'Net Features : pay per click

Five Non-Google PPC Programs

Michael Garrity — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:30:00 GMT

Yes, we get it, Google does everything. Ask an affiliate marketer what they think the best Pay-Per-Click (PPC) program available is and they'll likely say Google AdSense.

Why? Because it's free, easy-to-use and comes with a very popular and proven name attached to it. And while AdSense is a great program, it's also expensive and it's not necessarily for everyone, so what are some of the alternatives out there?

Many other PPC programs offer things like a return on investment (ROI), faster payments and other features that rival or surpass Google's product. But with dozens upon dozens of different options out there, where does an affiliate start to look for the PPC program that is right for them? Well, at Website Magazine, of course!

Without further ado, here are five non-Google AdSense PPC programs to consider:

Bidvertiser
As the name suggests, this is an auction-based PPC program. Payouts with Bidvertiser are based on an advertiser's bid for your ad space, as opposed to things like keyword popularity. This makes it possible for more popular sites to make more money than their unpopular counterparts who use the same keywords. The upside here is that flash, low content or other application-heavy sites that are typically difficult to crawl much easier to monetize.

AdBrite
One of Google's biggest competitors in the field is AdBrite, largely because they accept many sites that Google doesn't, making it the sort of go-to program if you're rejected by AdSense. This PPC and Pay-Per-Impression (PPI) program rakes in over 330 million impressions and operates on approximately 100,000 websites. Members get paid based on how many clicks an ad gets or how many times an ad is viewed. Sites are monetized by AdBrite when the company pulls ads from top brands, keywords, demographics, location and over visitor targeting metrics. It's also free to sign up.

7Search
7Search, though smaller in their reach than Google, has one of, if not the, highest ROI measures in the industry based on their high quality search traffic sources. They provide solid analysis, such as letting you see how many searches were done on each of your keywords in the last month and then comparing those numbers to how many clickthroughs you got and where you're ranked. You can then see what happens if you raise or lower your bid. 7Search provides affiliates with multiple opprotunities to for revenue through their affiliate program such as standard and white label search boxes, Pay-Per-Text, an advertiser referral program, AccessoryAds and XML partnerships with other search engines, portals and directories. They also proudly claim to pay affiliates faster than any other ad network, with those who earn just $25 a month receiving their chekcs in the first ten days of the following month. Having operated since 1999 means that 7Search is a tried and tested network for affiliate marketers.

Ad:Dynamo
This PPC program is said to be the "fastest paying ad network." One leg up that they have over Google AdSense is that they show contextual ads. They also launched a mobile advertising platform earlier this year. The program offers an array of features like geo targeting that allows you to target customers in specific locations, dynamic text insertion into text ads and URLs, the ability to configue an ad to only show to the same unique user only a specific number of times and, perhaps most importantly, conversion tracking that lets you follow leads, acquisitions and sales in real-time to evalute the performance of an ad campaign. Though it's a young program (it started in South Africa in 2009 and went global even later than that), Ad:Dynamo is already considered a serious AdSense competitor by many users and reviewers.

Chitika
As a direct competitor to Google AdSense, Chitika is probably the most well known and highly regarded program on this list, and that is largely because of its proven record of success. Many who use both AdSense and Chitika have reported that they see a higher clickthrough rate with Chitika, though this is largely because the ads are product related, so they greatly outperform Google on niche blogs and sites. They have an interesting 1-tier referral program that allows you to earn 10% of the income generated by publishers that you refer. Their site claims that they are the only network that "knows when not to show an ad," which makes for a positive user experience. The compatibility with AdSense has, ironically, been the biggest boost to Chitika, and makes it a great option for those who are already using Google, but would like to add to it with another program.

What other PPC progams do you use? What do you think should be on this list? Let us know in the comments section below.

Competitive PPC: Keep Your Edge

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:15:00 GMT

Staying competitive for your most sought-after keywords requires diligence, persistence, and a strategic utilization of the tools and reports that are available to you as a pay-per-click (PPC) manager. Improve and preserve the performance of your highly-competitive keywords by following these strategic guidelines. Learn how to optimize your account structure, write targeted and benefit-driven ad text, how to properly utilize match-type options, use negative keywords, diversify with long tail terms and implement the right bidding strategy for your business.

Read Keep Your Edge on Competitive PPC Keywords

Stay up to date on the latest Internet trends:
Request a professional subscription to Website Magazine,
the most popular print publication on Web success.

Spend Less on Pay-Per-Click

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:17:00 GMT

Cutting down on PPC expenditures is at the forefront of SEM discussions these days. By the looks of search marketing agency IMPAQT's newly enhanced Adaptive Bidding tool, marketers will be able to do more with less - a key to surving in today's economic climate for many businesses. In some instances the tool is reducing cost for search-originated acquisitions by nearly 80%. That's the sort of saving that can't be overlooked.

The enhanced version of the tool integrates ‘shocks’ - streams of data from offline data - that could influence suggested bids. When shocks are combined with the history of paid search results, what results is a semi-automated analysis model that provides keyword-level bid recommendations on a daily basis – at an unmatched accuracy.

According to IMPAQT, the longer the system runs, the better it ‘learns’ and the more accurate its bidding suggestions become, according to IMPAQT’s VP of Analytics and Decision Support, Dr. Pat Stroh, whose team created and carried out the proprietary algorithms responsible for the success of the product.

“The upgrade to include shocks adds a level of detail that sharpens the bidding, “ according to IMPAQT’s VP of Analytics and Decision Support, Dr. Pat Stroh. “When shocks are added to a paid Search campaign which has thousands of keywords and millions of data points, it can be extremely meaningful to the outcome.”

