- Choose a pay
per click search engine
- Pick a list
of keywords or market segments by keywords
- Select a PPC
budget. What are the costs?
Click here to find out more about our
process for pay per click management and how we can maximize you advertising
return on investment.
1. Choosing a pay per click (PPC) search
engine.
There are two main pay per click search engine players today. Overture
has traffic of 200 million searches per month reaching 80% of all Web users. Overture's
pay per click listings appear on Yahoo,
AltaVista,
Lycos
, InfoSpace, and MSN.
A smaller alternative agent would be LookSmart reaching 77% of U.S. Web users.
LookSmart's listings appear on About.com,
AltaVista, Excite, Netscape,
InfoSpace, CNet, and Inktomi.
Google
the most popular Search Engine on the Web, with 200 million searches per day,
has recently entered the pay per click mix with a program called AdWords.
AdWords is certainly a program to be considered when weighing your pay per
click options. It is slightly different than a true pay
per click Program in that page advertised listings are ranked based on a daily
spending budget and received click throughs not just simply on bid amounts. More
on Google Adwords.
2. Picking a list of
keywords or market segments by keywords
Choose an appropriate list of keywords to target your market. Choosing the
right keywords is key to the success of your pay per click initiative. Both Overture
and Google have tools to help you pick a list or keywords to bid on.
Although there are many successes and/or case studies sited on pay per click
search engines like Overture and Google, there also have been many failures that
we do not hear about. Many of these failures can be attributed to the lack of
strategy or planning when initiating a PPC marketing program. It’s almost like
reading a book on basketball and trying to play it for the first time. There is
more than just knowledge that contributes to the success of any initiative; experience
can make or break a campaign. Make sure to a consult an expert in this matter
because a search engine expert can get you better, cheaper and faster results.
3. Select a pay per click
(PPC) budget
Many of the pay per click search engines allow you to manage budgets based
on a set dollar amount or by daily or monthly limitations. Choose the PPC budget
management tool which best suits your needs.
Once your set budget has been exhausted then the campaign will be halted. If
you have chosen a budget management tool based on daily or monthly budget limits,
then your campaign may re-initiated automatically. Whatever the management tools
you have chosen the pay per click search engines do keep in very good contact
with you to help manage your program.
What Are The Costs?
Each pay per click search engine has a different rate scale, but in general,
these are the kind of charges that you should expect to pay for set up and throughout
the course of your contracted program.
a. Listing Set Up Fee*
This ranges based on the level of customer service needed from the agent. Plans
start at as low as $5 (Google's AdWords), $49 (LookSmart self serve level) to
$199 (Overture's fast track plan).
b. Account Deposit*
This amount also depends on the pay per click search engine. Sometimes the
deposit is refundable and sometimes it is not. The deposit amounts ranged from
$45 to $50 for LookSmart and Overture respectively.
c. Minimum Per Click Charge
Each pay per click search engine sets their own figure for the minimum charge
per click. Overture has a minimum click charge of $.10. LookSmart has a minimum
charge of $.15. Google AdWords is set by an average cost per impression rate (more
on this in resource area).
c. Bid Amount by Keyword
Popular keywords usually have a higher bid amount and will require a premium
fee to rank in the top position within your category. If you are not top bidder,
your listing will appear in the order of your bid on the results page, with the
highest bidder at the top.
d. Minimum Monthly Charge*
Each agent has their own minimum monthly spending amount. Overture has a minimum
monthly spend of $20 and LookSmart has a minimum of $15. Google has no minimum
for their AdWords Program. You will pay the minimum monthly spend even if you
have not had enough click throughs to cover this figure.
* rates for pay per click search engines may change without
notice
Please feel free to read on about and find out how Salient Marketing can make a
difference in your pay-per-click campaign or increasing lead generation
through the web:
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