5 replies to this topic

[AussieWebmaster]

It seems ridiculous that we happily hand over the money when we told to by the PPC companies. Well maybe not happily, but definitely hand it over blindly.
I spoke to David Fischer at Google a number of times on this issue and have had similar conversations with the people at Overture, why don't we get a phone bill like outline of charges. This way we know who made the call without having to spend extra time searching log files to counter bad clicks.
This industry is walking into a wall. The bid system is not going to last for too much longer. Especially in the volatile markets where budgets can increase 500 % in a couple of weeks.

What other area would accept this? If it was a print ad or a tv ad and they came back to you and said well last month it was a thousand dollars but this month it is five thousand... no extra viewers just more people want it so we can get more.

That and the fact that there are too many programs etc out there to track what the competitor is doing so even when you find a good cheap spot that some how has not been discovered yet... hey presto a few days and the fishing spot is mobbed...

This marketing model is truely the free enterprise model... and the flaws are beginning to show... the people with the deepest pockets will allow the short termers to beat each other up and fall away and they will come back in and hold at the rate they wanted in the first place.

In the meantime, Google, Overture and every other SE that can get up before the bomb hits are grabbing everyone's money with a smile! Mine included, unfortunately.

[Jill]

No one's forcing you to do PPC, Aussie. If it doesn't make you money, don't do it. You have the power to choose!

BTW, not sure if I've welcomed you to the forum yet, so welcome!

Jill

[AussieWebmaster]

No one's forcing you to do PPC, Aussie.  If it doesn't make you money, don't do it.  You have the power to choose!

BTW, not sure if I've welcomed you to the forum yet, so welcome!

Jill

thanks for the welcome. But I think you have missed the point. Forget the ability to pierce the veil and have insider info etc from our hours of research, that would still be there. But the fact that Google says you had x clicks and they cost you y thanks for your money. if the phone company did that would you pay? People did originally and the model was changed to give users more info to reconcile their bills.
We can verify the claims through our web logs and with tracking urls. But what do you do when they stonewall. Send me your web logs they ask... now think about that... a little cut and paste and they can look like anything you want them to...
With everything that is involved in this industry a little staright talk from the providers would be nice is what I was saying.
I am not going away. We spend over 100k a month in this form of advertising. Google and Overture get more than 70 of it.
We need to make the big guys accountable... something tells me there would be a big market for correcting SE billing.... I have gotten large credits from Google when challenged, I just have better things to do then spend it chasing their mistakes.

but pass the beer and let's relax!

[Haystack]

That is an interesting dilemma, Aussie. Clearly, the more rigor in terms of invoice reporting, the higher the administrative costs for the PPC companies, which will be passed along to advertisers.

The growing use of conversion analysis tools by advertisers should keep PPC businesses on their toes and might wake a few businesses up to the fact that they're bidding strategies on some terms are not sound business decisions.

[AussieWebmaster]

That is an interesting dilemma, Aussie. Clearly, the more rigor in terms of invoice reporting, the higher the administrative costs for the PPC companies, which will be passed along to advertisers.

The growing use of conversion analysis tools by advertisers should keep PPC businesses on their toes and might wake a few businesses up to the fact that they're bidding strategies on some terms are not sound business decisions.

I agree that the bidders need to examine what they are doing. I use ROI tracking to strengthen my argument against shotgun keyword marketing. But there is always someone who wants to kick the tires.

[Haystack]

But there is always someone who wants to kick the tires.

Isn't that just the nature of marketing?