Bakedwheat Web Enterprises » Vertical Search

27 PPC Services You Should Be Considering

John — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:53:26 +0000

This week I’ve been driving home the point that if you are advertising with pay-per-click, you need to be diversifying your efforts across multiple PPC search engines and networks. Remember such classics as “Different people use different search engines” from Tuesday? Or how about “Lower CPC and increase ROI” from Wednesday? Whatever the reason, the truth is there are a lot of great PPC options out there. I’ve listed many of the major PPC search engines and networks here sorted by category. This is by no means meant to be an all inclusive list, but something of a starter list!

General Search Engines

PPC Ad Networks

B2B PPC

Business.com

Local PPC

Job Search PPC (traditional PPC and feed-based CPC job listings)

Shopping (feed-based CPC product listings)

PPC Grab Bag of Niche Verticals

…And there are hundreds more. Like I said, this is just a starter list! If you don’t see a PPC service that caters to your industry, don’t fret. I have a suggestion. Head on over to Google and enter a search query like “advertise my-industry-goes-here” or “my-industry-goes-here PPC” – you’ll be amazed at what you’ll find!

Photo courtesy of Danard Vincente at Flickr.

Is there a PPC search engine or network that you feel belongs on this list? Leave a comment and let me know!

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4 Reasons You Should Diversify Your PPC Advertising Reach Today: Part 2

John — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:02:16 +0000

Opening minds to the wider world of pay-per-click advertising – that’s my lofty goal this week! Yes, I’m talking to those advertisers out there who equate “PPC search engine” with “Google AdWords.” On the surface, this is correct, but it is a dangerously short-sighted view of the world. Tunnel vision if you will. Yesterday I kicked things off by talking about how different people use different search engines and why you need to diversify your PPC into vertical search to remain competitive. Today I’ll dive head-first into why PPC diversification could mean low CPCs and higher ROI, followed closely by a big picture view regarding search engine market share.

3. Potentially Lower CPC and Increase ROI

Of all the benefits to expanding your PPC advertising beyond Google AdWords (and even Yahoo! and Bing), the one that stands to make you smile this most is this: Google naturally has a tremendous amount of advertiser competition which has increased bid prices and ultimately the cost-per-click (CPC) achieved. CPC increases and in some cases, ROI decreases. BUT… Yahoo!, Bing (via adCenter) and especially niche search engines have the potential to provide relevant traffic at a much lower CPC.

Cheaper traffic translates into decrease cost-per-conversion and increased ROI (assuming a constant conversion rate, but that’s a conversation for another day!). When you combine a reduced CPC with the use of a highly specialized vertical PPC search engine, it’s a match made in heaven. Todd Mintz discussed this very same thought process in an article titled “PPC Is Rocket Science“:

Clearly, AdWords is the largest, most important PPC advertising network, but folks sometimes get so fixated on AdWords that they fail to consider using Yahoo & Bing, making those networks relative bargains for advertisers. In almost every campaign in many different verticals that I’ve worked with, the Cost Per Conversion for Yahoo is less than it is for AdWords.

4. Prepare for Potential Shifts in Search Market Share

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard of the new deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft. In short, it’s a 10-year deal that will combine the 2 companies’ search technology (well, dissolve most of Yahoo!’s) to compete with Google. This isn’t new, per say. Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo! outright in 2008. Google and Yahoo! drafted an agreement later in ‘08 to share AdWords ads on the Yahoo! search engine. Neither of these deals went through, but you get the picture.

What I’m driving at here is that while Google is the undisputed #1 in search and PPC, this may not be the picture in the near future. Microsoft’s re-branded and well advertised Bing engine is actually gaining in market share. That is big news! If you are only advertising on Google AdWords, you could be losing clicks and conversions to Bing. Whereas if you were devoting time and money to targeting customers across Google, Yahoo! and Bing – you would be prepared to react to that type of change by shifting budgets and management time between campaigns.

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Thus endeth part 2. The whole point of this blog posting marathon is to broaden your PPC horizons. It is important to your advertising success to know that there are opportunities, big-potential opportunities, lying beyond Google AdWords! There’s one more day left in this PPC diversification series. Check back in tomorrow when I’ll be posting a mega-list of PPC search engines sorted by category/vertical.

