WHAT ARE SEARCH AND CONTENT NETWORKS?

Search and content networks are arguably the most flexible and relevant advertising vehicles in existence, and a modern-day gold rush has quietly been building up steam around them for a decade or more. By allowing you to pick keywords and phrases to trigger your ads, you control who sees these ads with a level of detail never before possible.

Unlike in the old days, though, this modern-day gold rush doesn’t require that you pick up and leave everything else behind while you seek your fortune in some faraway land. In fact, you need not even quit your day job.

As I mentioned before, there are two basic types of search and content networks: pay for placement and performance-based. The pay-for-placement model is the traditional one. Explained quite simply, the highest bidder receives the highest ad position in relation to search results and pays the most per click for that privilege.

This model may serve some businesses well, but for a search marketer and affiliate advertiser who often competes against many other search marketers advertising the same affiliate programs, there is little or no money to be made.

The earnings per click will be virtually the same for anyone bidding on the same keyword and advertising the same affiliate program, and the result is usually several ads bidding right up to the maximum amount you are likely to be able to earn per click. There are some exceptions, to be sure, but I largely avoid these types of search engines, as there is little hope of making a decent return on my investment of time and money.

The newer, performance-based search and content networks are your best bet. Rather than giving the highest position to the person willing to pay the most, performance-based algorithms take into account the actual performance of your ad in relation to others.

If your ad is clicked on 10 percent of the times it is viewed, and your competitor’s ad is clicked on only 5 percent of the time, these algorithms recognize that the search engine can make more money running your ad even by charging you just a little more than half of what your competitor might be willing to pay. That’s right, you can get a higher position (which translates directly to higher volume) for a lower cost if you write an ad that outperforms the competition.

If you forget everything else I tell you, remember this: Ad copy is king! Numerous search and content networks are available online; for a more complete and up-to-date list, you can visit AffiliateMillions.com, but for now I list just a few of the big ones.

First-Tier Search and Content Networks

These networks are among the largest and best-known search engines, and sometimes lesser-known search pages are powered behind the scenes by these engines and their search algorithms. More important, however, these search engines provide highquality click traffic from their Internet-savvy users.

Google AdWords.

The Google AdWords program is a pioneer of performancebased paid search, and it can deliver both quantity and quality click traffic. It offers a variety of helpful tools, including customized reports, conversion tracking, geotargeting, keyword suggestions, and ad diagnostics.

An ad could cost as little as 1 cent per click, but you are more likely to pay at least 3 cents per click on most campaigns.

MSN adCenter.

MSN’s ad-Center program is a newer convert to the performancebased model, and although the volume of Internet searches performed on MSN does not currently approach Google’s, the quality of traffic is very comparable. Also, MSN’s adCenter program offers a variety of tools and options that include customized reports and geo-targeting, and it even allows advertisers certain demographic targeting options not currently available on many other search engines.

Yahoo! Search Marketing.

Yahoo! Search Marketing is one of the first and largest search and content networks on the Internet. Although the company has been around since 1994, Yahoo! didn’t get aggressive about search marketing until 2002, when it began acquiring competing companies such as Inktomi and Overture.

It stopped using Google’s paid search service and began using its own technology in 2004; and, while it has only recently committed to adopting a performance-based paid search algorithm, Yahoo! certainly has the potential to match Google in terms of both quality and quantity.

Second-Tier Search and Content Networks

These search and content networks may not be as well-known or as popular as the first-tier engines, and the quality and volume of the traffic generated may not always be as high, but oftentimes these engines can deliver clicks at a lower cost, and in a business such as search marketing, that lower cost could translate to higher margins.

These networks can be great for picking up some extra clicks at a good price, but I encourage you to be even more selective than you might normally be when selecting keywords and phrases (something discussed in more detail later). In particular, be very cautious using broad match on single keywords, as some of these algorithms seem to broad-match more widely than others, and this can sometimes result in lessrelevant click traffic.

MIVA (www.miva.com). This site has as its mission “Help Your Business Grow.” It has several international sites, including separate locations in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, and other nations.

MIVA offers a pay-per-click system as well as a pay-per-call system. If the companies you advertise (e.g., those in service industries, such as financial and investment companies or medical professionals) want to receive phone calls from prospective customers, consider MIVA.

Kanoodle (www.kanoodle.com). Along with targeting ads based on geographic location of the prospective customers, the context of the ad, and keywords, Kanoodle offers one other innovative solution: targeting the behavior of prospective customers.

The BehaviorTarget program identifies segments of Web surfers based on their online behavior, sending ads for specific products and services to individuals based on that behavior. For instance, if Kanoodle knows that someone has visited the site of a surfing shop in the past 30 days, it might deliver paid placement advertisements for surfboards and other equipment to that individual.

Enhance (www.enhance.com). This network seeks to distinguish itself from the competition in two ways. First of all, the site claims that its click prices (with a minimum bid of 3 cents per click) are lower than those of most other networks. Second, it seeks to offer a higher level of customer support than bigger competitors: Each customer gets a telephone number and access to an account representative who can help.

Enhance has excellent customer service, and my experience has been that it can actually deliver a very high volume of clicks at a low price, but you must be very selective with the keywords you use, making certain that they are highly relevant.

Why choose one of the second-tier content networks? In some instances content networks like Kanoodle provide high-quality traffic for specialized subjects. For certain products or services, these networks might perform very well, so don’t leave them out of your options.

I don’t recommend that you start out, though, with secondtier search and content networks, because their volume and/or quality of traffic is sometimes much lower than that of their bigger competitors. It’s safer to start out with the bigger players and then expand to one or more of these smaller sites after you secure a foothold in the market and have some experience managing search campaigns.