Overture... formerly GoTo
GoTo.com
is the most unique of the top search engines... right up front
they tell you that you pay for positioning. The Internet is a
free super highway, and many folks resent having to pay for something
that we think should be free .
However,
many websites are experiencing excellent traffic through the
pay-for-position engines, so keep an open mind when it comes
to the using them. GoTo is sending me lots of traffic at a reasonable
cost, and if used somewhat creatively they can be a tremendous
asset.
So
let's take an insider's look into GoTo, the granddaddy of them
all.
GoTo
is responsible for about 3.5% of all searches -- just ahead of
Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and Infoseek with 100 million searches
per month and more than 10 million click throughs each month,
which includes visits from their network of over 100,000 affiliate
sites. They now have about 25,000 folks who advertise.
The
value of keywords varies based on demand. Some go for as little
as a penny per click while others are over 5 bucks. When not
that many advertisers are paying for a ' keyword', GoTo rounds
out the remainder of the results with information from the search
engine Inktomi One of the plusses of listing with GoTo is that
they have agreements to supply other SE's with their listings
and you may benefit with hits from 'Lycos, Alta Vista', and others.
They
also have 40 listings per page so that you could purchase the
40th spot and still end up on the first page. Generally, though,
you need to be creative and search each ' keyword' to optimize
your cost vs. position very carefully.
As
an example, I have a Number 4 listing for three cents when the
Number 1 position is going for 32 cents. So even if one of my
competitors tries to run up the bill on me by doing a lot of
clicks with his buddies, it is not cost prohibitive. And by being
Number 4, I still get a lot of traffic. GoTo does have a monitoring
program to prevent this abuse, but if some wise guy has a lot
of friends, it doesn't work that well.
With
the free engines it's difficult to control where you place. You
can spend weeks trying to boost a page yet not make it into the
top 10, but with GoTo, as long as you pay you're still there.
If
you consider the cost of banner ads , GoTo is a pretty good deal
if you watch your dollars.
As
I suggested in the general information, you go to the GoTo suggestion
tool and type in a few key words. I did this for the 'keyword'
"buy" and up came "buy electronics" with
18,000 hits last month. I'm not selling electronics but a friend
of mine is and I quickly passed the information to him.. He could
get the number 5 position for 5 cents a hit and the Number 1
position for 25 cents. Number 5 for 5 cents is a great deal...
since the number 1 position may get more hits... but by the token...
if someone scrolls to Number 5, you know they are at least reading
the material and you may convert more hits into sales...
Bids
start at 1 cent, and increase in increments of 1 cent.
GoTo
has a relevancy requirement... which means that the ' keywords'
must relate to your site... if not those words will be rejected.
When I first tried GoTo, I had two words rejected out of about
20 words submitted... If you are smart, you will choose very
targeted ' keywords' since you will convert a larger percentage
into sales. If you are paying for each click, you don't want
a lot of folks that are just shopping around...
If
you try the GoTo thing... and you definitely should since your
downside minimum is only $25, you should track the flow of click
throughs and see if any go beyond the first gateway page... this
way you can make adjustments either to lure the people onward
or use a different keyword for every entry page... I've done
this and it tells you right away if your keyword is drawing.
If not... get rid of it and try another.
If
you like this manner of advertising, Allan Gardyne runs a website
called PayPerClickSearchEngines.com that offers good information
about other engines similar to GoTo. Keep in mind that while
there are many many of these engines... they all have fewer hits
than goTo and yet the minimum payment tends to be the about the
same...
around $25...
As
of March 1, 2001, GoTo has upped their minimum to 5 cents a click
from the former 1cent. They have also raise their minimum monthly
cost to the user to $20 and their minimum 'start up'
charge to $50.
There
has been a lot of moaning and gnashing of teeth among the users,
but be prepared to deal with the change. You may have to be more
selective with your 'keywords' making sure you use a more 'targeted'
word. Use your 'stats' page to see where your buyers are coming
from. Then 'dump' some of the pages that don't produce for you.
You
may also get familiar with the 'other' pay per click' search
engines. I get 750 hits from 'findwhat' each month for about
$10, whereas, I get around 3,500 from GoTo for about $100. However,
I attribute my success with the 'free' search engines with the
fact that I have so many listings on GoTo which are now showing
up on the other engines that GoTo has recently made agreements
with.
At
this point I have not decided what to do since GoTo has 'grandfathered'
the listings 'till September. I haven't figured my new bill with
GoTo, but it will more than likely double to triple. I know one
thing, and thi is that I will scrutinize my 'keywords' and lean
heavily toward the ones that produce for me. I will also work
the other 'pay per click' engines to the limit.
Good
Luck... and keep submitting...