Buying Space on Google

[monique_evette]

I just had a rep contact me from NetBiz.Com and she was offering to sell me a search phrase, Houston Photographer or Wedding Photographer in Houston, for a fee month to month. She said that any time someone typed in those phrases my site will be on the front page as a sponser. Does that sound right? I thought you had to go through google to be a sponser. Has anyone done something like this before?

[HotHolly]

Hey! NetBiz.Com is showing as realty site. Google ad words is purchased via Google. It sounds fishy to me.

[monique_evette]

Well if you go all the way to the right they have a tab that talks about advertising on Google. The rep showed me because I said the same thing. Although I didn't say anything about having to purchase via Google.

Originally Posted by HotHolly

Hey! NetBiz.Com is showing as realty site. Google ad words is purchased via Google. It sounds fishy to me.

[HotHolly]

Google is so ANTI ranking manipulation, that I don't see how this could be possible. Unless they outsourced their ad words? It doesnt sound like that is what the rep was saying, though. So, Im suspicious and fairly useless beyond that.

[Karla.C]

NetBiz.Com is only selling you a service that you can do yourself. They are charging you to set up and maintain a Google Ad Words account (https://adwords.google.com/select/Login) or the same with Yahoo! Search Marketing http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/ (which are both pay-per-click advertising). Besides paying NetBiz.com for this service, you still have to pay Google and Yahoo! for each click.

I'm the Manager of a Limousine Company in Houston with a large web presence, and we get companies like this, that call us on a regular bases. I personally set up our company's account with Google Ad Words and Yahoo! Search Marketing more than five years ago (and at the time I had basic computer experience). It is very easy to set up the account yourself - Please do not pay an outside company to do this for you.

The best thing for you to do is get you website optimized regularly. Our company uses a program called Dynamic Submission to submit our website to many search engines on a regular bases. We do all of this in-house - doesn't take more than a couple of hours.

[kachina]

Karla, just curious, what is your click rate with ad words (impressions/clicks).

Thanks,
Rusty

[Karla.C]

For Google Ad Words - it's not really a certain set price per click. I have it set up on a $30 per day limit - an average click cost about $0.97 per click (sometimes more, sometimes less). I don't know how Google Ad Words does there formula for click price. With Google our natural free listing is first anyways, so we set a low budget. You type in "Houston Limo" and our company is the first one listed under the "Sponsored Link". Our natural listing is high with Google because we have the right key words on our website and we have allot of website linking to our company's website - Link exchanges work with Google to get higher rankings. Our last months total bill was $850.00.

On Yahoo! Search Marketing - you set your maximum bid per search title. At the moment if you use Yahoo and type "Houston Limo", the top company is paying $4.90 per click. This price is way overpriced, why you ask? The top four companies keep outbidding each other. It isn't worth it. We pay on average $0.98 per click. We set up our maximum bid and we are 10th place. With Yahoo! our natural listing is not as high as we would like it, but we average at least on the first or second page. Our last months total bill was $720.00.

[Outlaw]

Karla, I've always read that multi-submission programs were a bane of good SEO?

http://www.myseotips.com/companies-c...gine-ignorance

Speaking on AdWords, it was very easy to set up my own 'campaign' with them. Minimum is $30/month, which I gladly pay for. They give good statistics and attributions to where they money goes, and it really is good to see what people are searching for and clicking on. I'm sure there are legitimate third-party companies that play middle-man to this for other businesses, but for us self-employed, I think taking it into your own hands will save you enough money to be worth your time.