Pay per click ads effectiveness?

[David Sandusky]

How effective are pay per click ads today and what does the future look like? Which wins: fraudulent clicks or paying customers?

[Kevin Johansen]

I'm thinking this problem may be intractible for the near term. It's tough today to tell shoppers from buyers until there's a transaction.

However, there's probably a smart bot out there on the horizon somewhere that tracks activity, builds a database, identifies patterns in the db, assigns patterns of activity probabilities, and discounts those 'fraudulent' probabilities from the larger volume of click throughs.

Just thinking...

Cheers,

[jbliler]

Pay-per-click advertising works for some. Through research i have found that it works well with B to C companies who are trying to reach the younger audience through a site such as MySpace, or another similar web site. I have also seen that it works well with Google when searching specific keywords. However, it only works with companies that use pay-per-click advertising as a MARKETING strategy, not a SALES tool. The pay-per-click advertising strategy works the exact same way as a radio or TV commercial with the added bonus of qualification. However that usually does not guarantee a buyer. PPC advertising usually does not fit small to mid-sized businesses.

Fraud among PPC ads are becoming more and more popular but can be measured. Google provides ways to budget so much money to that strategy so if you can measure it's effectiveness and justify it, then it works, and works very well!!

[StuTheDog]

I recently signed up for Google Adwords and fine tuning my "bid price" on certain keyword combinations began to hit my budget, so I suspect these are legitimate shoppers. We've seen increased traffic but not much in terms of sales, I suspect due to the site's design/useability.

Yahoo recently approached me pitching their adword PPC program, the question now becomes how to determine which combination is the best fit.

[searchguru]

Pay per click only works in the short run. If you want to get on the search engines quickly, or you have gobs of money to throw at it, then this is a good place to do it.

I recommend organic SEO as well as Google AdWords. That way, when the PPC campaign ends, your rankings will not drop out of sight.

Click fraud will always be a problem.

[OrganicSEM]

Only 1 out 7 searchers actually click on the PPC ads, while 6 out of 7 click on the Organic listings. 44% of women do not go beyond the first page of listings and 37% of men also do not go beyond the first page.

While ppc is a great way to start, the organic listings is what you should strive for. If you read Matt Cutt's from Google's blog, Content is the way to Organic rankings.

Many SEO's do not have content providers so they steer you in other directions.

In order to rank higher in the Organic listings you need to make your site an authority on what you do by supplying the searchers with semantically relevant content. You need to become a mini-library or expert on what you are selling or providing.

ContentLogic.com is one of a few content providers with the expertise needed to write content especially for the search engines.

Check out Matt Cutt's Blog: http://google-says.blogspot.com/2006...nt-stupid.html

[Carlos]

But marketing on a social networking site only asks for trouble, because there will be spambots. That can be fixed if you work at it with your forum software, or CMS. YourBrand is a perfect example of fighting spam.

[nicu101]

Personally, I think PPC ads can be effective depending on your niche. We are planning to use Google AdWords, because we want people who are searching for other stuff about preemie babies/the NICU to see our product and site. They may not buy, but at least it will plant the idea in their head, and they may come back looking for us again. Otherwise, they might never think to even look for a product like ours, as it is a specialty item most people don't know exists.

[David Sandusky]

Only 1 out 7 searchers actually click on the PPC ads, while 6 out of 7 click on the Organic listings. 44% of women do not go beyond the first page of listings and 37% of men also do not go beyond the first page.

While ppc is a great way to start, the organic listings is what you should strive for. If you read Matt Cutt's from Google's blog, Content is the way to Organic rankings.

Thanks for the data and info! The experts all point to organic.

[SearchGuy]

While ppc is a great way to start, the organic listings is what you should strive for.

Assuming articles targeted correctly and submissions to relevant forums and blogs are driving new business, are you saying drop the ppc? Could both be a good strategy?