Paying to much

Big Companies Paying To Much

[DeCal]

Has anybody else noticed that alot of large compaines are paying way to much on ppc just to get a high ranking. Is this down there in-house people or are agencies trying to earn themselves more money. I've been involved in PPC for a while now and i feel there are much more cost effective ways to get customers, number 1 position isn't always the best!

Dean

[gsx]

No 1 is not the best for clickthroughs to purchases - but it is one of the best for branding as it is the one most likely to be read.

[DeCal]

I agree but i feel that some of the compaines are being ripped off by agencies. Maybe Overture and Google Ad words will soon bring in guidelines for agents. It somehow doesn't seem fair.

Dean

[petertdavis]

Why exactly would they want to discourage agencies from bidding high for their customers' keywords?

[Mardi_Gras]

Maybe Overture and Google Ad words will soon bring in guidelines for agents.

And tell me again why Overture would want to drive down bid prices? :)

[webdiversity]

No 1 is not the best for clickthroughs to purchases

There are obvious instances of this being true, but plenty others where it isn't.

Guidelines for agents will not work.

I agree that a lot of large companies handle keywords very poorly, but whether it is an agency, or the client themselves, not many people will confess to that, there are also those large clients that have got an arrangement with the PPC provider directly, so no 3rd party involvement exists.

The scope of the contract will be different in every clients case. I personally think prescriptive guidelines will only make matters more cloudy than they probably need to be.

In the UK Overture are introducing an accreditation scheme, sort of like a seal of approval. It won't mean if a company doesn't have it you can't use them, it's just that if a company does have it that they have shown Overture UK enough evidence that they act within the remit of the rules, in the best interest of the clients, with a willingness to adhere to a set of "best practises".

It's not too prescriptive, it's not them telling us how to run our business or how to price our services, there can be some very valid reasons why we keep a client either high or low, which we won't go into here, suffice to say that on the bidding aside we have seen some seriously bad campaigns, which is good news for the David's of this world because Goliath can often be beat, without a big budget.

[DeCal]

I've noticed that people for example are bidding £1 for a No. 1 keyword and number 2 is bidding £0.20, i could then come in as a new company at £0.99 and force Number 1 position to pay the full £1 as oppose to just paying £0.21. However, if i had gone in in the first place at £0.21 i would still be number 1 and the new company to come in would maybe only have bidded £0.22.
I know it sounds abit crazy but so many companies could save money this way, for example, search on overture for online casino, £18 something for number 1 and number 8 is only £0.40 for example, its completley crazy, does anyone agree?

Dean

[DeCal]

I agree that no way would overture or google want bids lower, obviously they would lose money but at whos expense? The company! Thats the point i'm trying to make. I'm not saying that overture or google are wrong, maybe the company thats throwing their money away or agencies that are charging more for a higher commision?

Maybe its just my view that its not fair on the companies but i think there is definatley something that could be done to make people, mainly the companies that are advertising more aware how PPC works!

Dean

[Mardi_Gras]

DeCal - while I share your frustration with people who don't understand how to bid (and the mom and pops in my business are just as guilty as the big boys) I don't think it is anything we can do much about - aside from venting here occasionally :)

[DeCal]

I agree, i just wondered what other people thought about the subject!

Thanks People!

Dean