By Jim Hedger
This is a breaking story about Google AdWords based on several rumours, readings and conversations. There is a fair likelihood that some information here is erroneous. In an email, Google Advertising PR Michael Mayzel stated, ?We are not providing comment.? If correct the implications are huge and might provide Google advertisers critical protections they've been asking for.
Google is about to announce significant changes in the way it does business with its advertisers.
As owner of the most successful pay-per-click search business, AdWords, Google wants to continue its dominant role in the sector's accelerating growth phase. Revenues from contextual advertising account for over 90% of Google's annual income and are the bedrock their stock values are staked on.
Having read a growing number of articles and blog-posts describing poor experiences with AdWords over the past six months, Google has grown concerned about the publics' confidence in the AdWords/AdSense model. Reports of increasing click-fraud and decreasing ROIs have advertisers looking for other options and competitors are emerging from all directions.
Starting this week, Google appears to be taking steps to radically improve their relationship with their clients by offering advertisers more control over their AdWords campaigns.
While most of the world thought it was away skiing in Lake Tahoe, Google rented a large conference hall in San Francisco and treated 1800 of its sales staff to a day long seminar detailing changes to the AdWords advertising environment.
According to the Silicone Valley Watcher blog Google is about to give advertisers and SEMs who have achieved Google Advertising Professional certification a lot more control over their AdWords accounts. Sometime soon, Google is going to announce the release of an application-programming interface (API) that will allow advertisers or their third-party representatives control over the delivery, timing, geographic distribution and costs of AdWords advertising.
This move comes at a time when Google is facing increasingly stiff competition from well-known rivals Overture and Kanoodle and new arrivals, AOL and MSN. AskJeeves and Lycos also present growing challenges to Google?s dominance of the PPC sector in North America while eSpotting continues to offer European alternatives.
Google is hoping that by offering advertisers a greater sense of control over the costs of campaigns and contextual delivery options, they will retain current advertisers and win back the loyalty of advertisers experimenting with competing systems. Allowing advertisers the ability to effect where and when an ad appears, gives them the ability (and responsibility) to limit the damage from click-fraud. If the number of click-throughs from a geographic area suddenly increases without a sudden increase in sales, the advertiser can simply remove that geographic location from their campaign targets. One of the sub-rumours making the rounds says Google will allow advertisers to automate their interactions with the API.
Giving this level of control to advertisers will require a new set of reporting tools that should make it much easier to determine the micro-effectiveness of AdWords campaigns. After fears of click-fraud, advertisers noted a lack of account management and reporting as their biggest problem with the AdWords program. Better reporting tools that offer a strict accounting of monies spent and strong estimates of monies needed should alleviate many of those concerns.
Allowing advertisers to determine the size, scope and distribution of their campaigns could provide the tonic Google needs to successfully revamp its most successful offering. Not being known to do smart things in halves, there is an expectation Google will now set to work out kinks in its relationships with AdSense distribution partners.
วันศุกร์ที่ 26 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2550
Search Engine APIs: Right for You?
By Kevin Lee, The ClickZ Network
Similarities between financial marketplaces and pay-per-click (PPC) auction markets increased with the recent release of Google's AdWords API. Just as not all investors require access to day-trading systems or programmed trading tools, not all search engine marketers require direct access to the search engines.
With Google's API (define), all major engines with PPC programs now have XML/formatted data methods for bid and campaign management. These data feeds are used by tool vendors and technology providers, as well as by clients who feel the need to interact directly with the engines. Google's API is technically still in beta, though selected firms worked with earlier versions and shaped the features and functions in the current beta. As with most Google products, the API is likely to evolve based on user feedback.
Google isn't the only firm with an active API. Overture has had an API as part of its Advertiser Web Services for quite some time. It recently broadened access to the Advertiser Web Services/DTC-XML interface to agencies.
How do these APIs affect you? If you're a mega marketer, you might want to explore direct access to the feeds. Building, managing, and maintaining multiple XML feeds for the search engines is no small task, based on my personal experience. When evaluating direct connections to the engines, don't ask, "Do I want to manage bids?" Ask instead, "What would I do differently with full access, if I had it?" Third-party bid management and campaign management services may have the ability to provide what you need while amortizing the costs associated with maintaining automated connections with the engines across many clients.
