Friday, July 25, 2008

Why You Should Use One of the Top PPC Services

By Maxine Stirling

If you're looking to start a PPC campaign for the first time, then you've probably noticed that there are many different options. There are only a few that you should seriously consider, though, because of their volume of customers.

The biggest names in the PPC game are Google and Yahoo. Google's service, AdWords, is the undisputed champion of the PPC landscape. Either service, though, offers a host of quality benefits and features, and they match up fairly similarly. If you're trying to choose between the two, think about the size of your campaign. If you're going to a very widespread campaign that needs to target the highest number of prospects possible, then Google is your best bet. Why? Google does a higher volume of PPC each month than the other services combined.

That's not to say Yahoo's service is not a smart option for an online advertising campaign. Yahoo can be a great choice, especially for a campaign that is a little bit smaller in scope and is not as dependent upon mass quantity. Or, some campaigns utilize a combination of both services. This can be a good way to create a campaign that has even further reach into your target demographic.

While Google and Yahoo are the top PPC services out there, many other exist such as MSN and Ask Jeeves (ask.com) to name a couple. Either of these would also be an effective way to run a smaller campaign. And, because these services are not as competitive as the top PPC services, it is actually possible to get a lower CPC (cost per click) on similar search terms, and to increase the efficiency of each conversion. The biggest drawback, though, is a smaller potential customer base. These smaller services simply cannot compete with the astronomical numbers of Google and, to a lesser degree, Yahoo.

In truth, almost all of the PPC services you can choose from offer very similar features and benefits. There is a standard across the PPC industry, and most services comply tot his. But as Google and Yahoo are very large media companies, they have developed very smooth systems that are bug-free and streamlined. But what really separates the top PPC services is simply volume. Google does more customer volume than all the other PPC services combined. Yahoo is a solid (though distant) second place. Both of these campaigns can be used on a large-scale basis, while the other services are perhaps better suited for smaller, more specified PPC campaigns.

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