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SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)ARTICLES
"Learn How to Instantly Make Your Web Site
URL Appear
on the FIRST PAGE of Search Results in Google"
Each month in our "Secrets To Their Success"
private members' web site, we interview e-business
people who are making fantastic profits with their
online businesses. We ask them for the details of
how they've come to be so successful -- what exactly
their secrets are, what tools they've used, etc.
And we find out some interesting things...
A number of these people have recently reported
having great success with Google AdWords Select:
https://adwords.google.com/select/?hl=en
In fact, in one of the interviews we did last month,
our interviewee told us he is generating an average
of 13,000 UNIQUE VISITORS PER DAY by having keyword
listings on both Google AdWords and Overture: http://www.overture.com
Google AdWords Select is the pay-per-click side
of the search engine giant we all know as Google.
Just a few months old, Google AdWords Select is
an offshoot of its cost-per- impression sister Google
AdWords, which has been available for a little longer.
An ad placed with Google AdWords Select shows up
in a colored box on the right side of the Google
search results page, combining free (editorial)
content with paid advertising. It's another form
of pay-per-click advertising that, done right, has
proven to effectively generate traffic.
The ads are extremely high in visibility, set off
from the main text in Google's familiar pages that
attract OVER 20 MILLION UNIQUE VISITORS PER MONTH.
Your URL can appear on the first page of search
results without all the hassles of search engine
submission and optimization... and you don't pay
unless viewers click!
Sound like the ideal advertising set-up? Well, it's
been very profitable for some... But let's have
a look at what exactly Google AdWords Select offers,
how it differs from competing sites in its industry,
and how you can use it to your benefit.
Because Overture has dominated the pay-per-click
industry almost unrivaled until now, I'll use it
as a point of comparison to examine the merits of
Google AdWords Select.
The main difference between the two programs is
the way in which their ads are listed -- Google's
are highlighted alongside the regular Google search
results, and Overture's appear AS regular search
results. However, there are five other points of
difference that are very important to understand...
============
1. PRICING
============
The pricing structures for each are very different:
When you sign up for Overture, you must pay a $50
deposit that is applied to your monthly click-throughs
and your monthly "spend" (you must spend
a minimum of $20 per month in click-throughs; if
you don't, the money will be subtracted from your
deposit). The minimum bid amount is 5 cents.
In Google AdWords Select, you must pay a $5 non-refundable
fee that is not put toward your click-through fees.
There is no monthly minimum to pay. The minimum
bid is said to be 5 cents, but this is not the case
for all keywords -- in fact, bidding on popular
keywords tends to be more expensive here.
================================
2. BIDDING YOUR WAY TO THE TOP
================================
If you want to bid on the term "baseball bats"
in Overture, you could run a query in their "View
Bids" tool, which you'll find at: http://www.overture.com/d/USm/adcenter/tools/index.jhtml
Using this tool, you can determine that (at the
time of writing) the number-one position has a maximum
bid of $1.17 per click. You'd have to beat that
bid to get the coveted position.
In Google AdWords, there is no "View Bids"
or equivalent tool; you don't have any access to
the amounts other advertisers are bidding. What
you can do is fiddle with the numbers in the "Traffic
Estimator Tool" (which you'll find when you
go to set up your ad) to find out how much you'll
have to pay to get a top position with your keyword.
By testing different amounts in the Traffic Estimator,
we found that the minimum bids changed according
to the popularity of each keyword.
A minimum bid for the keywords "baseball bats"
in Google AdWords Select requires (at the time of
writing) $0.40 per click and ranks your ad fifth.
This is the same as the bid for the number-five
position in Overture. But to attain the number-one
position in Google AdWords Select, you'll have to
cough up a hefty $2.60 per click, while the ace
spot in Overture goes for a maximum bid of $1.17.
