I am running a successful ad campaign on Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing). My page ranking averages 2.5. I have a competitor in my business sector that has set very high first position bids. Most of them are over $40 per click. I do not have the budget to compete with these high bids and I know my service is better then the competitors. Is there a way to combat this/compete with this? I know who the competitor is and I know that they do not have the budget to sustain those high bids for a long time. Since my page rank is normally around the second position I had an idea. If I were to set my bids at $30, the competitor with a bid higher than $30 would have to pay that to stay higher ranked correct? I know that the competitor could not sustain $30 per click when there are hundreds of clicks a day. Is there a flaw in my thinking? Is there something I am missing? Does anyone have a recommendation or a plan to compete with a very high bidder? I look forward to hearing from someone.
I am not that familiar with Bing, but that's what they basically do in AdWords. Talk to someone like @Lucid Web Marketing to figure that one out. Out of curiosity, is this an insurance company? $40 per click sounds high. Keep in mind, click fraud is all too real. Don't piss off a competitor, they can help you spend your budget - fast and easy. Be aware of that.
Leave them to it. Assuming your clientele will shop around you just need to have better ads and leave them to spend up large. You can still win from second place.