Overture Search Engine Optimization:
PPC
Advertising
By: David
Wolf @ http://www.adultwebmasterconsultants.com/
Date: 19 September, 2002
| Overture
Associate
US Audience Reach
June 2002 |
Yahoo
Overture
First Results | 27.7% |
InfoSpace
Overture
First Results | 6.8% |
Overture.com
Own
Results | 5.7% |
Altavista
Overture
First Results | 4.7% |
Netscape
Last Results | 4.3% |
Lycos
Overture
First Results | 3.2% |
Source:
Jupiter Media Metrix via Search Engine Watch |
If
you want to start pouring traffic into your web site ASAP, then Overture
should be your first destination. But pay-per-click advertising is avoided by
many adult webmasters. Often, the costs per click are far higher than any reasonable
advertiser would be willing to pay. However, the PPC revenue model can be your
friend through careful analysis and effective copywriting. The gist: Buy the traffic
for less than it is worth to you (check your long-term conversion rates for stats),
and be sure to install meticulous visitor tracking to make sure that your media
buys are productive.
Danny Sullivan, the editor of Search Engine Watch, agrees
on the importance of using Overture when building an online brand. "If your
goal is to build visibility on search engines quickly, then Overture is an essential
option for you to explore. No other route can put you in the top results of many
major search engines in such a short period of time.
I think it is well worth
it for anyone to open an Overture account and experiment with how paid listings
may help them. An account requires a $50 minimum deposit, and you must spend at
least $20 per month. By carefully selecting targeted terms, you can stretch that
money out for one or two months and get quality traffic.
When your initial
deposit has expired, you may find that the editorial listings generated by your
submissions to directories and crawlers have kicked in. This may mean that you
can eliminate your ad spend with Overture entirely. On the other hand, you may
find that you want to continue spending and perhaps even increase your budget,
to target terms where you don't receive good editorial placement."1
An
Overview of Overture
Economic
Warfare |
If
you click on your competitors' listings while at Overture, you can financially
undermine your opposition. Consider
the capability of widespread proxy fraud. A good web spider programmer can develop
a system that causes tens of thousands of dollars in economic damage to pay-per-click
advertisers on a daily basis. Moral:
Be sure to measure the success of your Overture and other PPC traffic purchases,
and make sure that your accounts receivable conversions more than offset your
outgoing cash. |
Overture
(Nasdaq: OVER),
the darling of search engine Wall Street, is a highly profitable search engine
thanks to an exploited first mover advantage in paid advertising search engine
management. "Overture reported second quarter 2002 revenue of $152.5 million,
a 144% increase over revenue of $62.5 million in the second quarter 2001, and
a 7% increase over revenue of $142.8 million in the first quarter 2002."2
For
the cash-laden advertiser, Overture provides virtual traffic faucet for highly-trafficked
keyword phrases. But buyers beware: Establish a value for your site's traffic
before placing your bids at this engine. It is only after you know how much a
similar unique visitor (referred by a search engine such as Google) is worth.
Chances are good that the top bidders are losing money on their investments unless
they've optimized their sales copy to maximize sales conversions.
Overture's
stock has been volatile recently, thanks to the emergence of Google as the Internet's
leading search result provider. Google usurped Inktomi as Yahoo's backup provider
two years ago, and then captured the key AOL contract from Overture and Inktomi
on May 1, 2002. "AOL said its deal with Google would provide pay-for-placement
search results for its AOL, CompuServe, AOL.com and Netscape Communications properties
starting this summer. The companies did not provide details about the multiyear
deal."3
How
to Maximize Your Overture Return On Investment
In order to maximize
the ROI of your pay-per-click traffic purchases, consider the formal study of
copywriting. Effective use of headlines, color, and Web navigation are crucial
to developing top conversion rates. Geoff Mackay of Albion
Medical stresses the importance of maintaining easy-to-use order forms, and
provides a model of the adult Internet's best-selling sales copy. Visit his web
site to see how he uses a popunder newsletter console, testimonials, and free
gifts to urge his surfers to buy. Consider implementing similar tactics before
making any PPC purchases. Otherwise, yours at Overture will be a losing proposition.
And
be sure not to bid on keywords that include the word "free". This strategy
may have worked well at search engines offering free placement, but the word is
a killer when conducting PPC campaigns. You don't want to attract surfers specifically
looking for free content. If anything, the reverse is better. If you carefully
research how the main industry players market their sites at Overture, you'll
notice that the title and descriptions usually contain some sort of payment information.
This helps ensure that the visitors you're paying for are at least undaunted by
the prospect of pulling out their wallets.
| Sample
Overture Site Titles |
True
Celebs $2.95 with Credit Card See all your
favorite celebs naked, True Celebs has exclusive footage of Britney and Christina's
first time oral sex, join now for $2.95. |
Kara's
Amateurs - 5 Days $2.95 See live amateur
sex shows, the largest selection of amateur pics, visit the live chatroom and
meet horny amateurs online. Join now for $2.95 introductory membership. |
Hardcore
Lesbians - $4.95 Full Access $4.95
gets you complete access to thousands of high quality, fast loading lesbians in
videos, pictures and live sex shows. Affiliate. |
Source:
Overture |
David Wolf has worked in the adult industry for three years.
He specializes in international marketing strategy and web spider creation. David
holds a BS in Business Information Systems, is currently pursuing his MS in Strategic
Intelligence, and can be reached for follow-up inquiries at Wolf@adultwebmasterconsultants.com
or through http://www.adultwebmasterconsultants.com/.