===============================
3. KEEPING YOUR BID COSTS LOW
===============================
When Google AdWords Select first came out, it got
an edge on its competition by creating the "AdWords
Discounter." This tool automatically keeps
your bid one penny ahead of the competition, up
to your stated maximum amount, thereby accomplishing
two very important tasks:
- It keeps you from having to monitor your
bids and your competition all day every day,
and
- If your next closest competitor lowers his
or her bid, your bid will automatically be lowered
to only a penny over the lesser amount.
This prevents "bid gaps," which occur
when a wide margin exists between one bid and the
next lowest bid, causing the higher bidder to spend
unnecessary money.
Since then, Overture has taken the hint and has
implemented a similar tool, referred to as its "Auto
Bidding" tool. Be careful, however, to make
sure you sign up for this service in Overture --
it does not happen automatically, and you may be
caught paying much more than you need to!
Allow me to illustrate: In our search on "baseball
bats," the top bid was, as mentioned, $1.17.
The next highest bid, however, was $0.65! That means
the unfortunate soul in the fortunate position of
being number one could be SAVING 52 CENTS PER CLICK!
...And if this calculation is taken into consideration,
and if we drop the number-one listing's bid amount
to $0.66 cents (all it needs to be), it means that
the number-one spot in Google AdWords Select costs
four times more than in Overture for this particular
keyword.
I know that sounds expensive, but Google's approach
to advertising could mean an excellent return on
investment on your ad (depending on your ad, of
course!) -- so although you pay more, you could
profit more as well. NOTE: If you're not sure how
much is too much to bid on the keywords you want,
take a look at issue 54 of our newsletter, where
we discuss how to determine the dollar value of
your customers -- if you bid over this amount, you
could end up losing money. Go to
http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletter/issue54/index.html
The only way to really determine both the value
and the volume of your traffic from your Overture
ad as compared to your Google AdWords Select ad
is by tracking your advertising.
Each program will allow you to assign a tracking
URL to your ad -- a URL that contains a special
identifier so that you can tell which ad is pulling
the most response from where and ensure that it
is generating enough revenue to be worth the cost
of advertising.
Google AdWords Select makes it very easy to create
a tracking URL when you initially set up your account.
In Overture it's not quite as easy, but they'll
tell you what to do at: http://www.overture.com/d/USm/learning/track_howb.jhtml
Your viewers won't see this URL -- they'll click
on your web site link and be redirected through
your tracking ID.
We personally track all of our advertising with
our affiliate software, AssocTRAC -- http://www.marketingtips.com/assoctrac
It's the easiest and most effective way we've found
to keep an eye on our ads and ensure that they're
turning the profit we expect.
=====================
4. LISTING POSITION
=====================
Your listing position is more than just a matter
of catching viewers' attention -- in both Overture
and Google AdWords Select, a top-three listing can
dramatically increase the exposure of your ad.
Overture's massive reach is enabled not only by
its well-known name, but also by its partnerships
with:
- Yahoo
- Ask Jeeves
- InfoSpace
- MSN
- AltaVista
- Netscape
But Google AdWords is no shrinking violet either;
its partners include:
- America Online
- Earthlink
- Sympatico/Lycos
Your ad is guaranteed listings on all partners'
sites only if it appears in the top three listings
for your search term. So how do you achieve this
position?
In Overture, the process is simple: the more you
pay, the better your listing. If you outbid all
the other people competing for your keywords, you'll
attain a top listing in the pages of search results.
Simple as that.
In Google AdWords Select, the listing process is
very different, and is unique in the pay-per-click
industry. First of all, Google AdWords ads are listed
at the top right of Google's search result pages.
This means that your ad shows up in a prominent
position alongside (but set apart from) Google's
editorial (unpaid) listings.
Secondly, and most surprisingly, your ranking is
determined both by how much you bid AND by how many
click-throughs your ad generates. The more you bid,
the better your chances of attaining a top ranking
are -- but if your ad doesn't perform, it just slides
on down the rankings.
