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Overture Search Engine Optimization

by David Wolf of Adult Webmaster Consultants

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/.


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