Photo courtesy of Tommy Ellis via Flickr.

Have a question or think I’m full of it? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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4 Reasons You Should Diversify Your PPC Advertising Reach Today: Part 1

John — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:27:09 +0000

I’ve been in the PPC biz for a few years now and still find myself amazed at the rampant amount of tunnel vision amongst pay-per-click advertisers. What do I mean by tunnel vision? On one hand, this is the inability to see PPC opportunities beyond Google AdWords as the PPC search engine of choice. As is more often the case, I’ve found that this tunnel vision applies to seeing past “the big 3″ to find potential ROI goldmines in vertical search with a niche search engine. Over the next few days I plan to share with you 4 reasons you should diversify your PPC reach, concluding with a hefty list of PPC search engines by category. So without further ado, let’s get into the first 2 points:

1. Different People Use Different Search Engines

Different strokes for different folks, as some might say. This is officially the obvious statement of the day. But it’s true! Not everyone uses Google. And dare I say it, the entire US population (and especially international searchers) aren’t 100% accounted for between Google, Yahoo! and Bing/MSN either. Yes, Google has dominant market share. But when you’re talking about millions of monthly searches, there are plenty – I repeat – plenty of opportunities for finding PPC success with other PPC search engines.

Aside from the obvious, there is a fundamental driving force behind the idea of diversification in PPC: user intent. When the user types in their search query, what are they really looking for? Do customers come to Google to find products/services like yours? Or does their intent take them someplace else due to niche specialization?

An easy example of this is for ecommerce advertisers. Sure, there are a tremendous amount of product based searches, and yes, people buy products when they search on Google, Yahoo! and Bing. But you know what? There are also a tremendous amount of sales happening on shopping search engines like Yahoo! Shopping (separate from primary site), PriceGrabber and Shopzilla – to name but a few. Those sites have a special focus, they cater to a niche. Because of that simple fact, there will be potentially less advertiser competition and the individuals who search on those sites are already in the mode of buying (user intent, remember?). You can apply this to any niche/vertical you like from B2B, job search to finance, etc..

2. Remain Competitive in Your Market

I think I can best explain this point through story telling. Imagine Advertiser A, a purveyor of fine women’s shoes. He has been advertising on Google AdWords for a few years and knows that he’s getting a great ROI. However, something is nagging at his sole (misspelled on purpose): his arch enemy, Advertiser B, always seems to be posting better profits and claims that it’s all from PPC. Advertiser B has campaigns at the main PPC search engines Google, Yahoo! and Bing. And a few months back he also submitted product feeds of his stock of women’s shoes to Yahoo! Shopping, PriceGrabber and Shopzilla and began bidding. All of this remains a mystery to Advertiser A who is suffering from extreme AdWords-tunnel-vision.

The point of this silly story is that if you assume your competition is only as smart as you, there’s a damn good chance you’re in trouble. Make it a point to know on which PPC search engines your competition is advertising and stand up and meet the challenge by advertising there yourself. Otherwise you might as well be giving them a free pass to Club Med. On the other hand, you yourself may be like Advertiser B. You already have diversified your PPC reach and are laughing cynically at the sad-excuse of a PPC campaign Advertiser A is putting up. Don’t let your holier-than-though attitude push you to laziness. New vertical search engines and advertising opportunities pop up all the time – so keep actively looking for other ways to reach your potential customers. Do that, and you may always stay one step ahead of poor-old Advertiser A.

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Alright, 2 reasons down. I know you’ve been waiting for it – the moral of the story is, “don’t put all of your eggs into one basket.” All joking aside, hopefully you’re starting to see the light as those proverbial PPC blinders begin sliding off your face. Duh – different people use different search engines, right? Actionable item: open a Yahoo! and Bing/adCenter account. Better yet, research your niche and find a relevant PPC search engine and give it a test run. And don’t let your competition get the upper hand. Keep an eye on their PPC activities and ensure that you remain competitive by diversifying your PPC reach!

Check back in tomorrow when I’ll discuss the next 2 reasons for diversifying your PPC: lower CPCs; higher ROI and be flexible for the changing search landscape. Of course, I’ll wrap all of this up on Thursday with a sweet list of niche/vertical search engines listed by category.

(photo courtesy of Librarian Avenger)

Have a question or think I’m full of it? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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