Google AdWords

From everything I know, I have to say BWUK is spot on and major compliments for him taking the time to lay it out.

From everything I know, I have to say BWUK is spot on and major compliments for him taking the time to lay it out.

 

 

 

I used to use Adwords a lot for some other online ventures I run outside of ADV.1 for PPC traffic to my sites... for a LOT of niche's you just get raped using google.

 

I switched over to 7search last month and cut my ad budgets to 1/4 of what they were for the same amount of CTR and traffic. Some real world numbers- car insurance niche that I am in can charge up to 8-10.00 PER CLICK on google - i'm getting the same CTR, ranking, and ad positioning for about 1.46 on 7search.

 

Ummm yea. I'm never using Google Adwords again.

 

Yeah, but I can send you a million hits a day for 1/10 the cost of 7search. The difference is in quality. Google traffic quality is probably the best by far. Their CTR is generally higher and the traffic converts way better. Even if 7search is 1/4 the cost, it would depend on your conversion rate.

^^^ well I'll be sure to let you know between lead qualitys.

^^^ well I'll be sure to let you know between lead qualitys.

 

I'll be interested to know, but I think this should give you a good idea of what to expect:

 

Google has be far the most search volume for any given keyword. Probably twice as much as everyone else combined. I think we can agree on that.

 

Say you get X clicks on Google for Keyword.

Say you get X clicks on 7search for Keyword.

Say CTR is about the same.

 

If Google has vastly more traffic than 7search, how can 7search deliver you the same amount of clicks? This leads me to believe that they are not as highly targeted as Google. If they aren't as highly targeted, then the quality must be different. I could image the difference being as great as broad match vs exact match. I never target anything other than exact match.

7Search quality is far, far below Adwords. In fact, there's been class action suits against 7search after using click fraud to drive up their profits. Sure, this was a few years ago, but it gives you an idea of who you're dealing with here.

 

Also, you have to understand how the clicks are generated with companies such as 7search.

 

With Adwords, you have people who are searching for a keyword, or term, and then the relevant ads are showing up.

 

With 7search, a huge quantity of their traffic is generate from affiliate sites, not a search engine. THe last time I ran 7search traffic, I found that more than half the traffic was fake. I'll give you an example of my side by side comparison with Google Adwords:

 

Test 1:

 

Adwords = 306 clicks 2.34 per click - 47 leads captured

 

7search = 3,984 clicks .69 per click - 0 leads captured

 

Same offer, same keywords, same ads run at the same time. So I modified and tweaked my ads with 7search, and worked with their "quality control staff." The ads I was running have never once failed with Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook... It's one of my most profitable ads, so I was curious how I could get zero leads from nearly 4,000 clicks. So I added some PPC tracking software on my site, and turned the ad on again.

 

Test 2:

 

7Search = 1,664 clicks at .74 per click - 0 leads captured

 

Software revealed: Average time on site 1 second --- BINGO - Click fraud! In fact, the click fraud was so blatant, much of the traffic was coming from the same bank of IP's!

 

I contacted 7Search one more time, and they promised to "take care of it" and that they'd ban the affiliate sites responsible, and urged me to give them another chance. So I did, as I really needed additional outlets for my ads:

 

Test 3:

 

This time I decided to run the most horrible ad imaginable, that person in their right mind would click on. See, the ad was for small businesses/Marketing, etc... I worded my new ad with horrible grammar, no call to action, nothing: "Small business held need? We can! We help make money fastly!"

 

That was my ad. Since 7Search assured me these were real live people in the U.S. as I requested, I knew that no one would click on this bad of an ad. I turned it on again, and boom! In just 2 hours, All 3,000 of the clicks I budgeted for for the day were taken up!

 

Seriously? 3,000 business owners rushed to click on my crappy ad in 2 hours? (Even Adwords doesn't deliver small business traffic this quickly!) Tracking software? Yep, once again, average time on the site was 1 second - Click fraud!!!

 

Needless to say I presented my evidence and demanded a refund from 7Search.

 

Was this a one time event? No, I'd used 7Search off and on for testing on 4 other campaigns, and to this day I've yet to get a legit lead from the site.

 

With that being said, I've noticed it depends on what sort of traffic you need. If you have a product or service that targets a focused niche, and you need niche traffic, to purchase a high end service/product, etc. 7Search seems to fail every single time. (In my personal observation) - If you have an offer with broad appeal, and lower dollar product I've seen a few individuals enjoy success from their traffic.

 

Again, this is just my own personal experience. I've also noticed that with 7Search, if you work with them long enough, and have the patience to wait out filtering the low quality affiliates, (And the budget, I rarely got the refunds promised me) You may eventually get legit traffic.

 

But in my personal opinion, there's too many legit sources of traffic out there I can benefit from for me to continuously waste my time hoping to get to the point where I get "real" visitors from 7Search.

 

 

MIVA, pretty much the same quality as 7Search. I've used most if not all the 2nd and 3rd tier PPC engines (19 of them in total) - At this point, unless I have a low dollar sale to make, I'd never go back. Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, Youtube, Stubleupon - All of these delivered vastly superior traffic without all the hassle.

Brian and cuthere - very helpful information. Thank you. Can't believe I've come so close to banning both of you multiple times

Lots of good info in here. I have been using google adwords for over 7 years now and have spent over 2.5 million dollars on it. It all depends on how much you are planning to spend on it. If you are going to put a lot of money into it, its worth hiring a full time guy.

Brian and cuthere - very helpful information. Thank you. Can't believe I've come so close to banning both of you multiple times

 

 

Brian and cuthere - very helpful information. Thank you. Can't believe I've come so close to banning both of you multiple times

 

Clearly you have something against online marketing folk.

 

I'll tell you this, if you ever decide to ban me, I may well welcome it. Spend too much time on here. I've spent the last 10-12 years of my life sitting on the internet either playing or working. Pretty soon I'm either going to start a new online business, or toss my computer out and go find a hobby.

Clearly you have something against online marketing folk.

 

I'll tell you this, if you ever decide to ban me, I may well welcome it. Spend too much time on here. I've spent the last 10-12 years of my life sitting on the internet either playing or working. Pretty soon I'm either going to start a new online business, or toss my computer out and go find a hobby.

 

 

You're not going anywhere. You're too entertaining...

Thanks for all the info Brian and Cuthere.

Agreed - you guys are spot on about 7search - quality is much lower (hence the lower cost) but it is being used on a CPA site in the most competitive niche (insurance) where I could care less about the quality of incoming traffic as long as it gets to me cheaply.

 

For actual quality customer lead generation i'd stick with adwords as you guys have already recommended.

The costs of the google adwords can add up very quickly. We outsourced our SEO to a company in India and have found a much better return on our investment than the adwords have ever given us. I would suggest doing some due diligence, making sure your website is worded correctly, have the right blogs, etc. before you spend money on adwords.