Hello,

Has anyone used Overture for advertising? If so, what was your outcome from it (click ratio, sales:clicks ratio, etc.) I am using the search feature right now to see if anyone has mentioned them (and they have), but I would like some more recent opinions/experiences with them. Thanks for your information.

Michael Buchanan

We tried overture and although I don't have the click ratio's to hand it was a waste of money for us.

For the low cost of $10 per click you can get all the traffic you want.... WHAT A BARGAIN!

Originally posted by intraweb
For the low cost of $10 per click you can get all the traffic you want.... WHAT A BARGAIN!

In that case it would only be worth advertising Dedicated or semi-dedicated solutions, either that or for high priced branding.

It is a scam... I spend about $1000 in Overture for another business (not web hosting) and truthfully the only people that benefit from their system is THEM. Bids are out of control.

$10 for ONE CLICK - that should be illegal.

We used it. No results.

I don't use Overture for WEB HOSTING because you will get ZERO traffic if you don't bid in the top 3. The conclusion is that if your biz is a very competative field there is no way you can use Overture.

The big high bidders are spending thousands per DAY - and probobaly just for branding purposes - as mathmatically at over $10 per click it doesn't add up.

IPOWERWEB's top overture max bid is $18.02 per CLICK. ONE STUPID CLICK!!! I just clicked it btw - I needed the laugh to know someone just payed $18 for my goofing around...

We have had ago with google and they are the same.. Though you can allow google to target lower CTR words such as "cheap web hosting php and mysql" for a lower CPC

But we are in such a competitive field that finding unique marketing is like trying to find a needle in a haystack!!!

I tried Google with no results. You might try PPC's like Wired24.

You get money to start your account and bids are not out of control.

I've used the one above and liked it so much I bought SearchPipeLine.com

Just a thought.

I tried Google with no results. You might try PPC's like Wired24.

You get money to start your account and bids are not out of control.

I've used the one above and liked it so much I bought SearchPipeLine.com

Just a thought.

The problem is those 'small' search engines like kanoodle, 7search, etc., deliver LOW traffic, and the traffic they do deliver is complete garbage.

I am sure you have a nice search engine - I am not bashing your system - but my experience is if my traffic doesn't come from a "major" source the conversions are horrible. A lot of phony traffic.

From what I hear, Overture isn't on my list anymore. Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I was thinking about using Overture, but since i've read these replies I think I will pass. I've actually have been using Google's Ad-Words and I have been extremly successful. I am only paying .10 - .75 per click and i'm getting about 50 clicks per day with about 3,000 impressions. That is pretty good, i've recived quite a few customers sign-ups from this type of advertising.

Spent a couple of hundred bucks [i think] at Overture [i think they were called goto.com back then] and our keyword was "Multiple Domain Hosting". It was cheap back then, at around $0.25/click. Did ok from that. Now the pricing is pure insanity. How anyone can pay more than $5/click and convert X% from that, selling 20/mth plans [or less] is waaaaay beyond me. :eek:

Now it's $12.02/click (http://www.overture.com/d/search/?type=home&mkt=us&Keywords=multiple+domain+hosting) for the top spot. That's IPowerweb, and they should lower their bid as No.2 bid is only $4.98/click. Although No.2 should lower their bid as No.3 is only $4.02/click.

Heads up theprimehost.com!! :D

They only pay 10 cents over the #2 position. Max bid is $12.02, but they would be charged $5.08 in this example up to a max of $12.02 if the #2, and #3 should bump up.

Originally posted by intraweb
They only pay 10 cents over the #2 position. Max bid is $12.02, but they would be charged $5.08 in this example up to a max of $12.02 if the #2, and #3 should bump up.
Ahhhhh, they've changed their system since my day. :)

Originally posted by loaded
We have had ago with google and they are the same.. Though you can allow google to target lower CTR words such as "cheap web hosting php and mysql" for a lower CPC Maybe I'm not following what you're saying, but you can target niche terms like that on Overture as well. And I wouldn't call them "lower click thru rate" terms, since generally the more specifically you target the higher your CTR will be -- while the number of impressions will certainly be lower.

Originally posted by intraweb
They only pay 10 cents over the #2 position. Max bid is $12.02, but they would be charged $5.08 in this example up to a max of $12.02 if the #2, and #3 should bump up. Actually, the bid increment is one cent, not ten cents (the minimum bid currently is ten cents). So if the second place bid is $4.98 they'd be paying $4.99 in spite of having a max bid of $12.02.

Overture and Google were both a bad experience. Don't waste your money.

Companies with a $10,000 or more monthly ad budget get some special perks too.

Go after your local markets first. Everyone in your town or city should be on your server (keep that in mind). Then branch out slowly. It's a great way to grow for those without some initial investments from lenders or partners.

Good luck PPCers.

Originally posted by benusa
Go after your local markets first. I know this isn't what you meant, but reading that made me think that a lot of people might not know of this recent addition to Google's Adwords program: you can now target ads geographically to your area.

Of course it isn't perfectly effective and won't work with proxies, AOL users, etc.; but it can be a way to target more specifically and to get a lower cost per click.