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Pay-Per-Click or PPC is perhaps the most popular
advertising model in the Net today. Its used for general Net advertising
such as banner advertisement as well as in search engine marketing.
Nevertheless, there are other paid advertising models that can deliver high potential customers to any web-site at a cost cheaper than PPC. Let us explore other advertising models and list useful resources. PPC Resources
PPC is ideally suited for web-sites looking
for buyers. Its skillful use can drive quality traffic to any web-site
almost instantaneously. Even with a modest conversion ratio - web-site
owners can recover advertising cost and make decent profit. For
many web-sites, acquiring a client means repeat purchase and consequently
long term business
However, it is also the most expensive type of advertising and perhaps most susceptible to frauds. Here fraud means clicking at ads for earning money. Some Net experts have suggested that click-fraud might be as high as 20 to 25% in PPC model. The two top PPC providers in the world are: The process of advertising in both of them is more or less same (please see earlier article for step by step illustration). While Google attracts more traffic than any other search engine - advantage of Yahoo! is its high profile search partner network that includes heavyweights such as Overture, AlltheWeb, AltaVista, InfoSpace, Dogpile, MetaCrawler, Excite etc. Sponsored search in Yahoo! runs in all these search engines Other not-so-well-known providers of PPC traffic, in alphabetical order, include:
Featured Listing - An Alternative to PPC
Featured Listing model works mostly the same
way as PPC based search engine marketing - except that there is
no fee to be paid per click. That way - it successfully circumvents
the click-fraud menace.
In this model of search engine marketing, advertisers pay a fixed amount per keyword for display of their ad alongside search result. The payment is for a fixed period (say 3 month) during which ad copy will be displayed alongside search result every time someone uses that keyword for search. The most notable example of this model is The Independent Search Engine & Directory Network' (ISEDN) The ISEDN offers a program (powered by ExactSeek.com) that allows you to purchase Top Ten exposure for your website(s) across their network of 200+ member websites. The network consists of search engines, directories, e-zine article publishers, blog searches etc. Ad copy for specific keywords are displayed across the entire ISEDN system. The cost of a keyword (the word or phrase associated with the listing) is $12 for three months or $36 for 12 months. The price gets lower for each additional 5 listings you purchase. If you are buying in volume, discounts can be significant. For example, the cost for 16 to 100 listings is $6 per listing for 3 months and $18 per listing for 12 months. ISEDN is an effective advertising model that is yet to evolve fully. Though the network is large - its traffic volume is much lower compared to industry leaders Yahoo! or Google. The major benefit, of course, is its inexpensive and fraud-proof way of functioning. You can buy lot more bang for your advertising budget than is normally available in AdWords or Overture. Besides, you need not worry about propping your ad with higher CPC every time it falls in rank. Conclusion
So, which advertising model is right for you
? It actually depends upon your business model, click-through averages
and conversion rates. Your advertisement cost should be well below
what you earn from your web-site. You must device ways of measuring
ad effectiveness before selecting any model. What looks impressive
on paper may not work out the same in practice. Hard data on ad
effectiveness helps you select the right model or change an existing
one.
** Brands mentioned above are registered trademarks of respective owners ** AdWords and AdSense are registered trademarks of Google Inc. Happy and Productive Surfing Dr. Amit K Chatterjee Related Links:
Source:
FAIDA - Newsletter on Business Opportunties from India and Abroad
Vol: 6, Issue 31
; May 19' 2006
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