Pay Per Click versus Pay Per Performance Marketing

Hello eTaildTail community.  I have gotten some mails this week about Pay-Per-Click ad/marketing campaigns versus Pay-Per-Transaction/Performance ad/marketing campaigns.  I wrote some thoughts in a newsletter for MerchantAdvantage and I wanted to share those thoughts with you. There is also a free webinar that you can download associated with these thoughts if you prefer to get your information that way.

I hope these thoughts help.

-- Chip

"You have an online storefront and you have some customers coming to your storefront but you want more. The first thing most online merchants do is jump on the "adword/keyword search" band wagon to get more traffic using search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com, LookSmart and others.

Not a bad idea, since millions of visitors search these sites everyday looking for help. The only problem with this method of marketing is, as an online merchant selling product, you are in the mix with hundreds of thousands of searches that relate to the "keyword" you purchase that may have nothing to do with the actual product search on the product you are trying to sell. Such examples include the history of your product, articles about a product, etc…To get around this, you can always bid higher for a given "keyword" on these search engines to guarantee you are listed on page one, or better yet, you come up at the very top – if you pay enough.

A more effective, or complimentary marketing method, may be to focus on the search engines that only focus on marketing retail products that online merchants sell and also bring in millions of potential customers each day. These are affectionately known as shopping destination sites and include:

1. Marketplaces, such as Amazon.com, Shop.com, JellyFish.com, and Underbid.com
2. Comparison Shopping Engines, such as Pronto.com, PriceRunner.com, PriceGrabber.com, Pronto.com, Shopping.com, Smarter.com, Shopzilla.com, Yahoo! Shopping, and over 100 others. For a complete list please see MerchantAdvantage.com
3. Mobile Commerce Engines, such as mPoria.com and mShopper.com
4. Couparison Shopping Engines, such as MyCoupons.com and CouponMountain.com
5. Product Review Sites, such as PowerReviews.com and Buzzillions.com, and
6. Hybrid Sites: GroupGain.com, NetHaggler.com and other sites, where online shopping occurs but revenue models vary.

These types of sites can be very beneficial to an online merchant, as millions of people come to them everyday looking for products to buy, review, and compare. As with general search engines, these sites do not guarantee sales, but for the most part, when managed correctly, can really help lead potential buyers to your online storefront, which can lead to sales and definitely leads to good branding.

Using Shopping Destination Sites: Choice

Every online merchant should first ask the same question: Which shopping destination site will lead to the most sales?

While an excellent question, it is nearly impossible to say which of over 100 shopping destination sites might work best for your product catalog and lead to the most sales. Everyone usually tries out Amazon, Yahoo! Shopping, Shopping.com, PriceGrabber.com, and Shopzilla.com as they are the best known and have built trust in the marketplace for the customers buying products and the merchants listing products. But these are not your only choices. And, remember, new shopping destination sites with unique business models are popping up every month which can also lead to new sales and branding opportunities.

There are many shopping destination sites from which to choose,..."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to continue reading the free newsletter written by Chip Arndt for MerchantAdvantage. 

It is a good read and I think the advice in it will help online merchants with their PPC campaigns across the board.  And when you click over, there is nothing else you have to do but to enjoy the article, promise!

And here is a link to the other helpful free newsletters. <<<CLICK HERE>>>.

-- Chip