Playing The "One-Up" Game - The Sad Truth About Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
by Lynne Schlumpf
Copyright 2002
Did you ever have a relationship with someone that was competitive from the word "Go?" Perhaps it was a sibling who always had to have the latest toy or a coworker who always had to outdo you on every project.
I spent about a year in 2000 and 2001 performing some in-depth research on a method of advertising that ended up reminding me of such difficult relationships. My adventure into the world of pay-per- click search engines brought me to a conclusion that will probably surprise you and possibly sadden you a little.
I won't mention the actual names of the search engines I chose because it doesn't matter which ones you choose. They all operate in a similar manner. Here's hoping I'll present an honest, fresh view of how they operate.
I chose five different pay-per-click search engines for my study, and I opened each one with a $50.00 balance on a credit card.
The next thing I did was to research keywords that would apply to my company's website. I put in some words I thought were appropriate in the then-Go-To keyword suggestion tool (now the Overture suggestion tool).
I made sure the keywords I chose were the most popular ones without having to spend a fortune for each click (I felt like anything over 50 cents a click was a little high). I signed up for these keywords on each search engine, choosing the ones that would allow me to start out in the top 10 listings of each search engine for each keyword.
Here's what happened:
After choosing those 10 keywords and trying to keep up with them by watching my positioning, something both annoying and troublesome began to happen. I had to keep up with these search engines at least 4 times a day to keep my positioning where I wanted it.
Once the other companies who shared the top ten with me noticed my appearance near them, they began to try to outbid me almost every
hour of the day. What started out as a friendly listing soon became a complete hassle, a huge drain on my advertising dollars, and a waste of precious time trying to stay competitive.
This type of competition became a great source of revenue for the pay-per-click companies, and a drain on my credit card accounts as I had to replenish my credit balances every few days.
The spirit of "One-Upping The Other Guy" caused some of the keywords I chose to be completely ridiculous and out of reach. Some went as high as $4.00 and $5.00 a click as each advertiser tried to climb over the others to stay at the top.
Reality check:
If you're selling a product for - let's say - $30.00, and each click costs you $3.00, while only 1 in 100 people who click through actually buy anything, you're on a sinking ship. The rate of money you'll spend is a frightening amount for most "regular people." You'll run out of money in your account fast, whether your links are being clicked on by your competitors to knock you out of the top ten or by visitors who click through without buying.
I stopped using these advertising dollar-suckers after about a year. Did my product sell any better while using them? Definitely not. Did traffic increase? Maybe a little, but not enough to justify the cost. I actually get more qualified visitors who are interested in my product from the click-throughs I get at Google.com.
While my research on pay-per-clicks may not provide the popular viewpoint, I found this method of advertising to be completely inappropriate for people with limited funds. I'll stick to word-of- mouth, search engine optimization, writing articles, and publishing free ebooks instead.
I hope this article helps you decide if pay-per-clicks are right for you. If you have a unique product or service that has a high need, people will find you by other means. I welcome any comments or questions about your experiences with pay-per-click engines. You can email me at lynne@littlewebsitethatcould.net.
Lynne Schlumpf is the author of the book that is selling like crazy - "The Little Website That Could." She makes her home online and can be found falling asleep at the keyboard quite often here:
http://www.littlewebsitethatcould.net Those interested can listen to radio interviews and get free chapters there. There's also a great "Free Stuff" section with free tools, ebooks, and old radio shows to listen to.