Google or Yahoo Marketing...?

benc

I have a business I started about a month ago http://BigEffinNuts.com we sell gifts and t-shirts etc, and I am using Google adwords for my advertising. Does anyone have a preference between Google and Yahoo search marketing, and please tell me why if you have one, I want to get the most for my dollar. Thanks everyone
BENC

DaleKing

Personally, if I were just startting out today, I wouldn`t go with either one. I`d go with MSN. Depending on the popularity of your keywords, overall, MSN gives you much more bang for the buck.
 
Dale King
DKing4/15/2008 4:01 PM

DaleKing

Google.
Though MSN might be more affordable, most of our hits come from google, and next yahoo.  If you`re going to spend money on adwords, I think it makes sense to spend  your money where most people search, so they find you.
 
 
 
Unfortunately, that kind of thinking is far too prevalent on the internet and it shows a complete lack of understanding about marketing as a whole. Advertising is about getting results - period. And if you can get the same or similar results while spending less money, why wouldn`t you? Why wouldn`t anyone? Especially in today`s economic climate where every dollar counts.
 
Dale King
DKing4/18/2008 9:57 AM

benc

DKing
   Can you tell me where to go on MSN to look at thier search marketing options. I can`t seem to find it, thanks all for your responses

DaleKing

Here you go, benc. https://adcenter.microsoft.com/ Be sure to come back and let us know how you made out.
 
Dale King
DKing4/18/2008 11:33 AM

DaleKing

Okay,  Dale.  I`ve never spent money advertising on the internet, so you probably are better at giving that advice.
 
 
 
That`s exactly the point, Janie. If you haven`t ever tried something, you shouldn`t be dispensing advice about it. That does much more harm than good.
 
Dale King

vwebworld

Unfortunately, that kind of thinking is far too prevalent on the internet and it shows a complete lack of understanding about marketing as a whole. Advertising is about getting results - period. And if you can get the same or similar results while spending less money, why wouldn`t you? Why wouldn`t anyone? Especially in today`s economic climate where every dollar counts. Dale King
Janie`s spending $0 on search engine marketing/ad words (MSN or otherwise) and getting good results. I`d suggest putting effort into getting the most (search results) out of your site without ad words before even thinking about  spending  money on ad words. While you may get hits from ad words, the click through rate is a lot less than having good search engine results placement. From 2005 - click throughs from SERPS ran about 65-70% while ads 30-35%This is what an eye tracking study showed. Some other info:64% of US web serches used Google (Oct, 2007)Google tops searches (Feb. 2008)  ~Roland  vwebworld4/18/2008 3:42 PM

DaleKing

 
Janie`s spending $0 on search engine marketing/ad words (MSN or otherwise) and getting good results. I`d suggest putting effort into getting the most (search results) out of your site without ad words before even thinking about  spending  money on ad words. While you may get hits from ad words, the click through rate is a lot less than having good search engine results placement.    I`m personally all for organic SEO. That`s my #1 method for generating traffic. That`s why I write so many articles. In fact, I haven`t had to spend a dime on advertising for over a year. However,  not everyone is inclined to write articles, and most newbies can`t afford to pay for professional SEO. Pay-per-click advertising, if done properly, can give you instant gratification until you get established in the search engines for your chosen keywords. It can level the playing field. If you aren`t realizing the traffic that you desire for your chosen keywords and can`t afford to pay for professional SEO, by all means, take advantage of pay-per-click advertising. Dale KingDKing4/18/2008 4:34 PM

cspelts

I agree with Dale. MSN beats out google and yahoo. You get way more bang for your buck through MSN. Good luck to you.
 
Corrina

bchwlkr56

How much of an advertising budget should a new start-up on the web have to get a good start?

exgeek

One thing I like about Google is that you can block the content network (unless something`s changed recently, you can`t do that on Yahoo).  This is important because the content networks on these search engine marketing tools are full of link farms and they tend to deliver very poor quality traffic and eat up your budget.  It also takes away from the whole idea of "show people what they are looking for when they are looking for it" because your ads display on these crappy link farms instead of down the side when people search for, in your case, mixed nuts. 
To really make search engine marketing work you`re going to need some well crafted landing pages that are rich in the keywords you are targeting.
Another thing for you to consider doing is marketing your company as a place to find corporate gifts.  Companies are always sending clients gifts and food is a popular one.  You could also market your company as a place to find other types of gifts like get well gifts or graduation gifts or gifts for college students.  Finding ways to twist what you sell will increase your marketing opportunities and you can use these twists as part of your search marketing efforts.
I blog about free and inexpensive ways to market so if you`d like ideas outside of search marketing you may find some posts of interest to you here.

exgeek

bchwlker56, that is not an easy question to answer.  I think most companies 1. spend too little on marketing and 2. do not spend wisely enough on marketing.  The actual dollar figure you need to spend is totally going to depend on what you`re selling and who you`re marketing to.  Some audiences have more marketers competing for their eyeballs and that drives up your marketing costs.