As an interesting aside, the introduction and expansion of automated systems may result in higher volatility in the marketplaces (primarily in an upward direction). Programmed trading was blamed for the October 1987 stock market crash. The marketplace's volatility was exacerbated by automation. We'll see if the API makes Google as volatile as Overture or if the unpredictability of one's AdRank acts to dampen volatility.
Before looking at a build-versus-buy decision, consider the following:
Your business rules set. Having access to the back end of Google or Overture is useless if you don't know what your goals and objectives are nor how those objectives can be coded into a flexible system that uses feedback to make adjustments and changes in the engines.
Campaign size. The more keywords a campaign contains, the more likely you'll need some kind of automated management, whether direct or through campaign management technology.
Spend level. Human resource and technology costs essentially add to marketing costs, just as an external solution would. Don't ignore internal costs.
Keyword listing volatility. Regardless of whether you build or buy, volatility must be accounted for in your algorithm.
Pareto distribution of keyword listings. How are your keywords distributed based on a Pareto analysis (the 80/20 rule)? Do you treat all keywords with the same rule set?
In-house vs. outsourced capabilities. Compare existing campaign management solutions with the costs of building your own system. Don't only consider costs, however. You're in a real-time marketplace; if an existing system will help you make better decisions or can make them faster, an inferior in-house solution may cost thousands of dollars per day.
Quotas. For Google, will your quota be enough, or should you be in a third-party system where quotas are pooled? By pooling quotas across many clients, services can level out the spikes and troughs in any one client and keep transactions flowing.
Evolving marketplace. Will your team stay in the know? The search engine marketing (SEM) landscape changes all the time. New strategies and tactics are tested and proven. Will your team be able to adapt your system to reflect this ever-changing marketplace?
Risk of employee defection. This risk is real whenever you have too much process and expertise in-house. Marketers are dramatically affected by the loss of key SEM team members. With a current supply-demand skew (more jobs than SEM experts and coders), this is a serious risk. You may find yourself hiring two heads for every position to hedge your bets.
Core competency. Is the development of an automated campaign management system your core competency? Companies rarely build their own inventory management systems, accounting packages, or CRM (define) platforms. Internal systems in the cases above are often created to interoperate and data-share with external platforms. Consider that option.
It's great the engines recognize that when billions of dollars a year flow through an auction marketplace, automated control APIs are a necessity, as they are on Wall Street. But like Wall Street, technology alone won't make you a millionaire. The right strategy, information, calculations, timing, and knowledge combine with technology to create winners.
Consider your SEM campaign as a system with many parts, both technological and human. When all the parts work together optimally, you have a killer campaign; when they don't, the campaign can fail. In SEM, being in the wrong position with the wrong title and description on the wrong landing page can be disastrous, particularly when the competition's overall campaign is humming smoothly.
Similarities between financial marketplaces and pay-per-click (PPC) auction markets increased with the recent release of Google's AdWords API. Just as not all investors require access to day-trading systems or programmed trading tools, not all search engine marketers require direct access to the search engines.
With Google's API (define), all major engines with PPC programs now have XML/formatted data methods for bid and campaign management. These data feeds are used by tool vendors and technology providers, as well as by clients who feel the need to interact directly with the engines. Google's API is technically still in beta, though selected firms worked with earlier versions and shaped the features and functions in the current beta. As with most Google products, the API is likely to evolve based on user feedback.
Google isn't the only firm with an active API. Overture has had an API as part of its Advertiser Web Services for quite some time. It recently broadened access to the Advertiser Web Services/DTC-XML interface to agencies.
How do these APIs affect you? If you're a mega marketer, you might want to explore direct access to the feeds. Building, managing, and maintaining multiple XML feeds for the search engines is no small task, based on my personal experience. When evaluating direct connections to the engines, don't ask, "Do I want to manage bids?" Ask instead, "What would I do differently with full access, if I had it?" Third-party bid management and campaign management services may have the ability to provide what you need while amortizing the costs associated with maintaining automated connections with the engines across many clients.
As an interesting aside, the introduction and expansion of automated systems may result in higher volatility in the marketplaces (primarily in an upward direction). Programmed trading was blamed for the October 1987 stock market crash. The marketplace's volatility was exacerbated by automation. We'll see if the API makes Google as volatile as Overture or if the unpredictability of one's AdRank acts to dampen volatility.