StatsJunky for PPC Affiliate Marketers

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:50:00 GMT

Affiliate pay-per-click marketers are some of the hardest working Web professionals on the 'Net. That's why when you come across a tool that might just aid that group in terms of lowering the time they spend managing campaigns and earnings, it's good to give it a little nod of approval.

The problem with the overall existing model is that it requires marketers to log into individual networks, export Excel spreadsheets and merge them into one larger document just to get a partial sense of how campaigns are performing. The problem (clearly) is that once you identify poorly performing campaigns, you've already wasted quite a bit of time and effort as that process isn't nearly in real time. Enter a better way.

Looking for guidance from professional affiliate marketers?
Don't miss the Special July edition of Website Magazine. Become a professional-level subscriber today!

StatsJunky is a handy desktop application that tracks affiliate and PPC stats. A few of the noteworthy features of the software include reports on keyword level profit and loss, the ability to integrate with major PPC networks and hundreds of affiliate networks and provides custom income and expense statistics tracking. If that weren't enough, with SJ Mobile, users can view statistics from any Web-enabled phone.

There is a free seven day trial (and daily training Webinars) of the service and you should consider taking them up on that considering the price for all this convenience - for a six month license (with three bonus months) - is currently offered at $414. That will save you 40% but if you're really sold after the initial seven day trial you could save up to 60% - one time payment of $708 will get you a one-year license (plus six bonus months). This is really a drop in the bucket.

There is an alternative to StatsJunky. AffMeter, a service covered by Website Magazine back in October of 2008, provides much of the same functionality at a fraction of the cost (14.95/mo.).

Google U.S. Trademark Policy Shifts

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:52:00 GMT

Perhaps in response to a recent class action lawsuit that says the sale of trademark keywords is illegal, Google is adjusting its U.S. trademark policy (and bringing its existing policy more in line with the industry standard) to allow some ads to use trademarks in the ad text. Sound like a slippery slope? It is.

Under the old policy, a site that sold several trademark brands may not have been able to highlight the actual brands they sell in ad text. Under the new policy, advertisers can create specific ads for each of the brands that they sell.

Under certain criteria, advertisers can use trademark terms in ad text in the U.S. even if they don't own that trademark or have explicit approval from the trademark owner to use it. This change will help to create more narrowly targeted ad text that highlights a merchant's inventory.

Google is aiming to help advertisers navigate the often treacherous trademark waters by adding new functionality to its Search Based Keyword Tool (google.com/sktool/). Just enter your website URl at the site and if your site contains those brands, you may see a list of brands on the left side of the page. When you click on any of those brands you'll notice a column titled, "Extracted from webpage." Those landing pages may be opportunities for you to show re-sale or informational ads.

PPC Spring Cleaning Tips From YSM

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:56:00 GMT

Yes, the first day of Spring - perhaps that's why we managed to publish one post yesterday. Spring is not just on our minds, though Yahoo has kindly provided a few tips about spring cleaning for your paid search account. It's a great reminder to revisit and perhaps rethink your paid search campaigns at all the PPC providers you use (or perhaps should be using).

Perhaps the best general PPC spring cleaning tip from Yahoo! Search Marketing is related to account structure. Organizing your campaign the same way your website is structured and creating distinct campaigns for each product make it easer to manage and maintain. Advertisers may also want to further organize campaings into ad groups. Doing so makes the ads in each ad group much more relevant, since they only need to support a small number of related keywords.

Some good tips for sure. There are some others related to limiting keywords, ad quality, site relevance and duplicate keywords that are worth a review.

__________

What's One Great Idea Worth?
Upgrade to a professional-level membership from Website Magazine and find out!

Five PPC Ad Tips to Drive Traffic and Maximize ROI

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Localized Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is another Internet marketing strategy that you can use to get your business noticed online, drive targeted traffic to your site, and increase your brand awareness in your community. If you’ve been looking at the advantages of local PPC or have already been experimenting with different ads, these tips will help to maximize your investment and boost your click-through rates!

Local Pay-Per-Click Advertising Tips:

Use keyword research tools – such as WordTracker, Google AdWords, and others and see which industry-specific keywords and phrases are most often used by people looking for things online. This will identify niche opportunities that you can capitalize on. The quality of your keyword research is directly related to how successful your local PPC ad campaign will be!
Choose multiple keywords – and prepare to be flexible. If your preferred keywords are highly competitive and will cost more, use your research and choose other keywords with multiple variations that will still get results but save money.
Include the name of your town or area with the keywords – People are getting better at using local terms in their searches so modify your keyword selection by including the name of your town or area. These will probably be less competitive terms which will allow you to get more results with less money!
Use town or area nicknames with the keywords – This takes the idea presented above and expands it further. Choose keywords which include common nicknames or abbreviations of your city, county, or region.
Test different ad features – Start slowly and experiment with adding images, animations, different ad copy, etc. and track the results. Look for innovative ways that help your ads stand out!

Be prepared to experiment with the look and composition of your PPC ads to see what works and what doesn’t. If a particular ad is underperforming and not getting results, you’ll have the option of shutting it off and trying a new one in its place. Local PPC advertising is all about the response rate and higher rates means higher sales for your business! These tips will save you money, drive more traffic to your site, and make your phone ring off the hook!

About the author: Nick Stamoulis is the President of Brick Marketing who is Website Magazine's “Local Thursdays” weekly contributor.

PPC or SEO? You Tell Us

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:40:00 GMT

Website Magazine will be running an article in the May issue about PPC versus SEO and we the editors would really, really like your input. Take the survey below and if you're up for it, leave a comment - you may just find that you'll see your name in print!

Take the PPC versus SEO survey:
If you were forced to choose between SEO or PPC, which would it be?