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Thread: Goggle

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    Fort Collins, CO
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    55

    Goggle

    I hear from so many folks here that Google is a great place to advertise. I signed up for the Adwords program, and it did not do so well for us. So, I thought I would try the Adwords Select program. The bids are certainly getting up there! Anyway, I keep getting notifications from Google that my CTR is too low and as a result my service is suspended! I am not sure what to do about this. To me, the best way to raise the CTR is to raise the bid - this way, my listing will be higher and more people will click on it. This doesnt make sense to me, however. Do I really have to raise my bids to get my performance up to the required level? Has anyone else experienced this? Whatever you can share would be greatly appreciated!

    Thanks!

    Best regards,
    David Harris
    David Harris
    WorldWideHosting.net
    Multiple Domain Web Hosting

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Posts
    344
    I also signed up for the adwords select program. I haven't started using it yet, but it was my understanding that you could specify an amount you wanted to spend (say $5 per day) and when that amount is used for the day, your link is simply removed from the site.

    Am I wrong?
    Chris Miller
    PromoPunch
    Custom Imprinted Promotional Products
    www.promopunch.com 1-800-750-8530 x221

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    Fort Collins, CO
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    No, you are not wrong - however if I am paying $2.50 per click, i would use that up on 2 clicks. I am not sure why they are suspending my account - all they said was it was due to a low click-through-rate.

    Go figure.....


    Best regards,
    David Harris
    David Harris
    WorldWideHosting.net
    Multiple Domain Web Hosting

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Posts
    344
    Seems odd to me. I guess adwords isn't as good as I thought. Maybe I will launch our campaign soon and see what happens.
    Chris Miller
    PromoPunch
    Custom Imprinted Promotional Products
    www.promopunch.com 1-800-750-8530 x221

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
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    I am not saying they are not a good place to advertise; many people on here have high praises for them. I am just hoping that some of these people would share some insight with regards to this situation....

    Best regards,
    David Harris
    David Harris
    WorldWideHosting.net
    Multiple Domain Web Hosting

  6. #6
    I don't line their new pay per click program - 1.5% ctr and $0.9/click
    https://adwords.google.com/select/?hl=en

    I like old https://adwords.google.com/AdWords/Welcome.html
    - 3.1% CTR, 0.3/click, we had more visits (till they run new PPC), cheap!
    Alex

  7. #7
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    Apr 2002
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
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    H2,

    I thought the regular adwords program was cpm, not ppc. U sure about that?
    David Harris
    WorldWideHosting.net
    Multiple Domain Web Hosting

  8. #8
    Yes, cpm. But your ppc cost for cpm program is: cost/visits
    3.1% CTR == 31 clicks / 1000 views ~ $9.3
    $0.3/click == $9.3 / 31 clicks
    Alex

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
    Posts
    55
    That's a much better CPM than we got when we first tried that program.... perhaps I should try again.
    David Harris
    WorldWideHosting.net
    Multiple Domain Web Hosting

  10. #10
    David, the only problem with CPM program - google shows 10 times less ads under AdWords than we had before as their main goal - PPC (AdWords Select)
    Alex

  11. #11

    Google results..

    Ill be happy to share my Google results.. I dont know if they would be considered successful or not..

    Once I optimized my keywords, we were getting about 1.5 click through rate at about 1.25 per click.

    Funny thing with Google.. we never really saw "buyers" from there.. we would get a regular flow of clicks, but after a month of traffic, these visitors really didnt seem to browse off of the landing page.. Other advertising mechanisms going to the same landing page would bring browsers/buyers but not Google.

    I had also used their CPM program.. with the same results.

    Im not using them anymore for hosting advertising, but I am fairing better with them for our software packages for some reason...

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
    Posts
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    Hi Steve,

    Can you reccomend a good place to advertise for hosting?

    It doesnt seem like google is going to cut it.....

    Thanks,

    David
    David Harris
    WorldWideHosting.net
    Multiple Domain Web Hosting

  13. #13
    Hey David,

    Ill be honest - I have been in the "discovery" phase for the last 6 months... still not sure exactly the best methods.. Kind of hard to stand out in a world of 100000 web hosting providers...

