Beginner’s Guide to Pay Per Click
Search Engines (Part 1)
By Kalena Jordan - Published May 5, 2005

Pay per click (PPC) advertising via search engines has become extremely
popular with businesses of all sizes, due to the booming search market
and the massive growth in online sales over the past few years. 

According to ComScore Networks http://www.comscore.com/, online 
consumer
spending for the 2004/5 financial year is expected to top USD 66 
billion
dollars, up 25% on the previous year. That’s right, 66 BILLION dollars!
A large chunk of that expenditure will come from leads generated via 
pay
per click search engines.

If you’ve been thinking about trying out PPC engines but are confused
about the different models available and the costs involved, this
article will shed some light. I will also explain the newly launched 
PPC
products offered by Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly operating under
the Overture brand).

Below is a current list of the most popular pay for performance search
engine advertising models:

•	Yahoo! Sponsored Search – Pay Per Click
•	Yahoo! Content Match – Pay Per Click
•	Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search – Pay Per Click
•	Yahoo! Search Submit Express - Paid Inclusion
•	Yahoo! Search Submit Pro - Hybrid Paid Inclusion / Pay Per Click
•	Google AdWords - Pay Per Click
•	Google AdSense – Pay Per Click affiliate program
•	Looksmart LookListings - Pay Per Click


You will find that some of these will provide better results than
others. I’m not going to recommend one over another here because 
results
vary widely and really depend on your site content, your market and 
your
budget. But below is a brief description of each product offering and
the minimum cost involved.


Yahoo! Sponsored Search™

Yahoo! Sponsored Search is the new name for what was recently called
Overture Precision Match. Sponsored Search prominently displays your
business in search results on some of the top U.S. search properties. 

With Sponsored Search, you set the price you're willing to pay for each
customer who clicks on your listing.

If you create a keyword campaign and your bid buys their "premium
listings" (top 3 positions) for particular keywords or search phrases,
your bid buys you top listings on Yahoo's partner sites
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/srch_affnw.php?mkt=us  (Yahoo,
MSN, AltaVista, InfoSpace, Excite, AllTheWeb and a range of news and
content portals, such as CNN). 

For example, go to AllTheWeb at http://www.alltheweb.com and type in a
search for “used cars”. Take note of the top 3 spots. Now go to MSN
Search at http://search.msn.com/ and type in a search for “used cars”.
You'll see that the "Sponsored Sites" listings in the green box at the
top (and/or the text ads to the right) contain the same top 3 listings
from AllTheWeb. The regular MSN directory listings follow underneath 
the
green box. So basically, purchasing PPC listings on Yahoo! can give you
top billing on other major search engines too. 

For a monthly fee, listings can be automatically monitored using the
Yahoo! Search Optimizer
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/mt/so.php?tile=1 to ensure bid
amountsare consistent to attain target positions without going over
budget.Volume levels are determined by your budget, as you only
 pay for the traffic delivered. 

How much you pay depends on the keyword or phrase you are bidding on 
and
what position you want to purchase. Each account has a USD20 minimum
monthly spend and a USD30 non-refundable initial deposit is required to
open the account (which is applied to click-throughs). There is a
minimum bid requirement of USD 0.10 per click through and you pay the
bid price EACH TIME somebody clicks your ad from Yahoo! and their
partner listings.   

With the large traffic numbers driven to your site via Yahoo! Sponsored
Search, the costs of keyword bid campaigns can quickly add up, so I
highly recommend deciding on a total budget so that you can develop a
cost effective keyword bid allocation and maintenance plan combining
both premium (top 3) and other listings. 

Yahoo! provides detailed reporting tools to help you track the
performance of the PPC campaign and traffic generated. Yahoo! also
offers a special Keyword Selector Tool
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ to assist 
in
the selection of your keywords, a View Bids Tool
http://uv.bidtool.overture.com/d/search/tools/bidtool/, where you can
see the current maximum bids and listings for the top 3 advertisers on
any search term, a PPC ROI Calculator
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch/tools/roic.php and a CPM ROI
Calculator http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch/tools/roasc.php. 

Yahoo! offers two sign-up plans, Fast Track™
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/choose.php? or Self Serve, giving
you the choice of expert assistance or starting out on your own. With
Fast Track™, Yahoo! experts research your website and recommend
effective search terms based on the content of your site and Yahoo!'s
editorial guidelines. They also create customized ad titles and
descriptions based on those search terms. Fast Track™ has a one time
service fee of USD199, while Self Serve is free.

For more information on Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Click Here:
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/index.php. 


Yahoo! Content Match™

Content Match works on the same principle Yahoo! Sponsored Search, but
offers advertisers access to more targeted customers on a pay-per-click
basis by displaying their site listings alongside related articles,
product reviews and other information on the Content Match partner
network. 

This network includes sites like Yahoo!, MSN.com, CNN.com and ESPN.com.
Yahoo! Content Match complements Sponsored Search™ while offering
separate pricing.

Yahoo! Content Match™ works like this:

1)	When you sign up for Sponsored Search, your Yahoo! account
will be set up to automatically receive Content Match traffic, and your
listings are automatically re-purposed for Content Match.

2)	When a web user goes to a Yahoo! and views content pages
(such as articles), Yahoo! provides one or more relevant ad listings on the
same page.

3)	Users may also be targeted based on their interests and actions.
For example, a user who demonstrates an interest in photography-related
topics on one site may be provided with photography-related Content
Match listings on that site or on other Content Match publisher sites
such as CNN and ESPN. 

4)	Minimum bids start at USD 0.10, and you pay only when a user
clicks on your listing. 

5)	You can manage and track the performance of your
 Content Match listings from the "Manage Content Match" pages in your
 Sponsored SearchAccount once you have completed the Sponsored
Search advertiser sign-up process.