Before looking at a build-versus-buy decision, consider the following:
Your business rules set. Having access to the back end of Google or Overture is useless if you don't know what your goals and objectives are nor how those objectives can be coded into a flexible system that uses feedback to make adjustments and changes in the engines.
Campaign size. The more keywords a campaign contains, the more likely you'll need some kind of automated management, whether direct or through campaign management technology.
Spend level. Human resource and technology costs essentially add to marketing costs, just as an external solution would. Don't ignore internal costs.
Keyword listing volatility. Regardless of whether you build or buy, volatility must be accounted for in your algorithm.
Pareto distribution of keyword listings. How are your keywords distributed based on a Pareto analysis (the 80/20 rule)? Do you treat all keywords with the same rule set?
In-house vs. outsourced capabilities. Compare existing campaign management solutions with the costs of building your own system. Don't only consider costs, however. You're in a real-time marketplace; if an existing system will help you make better decisions or can make them faster, an inferior in-house solution may cost thousands of dollars per day.
Quotas. For Google, will your quota be enough, or should you be in a third-party system where quotas are pooled? By pooling quotas across many clients, services can level out the spikes and troughs in any one client and keep transactions flowing.
Evolving marketplace. Will your team stay in the know? The search engine marketing (SEM) landscape changes all the time. New strategies and tactics are tested and proven. Will your team be able to adapt your system to reflect this ever-changing marketplace?
Risk of employee defection. This risk is real whenever you have too much process and expertise in-house. Marketers are dramatically affected by the loss of key SEM team members. With a current supply-demand skew (more jobs than SEM experts and coders), this is a serious risk. You may find yourself hiring two heads for every position to hedge your bets.
Core competency. Is the development of an automated campaign management system your core competency? Companies rarely build their own inventory management systems, accounting packages, or CRM (define) platforms. Internal systems in the cases above are often created to interoperate and data-share with external platforms. Consider that option.
It's great the engines recognize that when billions of dollars a year flow through an auction marketplace, automated control APIs are a necessity, as they are on Wall Street. But like Wall Street, technology alone won't make you a millionaire. The right strategy, information, calculations, timing, and knowledge combine with technology to create winners.
Consider your SEM campaign as a system with many parts, both technological and human. When all the parts work together optimally, you have a killer campaign; when they don't, the campaign can fail. In SEM, being in the wrong position with the wrong title and description on the wrong landing page can be disastrous, particularly when the competition's overall campaign is humming smoothly.
Beginner's Guide to Pay Per Click Search Engines (Part 2)
By Kalena Jordan
In Part 1 of this article, we looked at the various pay for performance advertising models offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing. In this article, we will look at the remaining pay for performance search engine models on our list, starting with Google AdWords.
Google AdWords?
Similar to Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Google AdWords gives web site owners the ability to promote their site when particular keyword or key phrase searches are conducted at Google and their partner sites.
Your ads usually appear on the right side of results pages in a ?call out? box under the heading ?Sponsored Links?. Your AdWords text or image ads appear on search result pages for the keywords you buy, and can be targeted by language and country.
With Google AdWords' cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, you pay only when a customer clicks on your ad, regardless of how many times it's shown. Google adjusts your bids automatically to keep you ahead of your competition at the lowest possible price. Google Adwords results appear on Google search results pages, Google?s distribution partner sites, Google Gmail, and numerous content sites which are syndicated through the Google Adsense program.
For more information on Google AdWords, Click Here.
Google AdSense?
Google AdSense is a way for webmasters to generate income from their sites by displaying text or image advertisements from companies participating in the Google AdWords program.
You can display targeted advertising for your content pages or you can add a Google search box to your site and show targeted ads on search results pages. When visitors click on these ads, Google pays you a fee. The ads are targeted to the content already on your page so they are not as intrusive to your visitors.
For more information on Google AdSense, Click Here.
LookSmart LookListings?
The LookSmart Directory originally offered a Paid Submission model and then transformed it into a Pay For Performance model, removing their Express Submit directory submission service and receiving a lot of criticism in the process.
