Goto Policy

[keeley]

"Beginning February 15, 2001, if your account is taken offline because its balance has been exhausted, you must make a deposit equal to at least 3 days worth of click charges (based on your account's most recent activity) in order to reactivate your account. This policy applies to deposits made via DirecTraffic Center® and to phone deposits made through our Client Services team.

Please note: It can take up to 24 hours for an account to be reactivated."

I don't like this new policy. I actually like to let my balance run to zero for a night every now and then...just to shake down the bids.

[Mike_Mackin]

Hi keeley and Welcome to WmW

>just to shake down the bids.

I'm not sure that I understand your meaning.

[keeley]

If all my bids disappear for a few hours, my competition will tend to knock down their bids a few penies. (assuming we've been battling for position all day) Upon adding funds to my account, I usually hold top positions for 'tie bids' or can quickly snatch up good positions at lower costs.

[Mike_Mackin]

ahhhhh

Then you fight hour by hour PPC wars.
Interesting idea.

[keeley]

> Then you fight hour by hour PPC wars.

Yes...I have nightmares. This part-time hobby has turned into an almost fulltime job.

[CyberSpaced]

Hour by hour PPC battles? I find my bi-daily checks an annoying habit, but are you looking at changing a single position in a day or being wiped off the face of the map? I find my bids don't change much more than a position in a single day, and if I re-work my bids on a new word, I'll gain back than space soon enough...

It would seem that your shake-down stradegy will only lead to a giant rise in your over-all cost per click. Why not re-target a couple of bids and try new traffic sources?

As a secondary question to this, does anybody honestly fight for #1? I fight for #3, #5, #10, #15, and #20... I have a couple #1's, but they're all 1 cent bids... Why fight for #1 when #3 is visible in the same area is how I see it. Or am I wrong?

[yanton]

GoTo have also today raised the minimum start up for a new account to $50 instead of $25.

[redzone]

Keeley,
That email you get when your account is exhausted is very mis-leading. And intentionally worded that way! If you read very closely, you will notice words like "suggest".. :)

Goto is trying to imply that you need 3 day's worth of deposit, but is not "really" requiring it...

They've been using this email wording for quite some time though (couple of months at least)....

So, if you want to hold on to your money, just deposit daily.... :)

[redzone]

Keeley,
Apologies! I now see what you are referring to.. We had never let our account balance completely hit $0.00 over the last couple of weeks, and I got the "rude" awakening today..

Goto explains their move as a system problem, in that advertisers would set up a new account with $50.00 and bid on a huge number of very broad keywords, knowing that Goto would keep delivering traffic for awhile after the account hit zero...