Why Google Adwords and Yahoo! Overture are overrated
As Google’s stock price continues to come back to earth (sort of), and the company acknowledges some weakness in revenues, it is a good time to remind Web developers and designers that Google’s AdWords program is a bit overrated. It is important for you to help your clients understand that CPC is not a panacea or silver bullet, but only one part of a marketing campaign.
Here are the problems with CPC advertising (and my major assumption is that you are a savvy businessperson who measures the cost per order and compares it to your unit margin, so you know which marketing tactics are profitable and which are not):
1. For general but very popular search terms, you end up paying so much money that it is hard to break even on your marketing. If you reduce your top bid amount, you may find your key words inactive or rarely show up on Google-sponsored sites.
2. For highly specific search terms, you may find some bargains (or not; some specialized terms command $5 per click minimums). Even so, the clickthrough numbers end up being low and you don’t attract many people to your site. Read the rest of this entry »
