Yahoo!’s PPC (“Sponsored Search”) is still very much like “eBay for keywords.” Set your maximum bid (the most you would pay) for a keyword to determine your position. The bidding strategy is very simple...
Find the niches and try to rank in the Top 5. But if there is a huge gap, bid a bit above the low side of the gap even if that puts you in the 6th-10th spot. For example, you will often see a bid, say of $1.00 for a top listing. This can get you the larger, more prominent top spot on Yahoo!'s Search Engine Results Page (SERP), as may the second highest bid.
However, while the exposure is superb, those top listings are obviously ads, which is a drawback. A #3 listing might give you the top spot on the text ads on the right hand side of the SERP -- an attractive location.
Bid a few pennies above the next highest bid, as your maximum bid. So, for example, if that happens to be $0.30, you may only be charged $0.31 to beat #2’s maximum bid. But if it takes $0.36 to beat a maximum bid of $0.35, that’s what you'll be charged... up to your maximum. (Your maximum bid for it might be as low as a third to a fifth of the top bid.) A best buy!
Yahoo! offers more information at...http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/performance/customer/ss/
Ignore their Content Match part of this for now. And you might want to consider Local Sponsored Search if your site is largely for a local business with local clients.
Register for a bidding account with Overture at...https://secure.overture.com/s/dtc/center/
Your best strategy is to bid a penny higher than the highest site that seems to reach your target visitor. If the descriptions for the first three sites are clearly aimed at someone who is not your target, why outbid those sites?
Stay a penny higher than your competitors, as long as that bid makes financial sense. You do not want to be below your competition... the click through drops off quickly as you go down the page.
What makes financial sense? Whatever makes a profit!
You basically want as few clicks as possible. Actually, let me rephrase that... you basically want only targeted clicks... people who understand exactly what your page is about and who click for that reason.
Why? Because you pay for each click!So, you don’t really want as few clicks as possible... you want as few off-target visitors as possible. Gear everything you do to maximizing on-target visitors for the least amount of money.
Bottom line strategies?...1) Bid for on-target keywords, especially the less-obvious ones. They will be quite cheap to buy. Obvious and popular keywords have become too expensive. There’s no way I’m paying $5 for popular keywords -- not unless I’m selling a service or product that has a profit of $500 and I have a 10% Conversion Rate! 2) Write your Title and Description so that only your target market clicks. (Remember, each click costs you). A Pay-Per-Click searcher who reads your Title and Description should clearly understand what she'll get if she clicks. If it does not interest her, she’ll give you a pass. Which is exactly what you want when it comes to Pay-Per-Clicks. Why pay for a click by someone who hits the back button as soon as she arrives?
Write your Title and Description so that they...
How much should you bid? That depends on the nature of your service. Are you offering a low-priced service that generates regular repeat contracts? Or a high-priced service that generally results in a one-time only hiring? No matter what the service, your higher Return On Investment (in comparison to an affiliate’s return) means a much greater ceiling when it comes to bidding at the PPCs. Unfortunately, with a longer “hiring” (i.e, income-producing) cycle, it may take some time before advertising dollars start to bear fruit. If that’s the case, you may have to accept some negative cash flow until business starts to roll.
It’s difficult, at least initially, to estimate accurately the sort of Conversion Rate you can hope to achieve from a Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign. A safe and practical way is to estimate the percentage of visitors expected to subscribe to your newsletter, and then estimate the percentage of those subscribers expected to convert into clients.
Why select subscribers for this calculation? Newsletter subscribers have concretely shown their interest in your service by signing up so they can be considered as leads of the highest quality. Unless your service requires very little commitment (financial or otherwise) on the part of the visitor, it’s unlikely you’ll convert a significant percentage of “first-time-visitors” into clients. (Regard immediate converts as a wonderful bonus!)
Bottom line? Decide on how much you are willing to invest in a PPC campaign. Bid for positions #4 and lower, finding the first good price drop and bidding a penny above that. Yes, traffic is lower, but your cost is much lower and your ROI on a per-dollar spent basis, is higher.
Wait a couple of months to see how things work out. Even if it takes you 60-90 days to turn a subscriber into a client, the opportunities are fantastic!
Of course, if you’re promoting in-context affiliate programs as a means to leverage your income, a percentage of your PPC dollars will convert into sales immediately.
To register with Yahoo!, visit…http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/choose.php
For detailed help by Yahoo! about the signup process, please see... https://signup.overture.com/help/olsTutSelectKwd.do
