How to succeed on second-tier search engines
With so many second-tiers to choose from, it's important to select those that provide the best performance. Your task is to research, test and find the winners that deliver qualified leads and conversions. Ask questions like:
- What target audience do you serve?
- How do you define a click?
- Do you monitor and reimburse for click fraud?
- Do you give a signup bonus?
- Do you require a minimum deposit; if so, how much?
- Do you require a minimum spend; if so, how much?
- How many unique visitors do you get monthly?
- What are your visitor demographics?
- Do you have a content network; if so, can I opt out?
- Do you have pay-per-call, video or other ad options?
- How robust are your bid management and reporting tools?
- Do you have testimonials from people I can contact?
- How easy is it to reach an account manager?
After satisfying the above questions, use the tips below when planning and managing your campaigns.
- Campaign goals. State your campaign goals clearly. For example, you may want to focus your ads on selling products or services, promoting an event, gaining registrations or boosting exposure for your blog.
- Superior ad copy. Create relevant, emotional headlines to get top performance.
- Precise landing pages. Next to the ad itself, your landing page is crucial for success. Know where you want visitors to land and drive them to a very specific landing page that delivers on the promise of the ad.
- Demographics. Research the second-tier engine's audience and income levels.
- Budgeting. Limit your spend and determine ROI.
- Testing. Allocate a testing budget. Check conversions and ROI before making substantive commitments on second-tiers. The amount of your test budget will depend on company size, PPC budget, number of keywords and keyword competitiveness, etc. If your product or service is not too competitive, you might be able to test for $100 or less.
- Campaign management. Use campaign management and reporting tools to track your conversions and optimize your keywords, ad groups and campaigns. Check availability and flexibility of tracking tools on second-tiers.
- Click fraud. Research click fraud protection and reimbursement policies.
Note: The above questions and tips also apply to contextual and vertical search but are not repeated on the following pages.