Google's argument for this kind of approach is that
ads that perform are (obviously) of more interest
to viewers, so this kind of system creates the best
quality results for users. Google also maintains
that performance-based placement keeps competitors
from getting locked out of top positions by those
with more money to spend.
But the problem with Google's payment-plus-popularity
placement system is that it can be very difficult
to figure out exactly where your ad will appear.
And if you're paying the top price for the top listing
but not actually getting the top position on Google's
results page, you'll not only be a little disgruntled
-- you'll also have to do some work on your ad to
try to get the response you're aiming for.
======================
5. CHOOSING KEYWORDS
======================
Back to keywords -- but let's take a step back from
bidding on them and talk about the process of choosing
them in the first place...
Both Overture and Google AdWords supply tools to
help you determine which keywords would be best
for you to use. However, Overture provides a much
more extensive and useful range of tools.
Google's "AdWords Keyword Suggestion Tool"
does give you a list of synonyms and similar phrases
for your keyword. For example, when I punched in
"Baseball Bats" I got a list of 20 related
terms.
However, when I entered "Baseball Bats"
into Overture's "Search Term Suggestion Tool,"
I got a list of 99 related terms, PLUS how many
times each of those terms has been searched in the
last month.
Flip over to the "View Bids" tool to determine
how much is being bid on these terms, and your bidding
strategy is underway.
But if you want to get a good pay-per-click listing
on Google, there's no reason why you can't use Overture
to get a feel for which terms are most searched,
and which are available at low cost (you can do
this free and without committing to anything with
Overture), then use these terms to create your ad
in Google AdWords Select.
Or, better yet, use the more comprehensive tools
offered by WordTracker: http://www.marketingtips.com/wordtracker
The free version will give you search numbers and
bidding amounts from AltaVista, while the paid version
compiles results from the top 24 search engines,
directories, and pay-per-click engines, including
Google.
This is the best way to find those overlooked keywords
and misspellings that your competition hasn't noticed...
and that you can capitalize on at a very low cost.
=================
FINAL THOUGHTS:
=================
The success experienced by our Secrets To Their
Success interviewees -- http://www.secretstotheirsuccess.com
-- who used Google AdWords Select is a good indicator
of what you can do with this somewhat elusive form
of pay-per-click advertising.
Google has a very good reputation and is widely
used as a search tool with quality (unpaid) listings,
and you just can't miss the "sponsored links"
listed down the right column of the page.
It is perhaps this degree of visibility that has
made such a difference to those advertisers who
have generated a great response with Google AdWords
Select.
And now that you know how to use Google AdWords
Select to achieve the best results possible, you
can start getting in on some of Google's masses
of traffic. To maximize the performance of your
ad, make sure to...
- Choose the keywords you bid on very carefully.
Try to choose keywords that are frequently searched
by your target market but that are not being bid
on by as many of your competitors.
- Write an effective ad (see issue 65 of our newsletter
at http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletter/issue65/index.html
for tips on how to make the best use of the space
you have).
- Monitor your bid position. Whenever possible,
make sure you rank in the top 3 listings as this
will get your ad the highest exposure.
- Track your results and make adjustments and improvements
based on what you learn.
Learning the search engine game is a trying and
time consuming lesson, and a start-up e-business
may not have the time or the resources to undertake
the arduous task of getting a good ranking.
But if you can choose your keywords carefully and
find the most attractive bid amounts available,
you can bid your way to the top of the search results
pages without blowing your budget.
----------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Corey Rudl is the owner of four
highly
successful online businesses that attract more than
6
million visitors and generate over $5.2 million
each year.
He is also the author of the #1 best-selling Internet
Marketing course online.
To check out his site that's JAM-PACKED WITH THE
EXACT
INFORMATION YOU NEED to start, build, and grow your
very
own profitable Internet business, I highly recommend
visiting http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html
This guy really knows what he's talking about!
----------------------------------------------------
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