Good Alternatives to Google Adwords

Tapping into Social Media

Advertisers are feeling the pinch with the cost of keywords increasing every passing day. This article looks at some good alternatives to Google Adwords that are affordable costwise and also provide decent volume of traffic.

(09) 476 4601 www.netconcepts.co.nz

Netconcepts is an Auckland search engine optimisation and search marketing consultancy with 10 years experience and impressive results in the New Zealand search industry since 1999. The company has developed cutting edge tools in the realms of seo like Wordpress plugins. In ecommerce web development, it has developed products like Gravity Stream and Gravity Matter ...

• View all contributions

• Advertising
• Strategic Marketing
• Social Networking

Google Adwords is the premier pay per click advertising network on the web today in terms of market share. It is not easy for the average advertiser to meet the happy medium of optimum cost per click and great visibility.

With the cost per click for keywords in majority of businesses increasing on the Adwords network with every passing day, there is no joy for the average advertiser as their advertising costs keep spiralling. It is irrational to expect the average advertiser to know indepth about the Adwords bidding system and factors like quality score, targeting and relevancy that can affect the cost per click costs.

Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing affords a website owner the quickest and surefire way of reaching her target audience if done right. PPC is amazing in its ability to measure results unlike traditional mediums like newsprint and radio. The cost per click (CPC) varies from industry to industry.

Though the Google Adwords search and content network command a huge share of the PPC market, it is good to know that less expensive alternatives exist where the advertiser can get the best bang for her buck. The rest of this article considers these alternatives.

Yahoo Search Marketing:
After running your PPC campaign on the Adwords network for a couple of months, you can identify the performing keywords from the non-performers. Register an account with the Yahoo ppc platform and start running campaigns targeting the keywords trialled on the Adwords network. Though traffic volumes can vary, you can get qualified paid traffic at a lower dollar value.

MSN adCenter:
Microsoft’s paid network offers some great tools once you register for an adCenter account. The quality of paid traffic generated on adCenter is of a high order and you can attract quality leads at lower costs.

Facebook:
Facebook is among the top two social media networks along with Myspace. It has a massive database of users across all ages. Tapping into this database is now possible with Facebook advertising. Facebook does the hardwork of segregating its users demographically based on age, gender, location, profession etc.

Any business owner who knows her business in and out will definitely know her target audience. She can then display ads suited to her niche’s target audience and for a few pennies per click reach a highly targeted pool of people.

Social media is increasingly influencing search patterns across the web with more and more people turning to their peers in their respective human networks for advice on anything and everything that influence even their buying decisions.

Stumbleupon:
Stumbleupon or SU allows users to stumble (or bookmark) interesting content on the web using a browser addon. Stumbling is a popular activity on the web and the rules are stringent to prevent spammers from abusing the system. Advertisements are IP geo targeted to match the user’s location. This is a very cost effective way of advertising that is also geographically and contextually targeted.

Linkedin:
Linkedin is the most popular network of professionals of almost every profession that you can find on the web. The method described herein is not one of paid advertising but sadly one that is not leveraged enough by members of the network.

Once you register with Linkedin, if you are selling red widgets, then you can join a group interested in red widgets. Build a good relationship by engaging actively with the other members of this group. Once you have gained the confidence of the other members, you can subtly drop a hint that you sell red widgets for a living.

Credit:
Ravi Venkatesan
Senior SEO Consultant
Netconcepts - Auckland SEO Firm

Online Advertising images from Flickr: social bandwagon, New Laptop and Guilt, Google Style.