"Ask Jeeves Not to be Left Behind in Pay Per Click
Race"
by Merle
Published on this site: October 3rd, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
Pay per click advertising is big business online. The two
biggest players are Google Adwords and Yahoo's Search Marketing
(formerly known as Overture, and before that Goto.com). Not
to be left behind, "Ask Jeeves" has burst onto
the scene with its own "Sponsored Listing" program.
See http://sponsoredlistings.ask.com/
Ask Jeeves has always shown sponsored ads on their search
results pages, but they were pulled from Google. Now paid
ads will be come primarily from Jeeves' inventory (followed
up by those from Google).
So what is a sponsored listing? It's basically a small text
ad, consisting of a title, site description, URL and a keyword
or phrase. You are only charged when someone clicks on your ad; not for impressions. It's very
similar to Google's Adwords Program.
If you purchase sponsored listings your ad will not only
appear on Ask Jeeves, but across their network of sites, which
include: My Search, Teoma, Mamma, Info Space, Dogpile, Excite,
CNet, Clear Channel, Motley Fool and a few others.
Sponsored advertising appears at the top of Ask Jeeves' search
results pages, with more ads placed at the bottom; after the
"Natural" listings. Here's an example: say you go
to their search page and you do a search for "marketing
ebooks." On the search results page you would see the
top listings for that phrase. Placement and order of the paid
ads is dependent on click thru rate and the maximum Cost Per
Click (CPC). The CPC is the most you are willing to pay if
someone clicks on your advertisement. Higher bids and more
click thrus equal higher ad placement.
Ask Jeeves does include a "keyword pricing tool"
that displays the cost per click advertisers need to bid in
order to appear in the top 4 positions for any keyword or
phrase. Maximum bid is five cents where there is no reserve
price already set. Minimum budget is $15.00 monthly for every
50 listings in that campaign. You can set up multiple campaigns
under one account and you can set a budget for each one.
Campaigns go live within 1 to 2 hours of setup unless you
specify a specific start and run date, which is optional.If
an end date is set your campaign will stop running on that
date.
With real-time reporting, it's easy for you to keep an eye
on your campaigns and their performance. Like all pay per
click companies, Ask Jeeves has some very specific rules. No unacceptable adult content, no sites depicting
graphic violence or defamatory, offensive material. Nothing
that is illegal in the U.S.
Titles and descriptions must "accurately represent"
the website that they link to. The keywords must also relate
to the website content. This is a given for relevancy. Descriptions may contain up to 70 characters, with
titles capping off at 25 characters. Listings may contain
only one exclamation point with other style usage rules similar
to those of Google's Adwords program.
Advertisers must include their domain name or company name
in the title, description, or URL of the listing. If your
listing contains a certain geographic location it must be
included in your keyphrase (i.e., "Cleveland homes for
sale"). URL's cannot redirect to another website, which
is bad news for those pushing affiliate programs and using third party links.
If you've been using pay per click advertising for any length
of time, most of this is pretty standard fare with no new
real surprises.
Should you advertise with Ask Jeeves? Only you can answer
that. If you're already doing PPC advertising with Google
and Yahoo, you'll need to decide if you want to extend your
reach further, and also if you have the time to manage yet
another pay per click program. Hey, if you're not sure, maybe
you should "Ask Jeeves."
Merle - Want to Know the SECRETS of Article Promotion?
Discover everything you need to know in this brand New Ebook,
"How to Use Articles to Drive Website Traffic".
Get your Free Copy now at http://articleannouncer.mcpromotions.com
|