To have your site included in LookSmart.com, you must pay a per click fee when visitors click on your listing, similar to the Yahoo! Search Submit Express model. The "relevancy keywords", title and description chosen during the set up of your listing determine when your site appears for searches. There is no free submission option to Looksmart and the only way to get your site into their directory is to either pay for their LookListings or submit your site via the Zeal directory, which is only an option available to non-profit sites.
LookSmart LookListings work like this:
1) Create Your Listing which includes:
- site description & title
- relevancy keywords (for keyword targeted listings)
- directory category
2) Set Your Monthly Budget:
- set your maximum monthly budget
- set your maximum click rates for each URL (for keyword targeted listings)
- your account is debited USD 0.15 per click (for inclusion-targeted listings)
- minimum account deposit totaling your maximum monthly budget
- each campaign has a minimum monthly budget of USD 15
3) Account Management - traffic reporting
- automatic monthly account refills (from your nominated credit card)
- adjust your budget
- update description, title and relevancy keywords
- bids monitored automatically (for keyword targeted listings)
LookListings appear on sites across the LookSmart Network including LookSmart, Lycos, Mamma.com and CNET Search.
For more information on LookSmart LookListings.
Other Pay-Per-Click Providers
Apart from the big players, there are a large number of other medium-sized search providers selling pay-per-click search advertising. These include:
In Part 1 of this article, we looked at the various pay for performance advertising models offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing. In this article, we will look at the remaining pay for performance search engine models on our list, starting with Google AdWords.
Google AdWords?
Similar to Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Google AdWords gives web site owners the ability to promote their site when particular keyword or key phrase searches are conducted at Google and their partner sites.
Your ads usually appear on the right side of results pages in a ?call out? box under the heading ?Sponsored Links?. Your AdWords text or image ads appear on search result pages for the keywords you buy, and can be targeted by language and country.
With Google AdWords' cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, you pay only when a customer clicks on your ad, regardless of how many times it's shown. Google adjusts your bids automatically to keep you ahead of your competition at the lowest possible price. Google Adwords results appear on Google search results pages, Google?s distribution partner sites, Google Gmail, and numerous content sites which are syndicated through the Google Adsense program.
For more information on Google AdWords, Click Here.
Google AdSense?
Google AdSense is a way for webmasters to generate income from their sites by displaying text or image advertisements from companies participating in the Google AdWords program.
You can display targeted advertising for your content pages or you can add a Google search box to your site and show targeted ads on search results pages. When visitors click on these ads, Google pays you a fee. The ads are targeted to the content already on your page so they are not as intrusive to your visitors.
For more information on Google AdSense, Click Here.
LookSmart LookListings?
The LookSmart Directory originally offered a Paid Submission model and then transformed it into a Pay For Performance model, removing their Express Submit directory submission service and receiving a lot of criticism in the process.
To have your site included in LookSmart.com, you must pay a per click fee when visitors click on your listing, similar to the Yahoo! Search Submit Express model. The "relevancy keywords", title and description chosen during the set up of your listing determine when your site appears for searches. There is no free submission option to Looksmart and the only way to get your site into their directory is to either pay for their LookListings or submit your site via the Zeal directory, which is only an option available to non-profit sites.
LookSmart LookListings work like this:
1) Create Your Listing which includes:
- site description & title
- relevancy keywords (for keyword targeted listings)
- directory category
2) Set Your Monthly Budget:
- set your maximum monthly budget
- set your maximum click rates for each URL (for keyword targeted listings)
- your account is debited USD 0.15 per click (for inclusion-targeted listings)
- minimum account deposit totaling your maximum monthly budget
- each campaign has a minimum monthly budget of USD 15
3) Account Management - traffic reporting
- automatic monthly account refills (from your nominated credit card)
- adjust your budget
- update description, title and relevancy keywords
- bids monitored automatically (for keyword targeted listings)
LookListings appear on sites across the LookSmart Network including LookSmart, Lycos, Mamma.com and CNET Search.
For more information on LookSmart LookListings.
Other Pay-Per-Click Providers
Apart from the big players, there are a large number of other medium-sized search providers selling pay-per-click search advertising. These include:
FindWhat
Enhance (formerly ah-ha)
Kanoodle
Espotting
7Search
GoClick
ePilot.com
Lycos Insite AdBuyer
Mirago
Search123
Of course there are hundreds more PPC engines, many of which can be found via the sites listed in our Further Reading section below.
