Paying for Targeted Traffic with Goto and Google

By Merle
Posted Friday, July 16, 2004

How to use Goto and Googles pay per keyword programs

Everyone wants to be listed in the top 10 of the search engines, but the reality is that with millions of websites vying for the same ten spots, it just "ain't gonna happen." You'd probably stand a better chance at winning the lottery.

Many search engines have moved away from the "free" submission model onto one that requires up front payment. This does not guarantee you any kind of placement; just that your site will be reviewed and listed. So what if it comes up 100,878,989 on the search results page? It's listed.

Well, I have a real problem with that. Why should I pay 00.00 for something that's been free for years when my site may never be found in the first place? If you're like me, when you pay out good money for something, you want to see some results.

There are other search engines like Google and Goto who charge a fee but with both of them you're paying for *placement*, not just a listing. That's OK in my book. At least I'll get some traffic for my hard earned dollar.

Both Google and Goto should be utilized by any online entrepreneur looking for results. Let's take a look at both of them and what's involved in opening an account with them.

Goto-(http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/)

There are many "pay for" position search engines but the clear leader of the pack is Goto.com. They created the game of "pay for" keyword positioning and are still going strong.

You pick the search terms that are relevant to your website and decide how much you wish to pay when someone clicks on your listing. The higher you bid, the higher your site appears in their search engine when someone does a search for one of your keywords. What's nice about the program is you're only paying when someone actually clicks through to your site and not just for impressions.

When setting up your account they offer 3 packages to choose from:

1)Full Service: This is their customized plan with recommended terms and bids based on your budget. They'll write up to 100 search listings for you, total price 99.00 (1 time fee)

2)Full Service: A less expensive customer plan with up to 20 professionally written search listings for 9.00 (1 time fee).

3) Self Service: This is my favorite where you create your own titles and descriptions and bids. No service fee but the minimum amount to open an account is 0.00. If you want to register more than 40 keywords or phrases they have a handy spreadsheet you can download, enter in all of your keywords then mail it back in.

When getting started with Goto.com you'll get better results if you choose many keywords or phrases to bid on. Minimum recommended to start is 20, but I'd recommend more for better results. When bidding on key terms try to bid enough to get your listing into one of the top 3 positions. The top 3 listings are guaranteed to show up on Goto's partner sites like Direct Hit and some of the other top search engines and will appear as "partner" or "sponsored" links.

Your bids and keywords can be edited at anytime with the use of the "Direct Traffic" center control panel. Reports are also emailed to you on a monthly basis showing all activity and current rank for each word.

Google AdWords Program: (http://adwords.google.com/adwords/)

Google's program is fairly new and creating a big buzz online. The way it works is you create a short classified ad and then select keywords you want to be found under. When someone does a search on a key phrase you've chosen your ad will appear on the results page on the right hand side of the page.

Pricing for ad words is based on the position in which they're shown. Google positions ads based on how many users click on it over time. Current rates are 5.00, 2.00 and 0.00 (per thousand impressions, or ads shown) for positions 1,2 and 3 and .00 per thousand for positions 4 through 8.

Accounts are easy to open with a credit card and Google even walks you through the ad creation process. You'll get best results by choosing keywords that are very specific to your website. Stay away from common keywords that will rack up impression charges and not bring you any customers.

Ads are limited to 25 characters for the title and 35 characters for the 2 text lines and the visible URL. After registering you are given access to the site via a user name and password so you can view reports on your clickthroughs and impressions. Ad campaigns can also be easily added to, started and stopped at will.

Spending money on marketing your website is a given. If you're going to pay the search engines money make sure you're spending it with a "results based" model like Goto or Google so you know you're getting the best "bang" for your buck. Sure, you have to spend the money, just spend it wisely.

About the Author
Merle is an internet marketer, promotion consultant and ezine publisher. Visit her sites at (http://www.mcpromotions.com/),(http://www.merlesworld.com/) and (http://www.ezineadauction.com/).