Pay Per Click Universe | PPC Journal

Welcome to the March 2005 issue of the PayPerClick Journal, the official monthly newsletter of Pay Per Click Universe, your source for free, unbiased, pay-per-click (PPC) information. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for the newsletter.

Recent Pay-Per-Click News and Announcements

Google Take Local Search and Google Map Out Of The Lab And Onto The Search Page – March 3, 2005

As reported in ClickZNews, Google has decided to put their local search component onto the homepage, although it is still identified as being in beta. No doubt this is in response to Yahoo!’s success with integrating local search and mapping, especially since Google has also included its map feature into local search. Google Map was just recently added to the search engine (early in February 2005), but Google is wasting no time in taking advantage of the popularity of local search to bring a robust competitor to the playing field. Read the complete ClickZNews article here.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsor – Enhance Interactive for their support:

· Enhance offers you the option of creating your own PPC campaign or having their resident experts design a PPC ad tailored to your specifications

· Customer-oriented - offers live chat support for clients

· LogoLinks program provided free for the first month that places a small version of your logo next to your ad for extraordinary personalization

ValueClick Announces Automated Bid Management for Search123 – March 2, 2005

ValueClick, Inc. announced on March 2, 2005 that its ValueClick Search division has released a free XML-based system that enables clients to use automated bid management platforms to manage pay-per-click campaigns on Search123 and Simpli. The system, called Client Optimization Agent (COA), allows advertisers and their agencies to access campaign management features on the above PPC search engines using proprietary or third-party bid management platforms that optimize paid search campaigns. This free, real-time system enables clients to access their performance metrics and manage their titles and descriptions, tracking URLs and keywords through a back-end interface. Read the entire press release.

Overture Services To Become Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions – March 1, 2005

Overture.com, a subsidiary of Yahoo Inc. announced that it will be re-branded as Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions, bringing its sponsored search offerings and Yahoo!'s listings together under the new banner. Through Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions, advertisers of all sizes will enjoy convenient access to both offerings in one location.

In addition, Yahoo! also stated that they are offering a new Advertising Solutions Center located in the United States, where advertisers can investigate and purchase Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions products. Read the entire press release here for full details.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank one of our sponsors – GoClick – for their support:

· GoClick has no startup fees, no monthly fees, and a low 1 cent CPC minimum bid

· Over 7.2 billion targeted searches per year

· Over 23,000 business owners use GoClick

Special Offers Available for Pay-Per-Click Users Through PayPerClick Universe

Visit our Special Offers page to view all our current specials, but here is an example of one of the great deals currently available:

PPC Search Engine – Although not strictly a “deal”, Searchfeed.com is currently holding a contest where advertisers search for the Pot of Gold symbol in the advertiser account interface and are then eligible for a number of free analytics and other services. New advertisers ($25 minimum deposit) are also allowed to participate in the contest, which runs until March 17, 2005. To view the details and rules of the contest, check out this page and click on the words “Special Deal” in the second paragraph (or just scroll down further on the page). May the luck of the Irish be with you!

Blog Feature On Pay Per Click Universe

Our blogger continues to express his views on current happenings in the PPC industry. His current entry discusses Google’s announcement of the implementation of a new program called Auto Linking, which has raised quite a ruckus among search engine marketers and PPC enthusiasts. Read the latest blog entry here (plus, here's a link to the blog archive that contains his previous entries, especially the one on special deals from Overture and AdWords from February 23, in case you missed that valuable entry).

New Form Of Google AdWords Click Fraud (February 19, 2005)
Special Deals on AdWords and Overture (February 23, 2005)
Bad Move on Google's Part (March 2, 2005)

Blog Archive

Latest Review From March 2005

PPC Search Engine Review of the Month

Although we had originally planned to provide a review of Findology.com in this month’s issue of the PPC Universe newsletter, we decided it was more important to highlight a “new kid on the block” because of the interesting approach to pay per click that it is debuting with. If you’d like to see the review of Findology, it is available on our website by clicking here.

Snap.com – A new paid search engine has just arrived on the Internet, and it’s ready to move quickly and effectively to meet its users’ needs. Snap.com opened its virtual doors to advertisers just on March 1, 2005 although the search engine has been in busy since November of last year, fine-tuning its algorithms and search experience to work out bugs before involving advertisers outside its home network. Read more ...

We would like to take this opportunity to thank another of our current sponsors – SearchFeed – for their support:

· Thousands of leading web properties integrate Searchfeed.com's content

· Searchfeed.com's network generates hundreds of millions of searches monthly

· Millions of unique keywords ensure relevancy and coverage of sponsored results

· Concentration on the personal touch with an emphasis on personal assistance

Featured Article Of The Month From Our Website

This month we have an article on improving your PPC marketing performance, using a standard marketing rule about 150 years in the making that apparently still continues to apply in the marketing worlds.

If you’ve wondered if the old “80/20” principle (otherwise known as Pareto’s Law) which suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of your efforts, Kevin Gold has written an informative article on how this technique can apply to pay per click advertising, and also offers some suggestions for testing the principle in your ad campaigns.

Read this interesting article here.

Hint Of The Month

Look for and use “auto bidding” wherever you can in your PPC ad campaigns. Although this does not remove the need to keep an eye on your bids, the advantage outweighs any possible problems. Auto bidding is currently offered not just by Google and Overture/Yahoo!, but also smaller PPC search engines such as Enhance Interactive, LookSmart, FindWhat and Kanoodle. Some even allow you to place a maximum on the amount you wish to bid.

Most auto bidding programs eliminate bid gapping, where you have become involved in a bidding war and have won the top position (but at a high cost) and then your competitor drops his bid to decrease his costs. Auto bidding will track such cases and automatically reduce your bid to just above your competitor so that you do not continue to pay the high price per click that you have just fought for. An auto bidding feature will help to reduce bidding wars online and overall keep keyword prices at reasonable levels, without the advertiser having to take as much direct action as in the past to ensure this was the case.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank one of our newest sponsors – Neutralize for their support:

· Neutralize is the leading U.K. marketing search engine company

· Offers PPC management as well as SEO planning and services

· Free "How Well Optimized Is Your Site" feature

Preview Of The Upcoming April 2005 Issue

In our next monthly issue, which should arrive in your mailboxes on Sunday, April 3, 2005, look for information on the release of a new version of a popular PPC search engine tool that’s been in the making over the last few months, together with our usual collection of breaking news and reviews.

And finally,

Thanks for reading this edition of the PayPerClick Journal. We value your comments and hope you will look forward to receiving our next edition at the beginning of March.

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