Don?t be afraid to set-up some test pay per click campaigns to dip your toes into the paid advertising waters. You don?t have to have a large budget to reap rewards, just a willingness to experiment and apply what you learn to improve your campaigns. What you do with all your extra traffic is up to you!
Further Reading
Pay Per Click Search Engines (CPC / PPC)
Pay Per Click Search Engines on Pandia
Pay Per Click Search Engines on Search Engine Guide
PayPerClickSearchEngines.com
Buying Your Way In: Search Engine Advertising Chart
Pay Per Click Analyst
Pay Per Click Guide
Beginner's Guide to Pay Per Click Search Engines (Part 1)
Pay per click (PPC) advertising via search engines has become extremely popular with businesses of all sizes, due to the booming search market and the massive growth in online sales over the past few years.
According to ComScore Networks online consumer spending for the 2004/5 financial year is expected to top USD 66 billion dollars, up 25% on the previous year. That?s right, 66 BILLION dollars! A large chunk of that expenditure will come from leads generated via pay per click search engines.
If you?ve been thinking about trying out PPC engines but are confused about the different models available and the costs involved, this article will shed some light. I will also explain the newly launched PPC products offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly operating under the Overture brand).
Below is a current list of the most popular pay for performance search engine advertising models:
Yahoo! Sponsored Search ? Pay Per Click
Yahoo! Content Match ? Pay Per Click
Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search ? Pay Per Click
Yahoo! Search Submit Express - Paid Inclusion
Yahoo! Search Submit Pro - Hybrid Paid Inclusion / Pay Per Click
Google AdWords - Pay Per Click
Google AdSense ? Pay Per Click affiliate program
Looksmart LookListings - Pay Per Click
You will find that some of these will provide better results than others. I?m not going to recommend one over another here because results vary widely and really depend on your site content, your market and your budget. But below is a brief description of each product offering and the minimum cost involved.
Yahoo! Sponsored Search?
Yahoo! Sponsored Search is the new name for what was recently called Overture Precision Match. Sponsored Search prominently displays your business in search results on some of the top U.S. search properties.
With Sponsored Search, you set the price you're willing to pay for each customer who clicks on your listing.
If you create a keyword campaign and your bid buys their "premium listings" (top 3 positions) for particular keywords or search phrases, your bid buys you top listings on Yahoo's partner sites (Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, InfoSpace, Excite, AllTheWeb and a range of news and content portals, such as CNN).
For example, go to AllTheWeb and type in a search for ?used cars?. Take note of the top 3 spots. Now go to MSN Search and type in a search for ?used cars?. You'll see that the "Sponsored Sites" listings in the green box at the top (and/or the text ads to the right) contain the same top 3 listings from AllTheWeb. The regular MSN directory listings follow underneath the green box. So basically, purchasing PPC listings on Yahoo! can give you top billing on other major search engines too.
For a monthly fee, listings can be automatically monitored using the Yahoo! Search Optimizer to ensure bid amounts are consistent to attain target positions without going over budget. Volume levels are determined by your budget, as you only pay for the traffic delivered.
How much you pay depends on the keyword or phrase you are bidding on and what position you want to purchase. Each account has a USD20 minimum monthly spend and a USD30 non-refundable initial deposit is required to open the account (which is applied to click-throughs). There is a minimum bid requirement of USD 0.10 per click through and you pay the bid price EACH TIME somebody clicks your ad from Yahoo! and their partner listings.
With the large traffic numbers driven to your site via Yahoo! Sponsored Search, the costs of keyword bid campaigns can quickly add up, so I highly recommend deciding on a total budget so that you can develop a cost effective keyword bid allocation and maintenance plan combining both premium (top 3) and other listings.
Yahoo! provides detailed reporting tools to help you track the performance of the PPC campaign and traffic generated. Yahoo! also offers a special Keyword Selector Tool to assist in the selection of your keywords, a View Bids Tool, where you can see the current maximum bids and listings for the top 3 advertisers on any search term, a PPC ROI Calculator and a CPM ROI Calculator.
Yahoo! offers two sign-up plans, Fast Track? or Self Serve, giving you the choice of expert assistance or starting out on your own. With Fast Track?, Yahoo! experts research your website and recommend effective search terms based on the content of your site and Yahoo!'s editorial guidelines. They also create customized ad titles and descriptions based on those search terms. Fast Track? has a one time service fee of USD199, while Self Serve is free.
