. :)
At least I hope that is the way most posters here feel about newcomer questions.
Overture's new bidding procedure has driven up prices (although they have dropped a bit lately). I agree that it appears they are looking for the bigger spenders, not the smaller sites.
We use Overture more as filler at MSN. What's been puzzling is how MSN delivers these results. Sometimes the top 3 are there, sometimes they are not. Sometimes there's one or 2 with a links to "more sponsored results."
Can anyone shed some light on how Overture delivers to MSN? Is there a formula or is it as random as it seems these days?
Thanks.
Caryl
Hopefully Google will let market economics takeover, and not grandfather the old CPM adword keyword prices out of greed.
I will be moving the bulk of my business from Overture to Google, if they get rid of these artificial high price keywords. Then Google will be my favoite PPC engine.
Are you listening Googleguy.
