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List Building Part 2: Google AdWords, Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Microsoft adCenter, placement targeting and Pay Per Click
Rick Henkin
In part 2 of this series we'll examine the following list building methods: Google AdWords, Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Microsoft adCenter, placement targeting and Pay Per Click. These methods are not presented in any order of importance. Google AdWordsWith Google AdWords , you create your own ads that appear along side the regular search engine results when someone searches using keywords that you've already identified to Google that you want to be associated with. The more specific your keywords, the more targeted your audience. In this example, I've searched for the keywords "Radio Flyer Wagon." The Google AdWords are highlighted in yellow on the right.
Two great things about Google AdWords: 1) your sponsored links are every bit as relevant as the regular search results and 2) you don't pay Google when it displays your ad, only when someone clicks on your ad. It's a good choice when you don't have a lot of money to spend on advertising. You determine your daily budget and the maximum you're willing to pay for each click. However, if you have competition for those keywords, Google will place the advertisements on the page in the order of highest to lowest amounts bid. Google also offers contextual targeting which "automatically targets your ads to the most relevant sites and page placements based on a given page's content and your chosen keywords." This feature places your ads beyond those just found on the search engine results pages. Yahoo! Sponsored SearchYahoo! Sponsored Search works in much the same way as Google AdWords. First, you choose your keywords. Next you create your ad which consists of a headline, 2 lines of text and your url. Then, you decide how much you want to spend on advertising. Again, you only pay for the those who click through to your website. Like Google AdWords, Yahoo! Sponsored Search offers ad testing, where you can try different headlines and copy to see which gives you the best results. They both offer keyword suggestions and reports detailing the number of clicks and conversions you're receiving. You are also able to do demographic targeting which allows you to choose either a local or national audience and times of day to display your ads. Microsoft adCenterMicrosoft adCenter offers search advertising on Microsoft Live Search. It works similarly to both Google AdWords and Yahoo! Sponsored Search with respect to choosing keywords, writing your ad and then choosing the amount you want to spend. It also offers keyword researching, reporting, conversion tracking and even free online training toward the Microsoft adExcellence accreditation exam. The online training includes classes on "Targeting," "Tracking Ad Performance" and "Optimizing Ad Performance." Site Targeting or Placement TargetingBoth Google and Microsoft offer this capability among the websites within their own networks: Google placement targeting lets AdWords advertisers choose where in the Google content network they'd like to see their ads displayed. If you're selling swim suits, you can place your ad on a particular website or specific portion of a website or only the sports pages of a news website. The Google network is comprised of websites and other products such as email programs and blogs that have partnered with Google. Microsoft adCenter content advertising allows you to place your your search ads on high traffic editorial pages. It matches content-targeted ads with relevant web pages on major Microsoft-owned websites such as MSN Money, MSN Entertainment and FOX sports as well as on partner websites. Their technology presumably analyzes the content on a web page, determines the meaning of the text and then searches for ads tagged with keywords that match the content. Pay per click (PPC)PPC is an advertising model consisting of two basic variations: 1) a flat rate in which the advertiser and publisher (usually a website owner) agree on a fixed amount that will be paid for each click or 2) a bid-based rate which is usually employed by search engines as noted above with Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. Content sites such as blogs, membership sites and other sites not based primarily on the sale of products, are more likely to use the flat rate model. The rate is determined by the potential value (usually determined by revenue) of each visitor that clicks through to the advertiser's website. The bid-based model is more likely to be used with search engines and advertising networks and based on keyword phrases. ARTICLE DATE: 2009-04-13 REVISED DATE: Share this Article as a Tweet on Twitter
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