For more information on Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Click Here.
Yahoo! Content Match?
Content Match works on the same principle Yahoo! Sponsored Search, but offers advertisers access to more targeted customers on a pay-per-click basis by displaying their site listings alongside related articles, product reviews and other information on the Content Match partner network.
This network includes sites like Yahoo!, MSN.com, CNN.com and ESPN.com. Yahoo! Content Match complements Sponsored Search? while offering separate pricing.
Yahoo! Content Match? works like this:
1) When you sign up for Sponsored Search, your Yahoo! account will be set up to automatically receive Content Match traffic, and your listings are automatically re-purposed for Content Match.
2) When a web user goes to a Yahoo! and views content pages (such as articles), Yahoo! provides one or more relevant ad listings on the same page.
3) Users may also be targeted based on their interests and actions. For example, a user who demonstrates an interest in photography-related topics on one site may be provided with photography-related Content Match listings on that site or on other Content Match publisher sites such as CNN and ESPN.
4) Minimum bids start at USD 0.10, and you pay only when a user clicks on your listing.
5) You can manage and track the performance of your Content Match listings from the "Manage Content Match" pages in your Sponsored Search Account once you have completed the Sponsored Search advertiser sign-up process.
6) Separate campaign management, including bidding, ad listing and tracking, lets you adjust your bids and measure performance independent of Sponsored Search to achieve maximum ROI.
7) You can control your advertising spend across your Content Match campaigns with Yahoo!'s Budgeting feature.
For more information on Yahoo! Content Match, Click Here.
Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search?
Yahoo! also offers a regionally-focused pay-per-click advertising option. Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search? enables both online and offline businesses to potentially increase sales by precisely targeting customers in a specific geographic region.
Local Sponsored Search works best for businesses that are targeting customers in their neighborhood seeking to purchase local products and services via a web site or physical store location.
Local Sponsored Search features a Locator page, which provides prospects with information about your business, including address, phone number, store hours and a map of your location. In addition, if your business has a Web site, your main Web page will be displayed along with the Locator page.
Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search? works like this:
1) You select keywords you wish to bid on that best describe your business, products or services. Write listings and choose a geographic range (0.5 to 100 mile radius around your location) from which you want to draw customers.
2) When a customer interested in your area goes to a search site such as Yahoo! and searches for a product or service you sell, your listing appears.
3) When the customer clicks on your listing, they see your Locator page and a link to your Web site, if you have a site.
4) Just like your Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search? listing, you only pay your bidded amount when a customer clicks on your listing and there is no monthly minimum.
For more information on Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search?, Click Here.
Yahoo Search Submit Express?
Through Search Submit Express you can submit one or more web pages for consideration to appear in the algorithmic search results powered by the Yahoo! search engine. This is what is known in the search industry as a paid inclusion model.
Search Submit Express offers a single point of submission for your web pages into Yahoo!, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, and other search portals.
If you have content that has just changed or is updated frequently (such as pricing information or product items), Search Submit Express ensures the most up-to-date content is available to search users by refreshing your URLs every 48 hours.
The program provides detailed reporting and data designed to help you improve your pages, optimize program performance and generate more leads.
Search Submit Express works like this:
1) Submit your URLs for review and pay an annual fee for quality review of your submitted pages. Make sure your pages follow Yahoo?s Quality Guidelines.
2) Once reviewed and accepted into the program, your pages are added to a database of sites that powers search results for major web portals such as Yahoo!, Alta Vista, AlltheWeb and others.
3) Submitted URLs are presented in search results based on relevance to search terms.
4) When a user clicks your Search Submit Express listing in search results, you pay a cost-per-click fee for that lead. You must maintain a positive balance in your account for your pages to remain active in the program.
5) Your URLs are refreshed (re-crawled) every 48 hours to ensure that the most up-to-date content is available to search users.
6) At the end of one year, you can renew your annual subscription or let it lapse.
Submissions to Search Submit Express consist of a review fee and a CPC (Cost per click) component. Billing, reporting and account management for Search Submit Express listings is provided by Yahoo! or one of their reseller partners.
