Pay-per-Click Categories

Pay-per-Click Categories
Pay-per-click programs are not all created equal. When you think of PPC programs, you probably
think of keyword marketing — bidding on a keyword to determine where your site will be placed
in search results. And that’s an accurate description of PPC marketing programs as they apply to
keywords. However, there are two other types of PPC programs, as well. And you may find that
targeting a different category of PPC marketing is more effective than simply targeting keyword
PPC programs.
Keyword pay-per-click programs
Keyword PPC programs are the most common type of PPC programs. They are also the type this
book focuses on most often. By now, you know that keyword PPC programs are about bidding on
keywords associated with your site. The amount that you’re willing to bid determines the placement
of your site in search engine results.
In keyword PPC, the keywords used can be any word or phrase that might apply to your site.
However, remember that some of the most common keywords have the highest competition for
top spot, so it’s not always advisable to assume that the broadest term is the best one. If you’re in
a specialized type of business, a broader term might be more effective, but as a rule of thumb, the
more narrowly focused your keywords are, the better results you are likely to have with them. (And
PPC will cost much less if you’re not using a word that requires a $50 per click bid.)
Did you know that Google and Yahoo! have $100 caps on their keyword bids? They do.
Imagine paying $100 per click for a keyword. Those are the kinds of keywords that will
likely cost you far more money than they will generate for you. It’s best if you stick with keywords
and phrases that are more targeted and less expensive.
The major search engines are usually the ones you think of when you think keyword PPC programs,
and that’s fairly accurate. Search PPC marketing programs such as those offered by vendors like
Google, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN are some of the most well-known PPC programs.
Product pay-per-click programs
You can think of product pay-per-click programs as online comparison shopping engines or price
comparison engines. A product PPC program focuses specifically on products, so you bid on placement
for your product advertisements.
The requirements for using a product PPC program are a little different from keyword PPC programs,
however. With a product PPC, you must provide a feed— think of it as a regularly updated pricelist
for your products — to the search engine. Then, when users search for a product your links are given
prominence, depending on the amount you have bid for placement. However, users can freely display
those product listings returned by the search engine in the order or price from lowest to highest if
that is their preference. This means that your product may get good placement initially, but if it’s not
the lowest-priced product in that category, it’s not guaranteed that your placement results will stay in
front of potential visitors.
Some of these product PPC programs include Shopping.com, NexTag, Pricegrabber, and Shopzilla.
Although product PPC programs are popular for controlling the placement of your
product listings, there are some services, like Google Base, that allow you to list your
products in their search engine for free. These product PPC programs still require a product feed,
however, to keep product listings current.
Implementing a product feed for your products isn’t terribly difficult, although, depending on the
number of products you have, it can be time-consuming. Most of the different product PPC programs
have different requirements for the product attributes that must be included in the product
feed. For example, the basic information included for all products are an item title, the direct link
for the item, and a brief description of the item.
Some of the additional attributes that you may need to include in your product PPC listings include:
title
description
link
image_link
product_type
upc
price
mpn (Manufacturer’s Part Number)
isbn
id
Some product PPC programs will require XML-formatted feeds; however, most will allow text
delimited Excel files (simple CSV files). This means you can create your product lists in an Excel
spreadsheet, and then save that spreadsheet as text delimited by selecting File ➪ Save As and
ensuring the file type selected is text delimited.
Service pay-per-click programs
When users search for a service of any type, such as travel reservations, they are likely to use search
engines related specifically to that type of service. For example, a user searching for the best price
for hotel reservations in Orlando, Florida, might go to TripAdvisor.com. Advertisers, in this case
hotel chains, can choose to pay for their rank in the search results using a service PPC program.
Service PPC programs are similar to product PPC programs with the only difference being the type
of product or service that is offered. Product PPC programs are more focused on e-commerce products,
whereas service PPC programs are focused on businesses that have a specific service to offer.
Service PPC programs also require an RSS feed, and even some of the same attribute listings as product
PPC programs. Some of the service PPC programs you might be familiar with are SideStep.com
and TripAdvisor.com. In addition, however, many product PPC programs have expanded to include
services. One such vendor is NexTag.
In addition to the three categories of PPC programs discussed in this text, there is an
additional one. Pay-per-call is a type of keyword advertising in which search results
include a phone number. Each time a call is connected through that phone number, the company
that owns the number is charged for the advertising, just as if it were paying for a traditional payper-
click service.