Advertising on Goto.com
Written: Sep 22 '00 (Updated Mar 27 '01)
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The Bottom Line
You WILL get traffic to your site...But it WILL cost you.
Many quality hits and bottom line is it PAYS to advertise.
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| Full Review |
It does pay to advertise. Sure, there are plenty of free search engines out there, but try getting your site listed anywhere near the first page. Unless you are proficient with Meta tags and keywords, this is your best recourse. Buying advertising on Goto.com works.
You pick a keyword or words. Whatever someone would type in search of your particular promotion. Describe your ad and list your link.
You are required to deposit a minimum of $25.00 (by check or credit card). You have to generate $20.00 worth of clicks per month. The minimum bid amount is now $.05. Older advertisers (such as myself) can keep our old (as low as $.01 per keyword) bids until Sept 2001.
If you are on a limited budget.........
Stay away from the keywords charging from $.50 to over $1.00. Try different words or combinations that are charging less. I have had success buying misspelled versions of the words I want. (Brainstorm after reading my own typing) they don't test your spelling like epinions...
The reason you want to pay as little as possible for your words is that many people are just looking for info. If you have a referral type promotion, you already know that there are people who don't seem to want you to get any reward for your work. I have had over 200 hits to a referral program that paid $5.00 per referral. I got 4 referrals ($20). My ad was for $.02 a click. So for $4 in advertising fees I made $16.00 profit for that particular thing. I know it's small potatoes...but you get the idea.
I listed over 100 keywords and phrases. I only get 10-20 hits a day. I get referrals in something everyday and the low amount of clicks is good for my advertising budget and shows that you do get quality hits. After all, they are searching for you. Naturally it depends on what you are advertising.
Every day you can check to see which keywords were clicked on and how many times. How much it cost you and your remaining balance.
The account management site is very user friendly. Everything is self explanatory. Adding keywords, adding money, deleting words, editing your ad. It's great actually seeing your site ad on the first page. Of course you still have to sell them once they visit your site...
Hmmm...200 hits...4 referrals....maybe I should redo that page.
UPDATE: Goto.com has partnered with AOL, Microsoft Internet Explorer and soon..Lycos. The number of hits I receive has about tripled. Great exposure but your advertising money doesn't last as long. Still, bottom line...it pays to advertise.
And I did redo my page. I have referred over 200 people to PayPal. I was getting 50-100 hits a day. 4-5 referrals a day. Unfortunately, PayPal has changed things so as to make it practically impossible to get the referral fee now. I just deleted that link. I still use Goto.com to advertise because it works.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mcswarsik
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Member: Mike
Location: CT
Reviews written: 60
Trusted by: 106 members
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