As we are beginning to launch a new engine ( www.surch.com ) the issue of PPC and sponsored listings has come up. I would love to hear what everyone at DP thinks is the best mechanism or guideline to follow that would make advertisers happy. One thing that we are currently discussing is fairness... it seems that no matter what you type in at "other engines" that companies like ebay has a listing... I mean if you type our companies name "surch" for instance, ebay has been bidding on that keyword! So many of the larger companies are really pushing out the little guys....any thoughts on this?
Hi surchin, At the risk of being too general, I think that all advertisers ultimately want the same things: quality traffic, low CPC, and high CTR. I know what you're saying about the eBay ads on Google, and I agree with you - but there are probably competitive pressures at Google's level that make it difficult for them to do otherwise. Start with the basics, and you should do well. If and when you find yourself coming up against an issue similar to that of eBay/Google, I'd say that'll be a nice problem to have. Sam
one thing we are talking about is setting not a bidding system but a flat % of other PPC engines out there. Essentially we we charge say 50% of what company "X" is and then set an equality limit. So advertiser "A" could purchase 100% of the traffic but if someone else comes along and wants to purchase the same terms they can upto their respective equal limit... in this case with 2 advertisers it would be 50% each. Obv. then as advertisers grew we would have rotate in and out advertisers... it was just a thought though. we are examining many avenues.
That's an interesting model, and it sounds like eventually it would be similar to the revenue sharing programs in existence here at DP and in other places on the Web. Do you know if there's any precedent for its use with advertisers? Not that that's a prerequisite, because Google's innovations are certainly paying large dividends - but it may be worth it to do some market research before implementing it, or any other variation. Sam