Search Submit Express annual review fees consist of:
Price Structure (effective 30 April 05)
Price per domain (USD):
1st URL $49.00 each
URLs 2-10 $29.00 each
URLs 11-1,000 $10.00 each
In addition to the review fee, there is also a per click fee of either $0.15 or $0.30, depending on the category of the content. The complete list of categories is listed here.
For more information on Search Submit Express, Click Here.
Yahoo Search Submit Pro?
Yahoo! Search Submit Pro is the same paid inclusion program as Search Submit Express, but with more features for larger advertisers. Search Submit Pro is designed for companies wanting to submit Web pages that might otherwise be excluded from algorithmic search results (as long as they still meet Yahoo?s Content Quality Guidelines). Examples include sites that require cookies or session IDs, sites with Flash content and information stored in content management systems, or sites that aren't well crawled because of Web site design.
Search Submit Pro is typically for customers with search marketing budgets of USD 5,000 per month or more, or advertisers who submit more than 1,000 Web pages to the program. A dedicated account manager is available to answer any questions, provide technical support, and help you manage your Search Submit Pro program.
Search Submit Pro lets you create titles and descriptions that are displayed as algorithmic search result listings. The program can automatically generate result listings that best match user queries. You can update the information frequently, independent of changes to your Web site.
Search Submit Pro works like this:
1) You provide an XML feed of your URLs.
2) Once reviewed and accepted into the program, your pages are added to a database of sites that powers search results for major web portals such as Yahoo!, Alta Vista, AlltheWeb and others.
3) When Internet users visit the Search Submit Pro partner sites and enter keyword searches, your listings may appear within the search results based on their relevance to the user's search request.
4) Your URLs are refreshed (re-crawled) every 48 hours to ensure that the most up-to-date content is available to search users.
Pricing for Search Submit Pro is based on cost per click - customers are charged each time a user clicks on one of the customer's search listings. The specific cost is based on the type and category of content provided for inclusion in the algorithmic search results and is obtainable from a Yahoo! Account Manager.
For more information on Search Submit Pro, Click Here.
In Part 2 of this article, we will look at the remaining pay for performance search engine models on our list, starting with Google AdWords.
Google Serves Up "Starter Edition" of AdWords
By Jennifer Laycock
Small Business Owners that have been shying away from running a pay-per-click campaign on Google AdWords because they are afraid of making a mistake in setting up their campaigns may wish to rethink their avoidance. Google AdWords is now offering a streamlined "starter edition" of their AdWords setup that's designed to make it easier for new PPC advertisers to get a small campaign up and running in record time.
When new advertisers in some regions (so far it appears to be just the U.S.) login to create an AdWords account, they are given the option of signing up via the "starter edition" or the "standard edition." The standard edition accounts pretty much make up the traditional AdWords environment, it's the starter edition that gives a quick and easy option to new advertisers.
Why Starter Edition is a Good Thing
I've heard time and time again from small business owners that pay per click marketing is simply too confusing, too expensive and too difficult for them to dive in to. While they are right to be cautious, most fail to realize that they don't have to take advantage of every single offering in the AdWords program when they first sign-up. Starter Edition is based off this premise.
Advertisers are able to setup a simple campaign on a sign-up form that consists of a single page. The targeting options are limited, as is control over fine details of the campaign, but it is a quick and easy way for new advertisers to take the system for a test drive. Overall, setting up a campaign can be done in just five steps.
1.) Select an ad location and language - Advertisers will need to select where they want their ad to run...The United States, the UK, etc... They also need to select their language of choice, English for most advertisers, but other languages are also an option. Note, advertisers are limited to a single location and a single language.
2.) Write a single ad - Advertisers will only be able to run one ad for campaigns set up through the Starter Edition interface. They'll need to create a headline and two lines of brief ad copy.
3.) Choosing keywords - Advertisers can decide which keywords they wish to add to their campaign. It is important to note that the same CPC and ad text apply to all keywords in campaigns setup through the Starter Edition.
4.) Choose a Currency - Pretty simple...if you're American, you're going to select dollars, if you're British, you'll pick pounds and so on.
5.) Set a Monthly Budget - Advertisers need to plug in the maximum amount that they are willing to spend each month. Google will shut down a campaign once this amount has been spent.