6)	Separate campaign management, including bidding, ad listing and
tracking, lets you adjust your bids and measure performance independent
of Sponsored Search to achieve maximum ROI. 

7)	You can control your advertising spend across your
Content Match campaigns with Yahoo!'s Budgeting feature. 

For more information on Yahoo! Content Match, Click Here:
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/cm.php. 


Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search™

Yahoo! also offers a regionally-focused pay-per-click advertising
option. Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search™ enables both online and offline
businesses to potentially increase sales by precisely targeting
customers in a specific geographic region. 

Local Sponsored Search works best for businesses that are targeting
customers in their neighborhood seeking to purchase local products and
services via a web site or physical store location.

Local Sponsored Search features a Locator page, which provides 
prospects
with information about your business, including address, phone number,
store hours and a map of your location. In addition, if your business
has a Web site, your main Web page will be displayed along with the
Locator page.

Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search™ works like this:

1)	You select keywords you wish to bid on that best describe your
business, products or services. Write listings and choose a geographic
range (0.5 to 100 mile radius around your location) from which you want
to draw customers.

2)	When a customer interested in your area goes to a search site
such as Yahoo! and searches for a product or service you sell, your
listing appears. 

3)	When the customer clicks on your listing, they see your Locator
page and a link to your Web site, if you have a site. 

4)	Just like your Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search™ listing, you only
pay your bidded amount when a customer clicks on your listing and there
is no monthly minimum.

For more information on Yahoo! Local Sponsored Search™, Click Here:
http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/lm_faq.jhtml. 


Yahoo Search Submit Express™

Through Search Submit Express you can submit one or more web pages for
consideration to appear in the algorithmic search results powered by 
the
Yahoo! search engine. This is what is known in the search industry as a
paid inclusion model.

Search Submit Express offers a single point of submission for your web
pages into Yahoo!, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, and other search portals.

If you have content that has just changed or is updated frequently 
(such
as pricing information or product items), Search Submit Express ensures
the most up-to-date content is available to search users by refreshing
your URLs every 48 hours.

The program provides detailed reporting and data designed to help you
improve your pages, optimize program performance and generate more
leads.

Search Submit Express works like this:

1)	Submit your URLs for review and pay an annual fee for quality
review of your submitted pages. Make sure your pages follow Yahoo’s
Quality Guidelines: http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srchsb/sse_gl.php.

2)	Once reviewed and accepted into the program, your pages are
added to a database of sites that powers search results for major web
portals such as Yahoo!, Alta Vista, AlltheWeb and others. 

3)	Submitted URLs are presented in search results based on
relevance to search terms. 

4)	When a user clicks your Search Submit Express listing in search
results, you pay a cost-per-click fee for that lead. You must maintain 
a
positive balance in your account for your pages to remain active in the
program. 

5)	Your URLs are refreshed (re-crawled) every 48 hours to ensure
that the most up-to-date content is available to search users. 

6)	At the end of one year, you can renew your annual subscription
or let it lapse.

Submissions to Search Submit Express consist of a review fee and a CPC
(Cost per click) component. Billing, reporting and account management
for Search Submit Express listings is provided by Yahoo! or one of 
their
reseller partners.

Search Submit Express annual review fees consist of:

Price Structure (effective 30 April 05) 

Price per domain (USD):
1st URL               $49.00 each
URLs 2-10            $29.00 each
URLs 11-1,000     $10.00 each 

In addition to the review fee, there is also a per click fee of either
$0.15 or $0.30, depending on the category of the content. The complete
list of categories is listed here:
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srchsb/sse_pr.php. 

For more information on Search Submit Express, Click Here:
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srchsb/sse_hiw.php.


Yahoo Search Submit Pro™

Yahoo! Search Submit Pro is the same paid inclusion program as Search
Submit Express, but with more features for larger advertisers. Search
Submit Pro is designed for companies wanting to submit Web pages that
might otherwise be excluded from algorithmic search results (as long as
they still meet Yahoo’s Content Quality Guidelines). Examples include
sites that require cookies or session IDs, sites with Flash content and
information stored in content management systems, or sites that aren't
well crawled because of Web site design.

Search Submit Pro is typically for customers with search marketing
budgets of USD 5,000 per month or more, or advertisers who submit more
than 1,000 Web pages to the program. A dedicated account manager is
available to answer any questions, provide technical support, and help
you manage your Search Submit Pro program.

Search Submit Pro lets you create titles and descriptions that are
displayed as algorithmic search result listings. The program can
automatically generate result listings that best match user queries. 
You
can update the information frequently, independent of changes to your
Web site.
Search Submit Pro works like this:

1)	You provide an XML feed of your URLs.

2)	Once reviewed and accepted into the program, your pages are
added to a database of sites that powers search results for major web
portals such as Yahoo!, Alta Vista, AlltheWeb and others.

3)	When Internet users visit the Search Submit Pro partner sites
and enter keyword searches, your listings may appear within the search
results based on their relevance to the user's search request.

4)	Your URLs are refreshed (re-crawled) every 48 hours to ensure
that the most up-to-date content is available to search users. 


Pricing for Search Submit Pro is based on cost per click - customers 
are
charged each time a user clicks on one of the customer's search
listings. The specific cost is based on the type and category of 
content
provided for inclusion in the algorithmic search results and is
obtainable from a Yahoo! Account Manager.

For more information on Search Submit Pro, Click Here:
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srchsb/ssp.php?. 

In Part 2 of this article, we will look at the remaining pay for
performance search engine models on our list, starting with Google
AdWords.

Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization
experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry,
particularly in the U.S. As well as running her own SEO business Web
Rank www.webrank.biz , Kalena manages Search Engine College
www.searchenginecollege.com , an online training institution offering
instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in
Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing subjects. 


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