Choosing a PPC Provider
The first part of setting up a PPC campaign is deciding where you want your adverts to appear. At present the top international PPC providers are Google and Yahoo.
Google
Google is the biggest PPC provider, with more than 60% of search page views in Europe. In South Africa, Google is by far the most dominant as it caters for the local market, while Yahoo does not. Its PPC advertising product is called AdWords. There is a once-off activation fee of US$5, after which only clicks need to be paid for. Clicks can cost as little as $0.01, but some highly competitive terms (especially law related) can cost upwards of US$15. These are displayed on the right-hand side or top of the page under the sponsored links section.
Adverts can also appear on the search sites within the Google Network that include AOL, Netscape, EarthLink, AskJeeves, CompuServe, AT&T Worldwide and Shopping.com. Google Adwords also has a content network. Adverts appear on websites that have joined the Adsense program. Some of these sites include About.com, Lycos, The New York Times, The Weather Channel, HowStuffWorks and many more. It should be noted that the ROI on the content network is far lower than the search network.
Google has an online learning centre where anyone can learn the ins and outs of the Google Adwords program. Upon completing the course you can take the Google Advertising Professional exam which is part of the process of becoming a recognised Google PPC specialist.
Yahoo! Search Marketing
Yahoo’s PPC product is called Sponsored Search which enables any advertiser to get listed in the paid search results on search engines like Yahoo!, AltaVista, InfoSpace, AlltheWeb and NetZero. Overture claims to reach more than 80% of UK internet users through its network of web portals and search engines. Although Yahoo! is well known and used in South Africa there is no option of displaying adverts locally and is only of use to advertisers targeting an international market. Setting up an account is free, but an initial deposit of £60 ($30 in the US) is required. Clicks start from £0.10 or US$0.10.
Yahoo provides a contextual advertising product called Content Match which is similar to Google’s. However, the criteria for having Yahoo adverts on a website are far tougher thus giving it more credibility and generally providing advertisers with a better ROI.
Yahoo! bought Overture in October 2003. It operates as a wholly owned subsidiary. Overture has already rebranded to Yahoo! Search Marketing in the US and UK.
To learn more read Yahoo’s Advertiser’s Workbook.
Mirago
Mirago provides up to nine million searches per day in the UK and half a billion worldwide per month. Mirago caters mainly for the UK market, but is growing in Europe.
Its PPC network of sites includes Lycos.co.uk, dogpile.co.uk, shopperuk.com and infospace.co.uk. To open a Mirago account a £25 deposit is required and clicks start from £0.10. Mirago is not as saturated with advertisers like Google and Overture and therefore provides a cheaper alternative albeit with limited traffic.
To learn more visit Mirago’s site.
Miva
Miva handles about 2,000 queries a minute internationally and roughly one billion per month in Europe. Miva does not have a search component. It is a network of partner sites including Eurosport, Lastminute.com, Supanet and Autoexpress.
Its paid-for product is called Pay-Per-Click Ads and it will soon be launching Pay-Per-Call Ads in the UK. For both, advertisers bid on keywords and are listed according to bid price.
Miva offers a range of contextual advertising products.
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