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What PPC Engine to Start With

by UberAffiliate on February 6, 2008 in Affiliate Tips, Google Adwords, MSN adCenter, PPC, Yahoo Search Marketing with 39 Comments

Most of the time I post about PPC, I’m mentioning Google Adwords. Mainly it’s because it’s what gives most people the hardest time – myself included. I’d say it has the most risk, but also the most reward, as Google is the king of traffic when it comes to PPC engines. But what engines should you start with? What about Yahoo and MSN? Here are two open facts :

  • Most of my PPC traffic comes from Google Adwords, and I make good money off it. I do have Yahoo and MSN accounts as well, but I’m getting the most traffic from Google.
  • I know people who are making $3,000-5,000 day using Yahoo and MSN, with minimal Google. That’s definitely possible as well.

Don’t be tranced into thinking Google is the only way to a lot of money. There is plenty of money to be made in Yahoo and MSN – and generally it’s cheaper. So where I may spend $2,000 in Google to make $3,000, my buddy in Yahoo may spend $1,000 and make $3,000. Where did I start affiliate marketing? Yahoo Search Marketing. So when then do I focus most of my efforts into Google? Mainly because I’m a pretty impatient (scratch that – very impatient) person and I want the most possible traffic in the shortest amount of time. So I usually just go pretty guns and glory in Google and most of the times end up losing a buck or two (or three thousand two days ago – lol).

If you’re starting or having a rough time with Google, take a step back and work in Yahoo a bit. They’re a bit more confusing at times because some things in their system are just whack, but it’s cheaper traffic, lower volume so you’ll spend less, and not as overwhelming or upsetting as Google (because looking and seeing 2/5 bars in Yahoo for quality score just isn’t as rough as seeing “Poor – Please Bid $10.00″). MSN has been hailed as cool by some people because you can get nickel clicks on random keywords…this was cool in the days of ‘ole but I don’t really do anything like that any more. Once you get your campaign optimized and running in Yahoo, just export it and import it straight into MSN and let it run. Track it and make sure it’s profiting, but it should if you keep everything the same.

What about the even smaller guys like Ask and LookSmart. I’ve had a little success with Ask in the past and the traffic is really cheap, but I wouldn’t recommend LookSmart. I got a bunch of terrible traffic and lost a couple thousand, thankfully they refunded it all for me as I set up terms beforehand to “test” the traffic. In either case, I wouldn’t start your campaign testing with Ask or LookSmart, I’d just use them as a possible supplement to your already strong campaign.

So let’s answer the title – which PPC engine should you start with? Ready for the uber surprising answer – it’s up to you. If you’re more conservative, get things going on in Yahoo and MSN. If you’re impatient like me and don’t care about losing a few bucks, try and hit Google hard. There is one fact that I will tell you is the 100% truth though :

There is money to be made in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. All of them.

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