    I have read posts that a good way to get started is by local advertising.. in your local newspaper or gazette.. There you will be the only one or one of a handful of a providers.. There is no question that every city has potential customers.. both business and personal.. so that really seems to be the best bet. Then, as you get your 50-100 accounts locally, you will begin the word-of-mouth process.. just make sure your customers are super happy - and they will tell someone else about you..

    We are also trying affiliate marketing, which so far seems to be working.. as again - it is putting your company in non-saturated places.. With affiliate marketing, we are seeing conversion rates of up to 20%!! - no way you would get that on PPC or google. Only drawback with affiliate marketing is that it can be a ton of work if you are going to do it right, but while it has only been 3 weeks, I think this is going to be a good source of growing customer base..

    Hope that helps (wish I knew what I new now 6 months ago when I started this whole thing)

  14. #14
    smc_one,

    I think we had good results with google in the past ~ 2 new orders daily for $3-$15 plans and daily ads_cost ~$5-$7
    Alex

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
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    Hey Steve,

    I have been considering affiliate marketing, but I am not really sure how that works. Any advice? Can you possibly point me in the right direction?

    Thanks to everyone for all of the posts....
    David Harris
    WorldWideHosting.net
    Multiple Domain Web Hosting

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Posts
    1,060
    I am considering also to use affiliate marketing on my new website (however it is not hosting business). Any advice on some cheap script?

  17. #17
    Alexey..

    You mentioned "in the past" .. did you see a change in quality of visitors? Do you still use them? Maybe we had a bad set of keywords as were were spending about half that a day, but with -no- signups.. I would love to get one signup a day.. with that amount of investment.. Ah what I would give to know the magic keyword/landing page combinations ..

    David...

    I have read days worth of material, but basically..

    1) Find out how you want to reward your affiliates. You could pay per click to your site, or a percentage of each sale they send your way. I recommend the latter.

    2) Get some banners and/or text links together for your affiliates to use to promote your hosting.

    3) Pick a coulple of networks to set up a program - I would check out www.shareasale.com or www.fineclicks.com to setup an merchant account.

    4) Research, research, research.. read posts at www.abestweb.com and and www.geekvilliage.com where affiliates/merchants congregate.

    5) Reasearch/read/learn/implement

    Hope that gets you started...

  18. #18
    I started advertising with google in June of 2001, I was paying about $30 per customer, and getting 1+ signup(s) per day, usually 1-3. This was coming out to about 72 cents per click.

    Then AdWords Select entered the picture. I've spent a few hundred dollars with them since select, and Haven't gotten acceptable results. In fact, I'm quite disappointed.

    With the success that I found buying keywords at google, I opened campaigns with findwhat.com and overture.com, never paying more than 72 cents per click, the same amount I was spending with google. The traffic came in at a decent rate, but it wasn't converted.

    Oddly enough, nothing has changed about our business, or our web site. I'm very much missing those 1-3 signups per day I was getting this time last year.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Charleston, SC
    Posts
    668
    David,

    Hello mate... We have also used Google Adwards CPM program and was getting charges US$ 70.00 per day. We tried it for two weeks and just got 10 clients from them which not good at all.

    The best places to advertise are on well known web hosting directories. We are working with 5-6 of them, however among all of them HostPulse.com is the best one. We pay them about US$ 600.00 per month and we'll get it within a week from the traffic they send to us. That means still you are US$ 1800.00 ahead.

    Hope this was helpful.
    Amir Golestan
    Executive Director | Micfo
    datacenter facilities in 39 cities across the world | AS53889
    www.micfo.com/datacenter

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    The Ozarks
    Posts
    888
    One place for the local market may be http://www.bni.com It is a network of businesses who refer to other network members. From what I gather on it, once a certain profession joins a local chapter, no one else from that profession is allowed to join that chapter. I talked with a few members from another chapter recently, and they say it has brought them many referals and accounts. I will probably check this out more. Does anyone have any information personally on this? Curious what people other than members have to say.... bniwis.com is the Wisconsin site and I assume other states are similar.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
    Posts
    55
    Thanks for the replies, everyone!

    Hostmaster,

    I am curious what kind of ads you place on Hostpulse? Do you have a ppc ad? Graphic ad? Text? Showcase ad? They have a lot of options over there - I usually prefer PPC ads, but they seem to have a good deal on the showcase ads which provide unlimited clickthroughs....

    Thanks!

    Best regards,
    David Harris
    David Harris
    WorldWideHosting.net
    Multiple Domain Web Hosting

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