BidRank More Information Overall Rating: Not Rated Pay Per Click Universe Recommends: AdWatcher - 100% Click Fraud Protection. Concerned about click fraud? Protect your online advertising dollars with the world's most trusted & accurate click fraud solution on the market today. AdWatcher will put a stop to competitors and fraudsters who are looking to drain your hard earned advertising budget. Test-Drive AdWatcher For FREE For 30 Days! BidRank is a pay-per-click management tool that has been available for a number of years, manufactured by Roffers Engineering, Inc., in Wisconsin. Unlike many other bid management tools, BidRank is a stand-alone piece of software, so the user does not pay a monthly fee, but does pay for upgrades to the software. BidRank is available in two formats. The first, appropriately called BidRank for Overture, only manages keywords in an Overture pay-per-click environment, not just in the United States, but also in a select number of countries in Europe and elsewhere. The second product, BidRank Plus, supports keyword management in the following search engines – Searchfeed, Xuppa, Enhance Interactive, Kanoodle, FindWhat, Espotting, Mirago (in certain countries), Lifetips, 411web, BrainFox and Que Pasa!. Pricing for each of the products is also different. The Overture version, which is an officially recognized Overture add-on, is quite a bit more expensive than the non-Overture version For BidRank Overture, pricing ranges from $129 for up to 50 keywords to $999 for up to 10,000 keywords. For BidRank Plus, the price range is $119 for up to 50 keywords up to a level of $699 for up to 10,000 keywords. The intermediate price breaks are at 500, 2,000, and 5,000 keyword levels. The user should keep in mind also that, as with any software, there is a fee for upgrades (although updates are free). BidRank recently released a new version for Overture, which primarily added support for the changes that Overture has recently made in its pay-per-click offerings, for example, by now supporting Overture’s “Content Match” listings and “Advanced Match”. The user may wonder why they would need BidRank given that Overture itself has various keyword bidding options, including a autobidding function, but BidRank maintains that they go beyond Overture by allowing bidding by rank and gap surfing, while Overture will only autobid to your maximum amount. BidRank therefore provides the flexibility to automatically rank your ad within the bidding at a level you may specify. Enhancements have also been made to the BidRank Plus product, mostly in the addition of search engines (see the entire current list above) and an enhancement specifically for FindWhat’s tracking mechanism. In addition, the newer versions of BidRank address some issues that have plagued the software – performance problems due to having to interact and interface with so many different search engine server configurations. In the FAQs section of their website, BidRank brings up some of these issues and provides possible solutions if a user encounters certain technical problems. It is admirable that BidRank openly admits their users may receive certain error messages more often than they would like, and that they provide possible solutions in their FAQs. However, to a new user, this places doubt about the stability of the product, especially since it is a one-time purchase, rather than a monthly commitment that one can opt out of without having incurred much cost. Partly to counteract this, BidRank does offer a trial offer of a fully functional program, with the only limits being using the basic package of only up to 50 keywords and a frequency of use of once every 15 minutes. As well, the trial expires in 15 days, but essentially you can try out the cheapest version of the software under realistic circumstances for free for a time period that is probably long enough to know if the software is right for you or not. BidRank also offers the user the opportunity to use Overture's Marketing Console via BidRank itself. Marketing Console is basically an ROI tool and is also offered at various pricing levels, depending upon the number of leads generated. Potential users can check out all the details on Overture's website. BidRank's also offers a toolbar, but their's has a little different approach. It includes a newspaper icon that links to a webpage containing news and information from BidRank in a dialog box format. The types of information found include news releases, user tips, upcoming scheduled downtimes, etc. Users do seem to like BidRank. It has a reputation for excellent customer service, which is very important to people involved in any type of marketing. Aside from its convincing on-site testimonials, other users also point to its customer service and its quick response to changes made by search engines. As well, BidRank’s management is very careful to keep a close eye on user forums and to respond to complaints they see there and implement change – a very effective way of keeping your customers satisfied. BidRank appears to have taken to heart the reality that in such a competitive world, customer service is often the key to why a user will choose your product over another’s, even if the other product has more features. The software appears to be easy to use and manipulate. Directions are clear and the interface is direct and easy to follow. The website itself is quite informative and customer service is reportedly very quick and efficient. Overall, BidRank is certainly worth trying the free 15-day demo if nothing else. Test it out and see if it works better for you than the keyword management tools included in your pay-per-click campaign as part of your ad package with Google or Overture, or whomever you are dealing with. Usually, it is a good idea to have another management tool on the side, just to ensure that the one that comes with your ad campaign is giving you accurate reports. BidRank is on the expensive side, however, so you need to be sure this will work for your particular type and style of ad campaigns before purchase. |