From there, it's simply a matter of completing the account form, entering payment information and watching your ads start running. There's no dealing with groups, multiple variations of ad copy, individual bids, landing pages, etc...
Why Starter Edition Isn't a Great Thing
I'm not going to say that the option is a bad thing, because it's obviously an option that's been a long-time coming for the small business market. On the other hand, the danger of an offering like this is that it's all the more likely that an advertiser will setup a program, get poor results and then decide that pay per click advertising "doesn't work."
Because the Starter Edition lacks the option to fine tune accounts with things like individual landing pages, individual keyword bids and multiple combinations of ad text, it would be very difficult to setup anything but a very narrow campaign while actually creating a strong return on investment.
In other words, small business owners will need to view Starter Edition as what it is...a starting point. Advertisers can upgrade their accounts to the standard system at any time, thus turning on more advanced targeting and management options. Ultimately, that should be the entire point. Advertisers that are wary of setting up a new campaign should use the Starter Edition interface to get going and then once they are comfortable, should take the plunge into the full version so that they can expand and fine tune their campaigns.
Small Business Owners that have been shying away from running a pay-per-click campaign on Google AdWords because they are afraid of making a mistake in setting up their campaigns may wish to rethink their avoidance. Google AdWords is now offering a streamlined "starter edition" of their AdWords setup that's designed to make it easier for new PPC advertisers to get a small campaign up and running in record time.
When new advertisers in some regions (so far it appears to be just the U.S.) login to create an AdWords account, they are given the option of signing up via the "starter edition" or the "standard edition." The standard edition accounts pretty much make up the traditional AdWords environment, it's the starter edition that gives a quick and easy option to new advertisers.
Why Starter Edition is a Good Thing
I've heard time and time again from small business owners that pay per click marketing is simply too confusing, too expensive and too difficult for them to dive in to. While they are right to be cautious, most fail to realize that they don't have to take advantage of every single offering in the AdWords program when they first sign-up. Starter Edition is based off this premise.
Advertisers are able to setup a simple campaign on a sign-up form that consists of a single page. The targeting options are limited, as is control over fine details of the campaign, but it is a quick and easy way for new advertisers to take the system for a test drive. Overall, setting up a campaign can be done in just five steps.
1.) Select an ad location and language - Advertisers will need to select where they want their ad to run...The United States, the UK, etc... They also need to select their language of choice, English for most advertisers, but other languages are also an option. Note, advertisers are limited to a single location and a single language.
2.) Write a single ad - Advertisers will only be able to run one ad for campaigns set up through the Starter Edition interface. They'll need to create a headline and two lines of brief ad copy.
3.) Choosing keywords - Advertisers can decide which keywords they wish to add to their campaign. It is important to note that the same CPC and ad text apply to all keywords in campaigns setup through the Starter Edition.
4.) Choose a Currency - Pretty simple...if you're American, you're going to select dollars, if you're British, you'll pick pounds and so on.
5.) Set a Monthly Budget - Advertisers need to plug in the maximum amount that they are willing to spend each month. Google will shut down a campaign once this amount has been spent.
From there, it's simply a matter of completing the account form, entering payment information and watching your ads start running. There's no dealing with groups, multiple variations of ad copy, individual bids, landing pages, etc...
Why Starter Edition Isn't a Great Thing
I'm not going to say that the option is a bad thing, because it's obviously an option that's been a long-time coming for the small business market. On the other hand, the danger of an offering like this is that it's all the more likely that an advertiser will setup a program, get poor results and then decide that pay per click advertising "doesn't work."
Because the Starter Edition lacks the option to fine tune accounts with things like individual landing pages, individual keyword bids and multiple combinations of ad text, it would be very difficult to setup anything but a very narrow campaign while actually creating a strong return on investment.
In other words, small business owners will need to view Starter Edition as what it is...a starting point. Advertisers can upgrade their accounts to the standard system at any time, thus turning on more advanced targeting and management options. Ultimately, that should be the entire point. Advertisers that are wary of setting up a new campaign should use the Starter Edition interface to get going and then once they are comfortable, should take the plunge into the full version so that they can expand and fine tune their campaigns.
More information on the Starter Edition option is available in the Starter Edition FAQ and a comparison of features offered on Starter and Standard is available in the Google AdWords Help Center.
Discuss this article in the Small Business Ideas forum.
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