PPC on MSN

fordio · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Posts: 25

I've been looking at which PPC search engine to advertise with. On MSN it appears none of my competitors are advertising, just the usual ebay and 'mickey mouse' search sites (sorry, I don't know what you call them!).

I can't believe this is true for the keywords that have 60 or more advertisers on google and feel I must be missing something.

Does MSN show worldwide results? or just sites that choose to advertise in my country (UK)?

I'm searching from MSN.COM, not selecting 'uk only search' yet the few advertisers are mostly .co.uk sites.

Lowell Rieger · Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 10:38 am Post subject:

MSN isn't on most marketer's lists for PPC. Look on Overture, aka Yahoo Search Marketing, to see what's going on there with your terms. At this point, I'd choose Overture over MSN.

Best,

Lowell

fordio · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Posts: 25

Why is MSN being ignored? Surely if there is less competition clicks will be cheaper and conversions higher.

Lowell Rieger · Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 10:57 am Post subject:

Fordio,

Nothing is sure in PPC. The best way to find out is to test MSN yourself for your terms. What works for one, may not work for another.

When I want to test conversion at a PPC site, I try to do it with other people's money. In other words, most PPC sites have partners that offer ad money credits (google) or sign up credits (overture.) I don't know what MSN is offering, or who their partners are, if any....

Lowell

fordio · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Posts: 25

Thanks for the advice Lowell. I'm not quite understanding how you check conversions with other peoples money though.

At the moment I'm feeling MSN is worth a try.

Lowell Rieger · Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:07 pm Post subject:

Fordio,

Re using other people's money.

My web host had a special that gave me a $25 Adwords credit. So for spending $7 for a month's hosting, I got a $25 credit.

Overture often has sign up credits. Usually that's around $25. I believe if you follow Ros's links on the sidebar for "site promotion" and click through to the pay per click page you'll get a link where you'll be signed up with a $25 credit.

Either is enough to get 100 clicks at .25 a click. 100 clicks is usually enough to get an indication of your conversion. I like around 250 or more to really get a better number. This is just basic statistics, the larger the sample size, the less the error. But 100 clicks with other people's money is a great start.

And of course at some point you have to fund your account to keep going. But you did some experimenting with other people's money, and that's a good thing.

Does MSN offer credits? I don't know. Do a little snooping and see what you can find.

Lowell