Newsletter ArchiveSUBJECTs:Targeting Pay-per-click - Scams The Internet 800 Directory - http://www.inter800.com The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter This issue is for Friday, August 24, 2001 Table of Contents 01. Intro 02. Targeting Pay-per-click 03. Scams *01 Intro Welcome to The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter. Everyday tens of thousands of people use our directory to find the toll free numbers they need to contact companies for goods and services. Our service provides an enormous value to companies that advertise in our directory. Some people have a hard time understanding just how great an asset our listings are for gaining sales. Steve’s article “Targeting Pay-per-click” does a good job of explaining this. I hope everyone is enjoying these last few weeks of summer, if you have any thoughts on any ideas that could be helpful to the others in this group send them to me (Chuck Arning) at chuck@inter800.com *02 Targeting Pay-per-click Nearly all of the newsgroups to which I belong have been posting articles regarding pay-per-click advertising, whether it be through sites like GoTo or an individuals own sites with affiliate programs. I thought we might briefly state some thoughts and I will try to illustrate how targeting your advertising and your click-throughs can make them pay. To begin with, let's examine this article: Search Listings by Placement Beat Banner Ads "Internet News - Feb 14 2001: A new study has found that search listings are better than banner ads at creating effective brands. The study from NPD Group found that search listings are more effective than standard banner or button advertisements when it comes to brand recall, favorable opinion rating and inspiring purchases. In unaided recall, search listings outperformed banners and buttons by three to one, and more than twice as many people gave a more favorable opinion of companies in the top three search positions than those featured in ads. The study also found that 55 percent of online purchases were made on sites found through search listings, while a mere nine percent were on sites found through banner ads. The survey was sponsored by pay-for-performance search provider GoTo.com. Other search engines and directories such as Google, LookSmart, Ask Jeeves, and Yahoo are following its lead and offering enhanced pay-for-placement programs." Now we all know that since February 2001, Google, GoTo, Yahoo etc. have turned to pay-per-click sites. How do we analyze that? First let me say that a simple click-through does not necessarily mean that it earned you money, unless that viewer ACTS, either with a phone call or an electronic submission of some kind. Many click-throughs simply bounce out of the page they landed on because A. either the content was not what they wanted, or B. the site failed to sell itself or C. it was too hard to navigate for what they were looking to maintain their interest or effort. Whatever the case, the pay-per-click was just an additional cost. It can be argued, however, that a person who clicked-through and then viewed other pages within that site was at least interested enough to see what it had to say, and may come back. In the first case (A.), there may be some fairly easy solutions: First, make sure that your key words in your headings and your landing page coincide with any advertising or search engine descriptions that you do. This will result in more direct relevancy click-throughs and conversion rates to your other pages. This may sound simple, but we track our key word search strings religiously and find that "800 directory, 800 numbers and toll free directory" produce our largest percentage of page views, which therefore result into a direct search for a toll free number or category because they are directly related. We aren't found because we put "AT&T" as a toll free carrier in our headings. As for B or C, a very introspective, analytical approach must be applied. Does your content say what it means and mean what it says. Is it making a decent sales approach so that you would buy if you had seen it? Are the graphics to obtrusive and slow to load? I'm sure that Chuck has addressed many of these things about web sites in this newsletter before. I would add that any site that is hard to search is nearly impossible to sell. Should you need help in this arena, call us and we'll give you a good referral. ;) Taking these factors into consideration, lets turn for a second to targeted marketing versus a shot-gun approach to a pay-per-click. The Internet 800 Directory (http://gotollfree.com) staff regularly reviews both the ranking of key words and their correlation to our advertisers in the Internet 800 Directory. One of the things that we notice and that our customers tell us is that a direct search for a company name almost always produces a phone call. This is due to the obvious reason that a person looking for a toll free number is ready to call. This is better than any click-through or pay-per-click ad on the Internet because it produces immediate action. When coupled with a key word priority listing and link to a web site, it is a doubly effective tool. Let's use one of our major telephony companies as an illustration. In this case, in June 2001, we received 6,689 direct requests for this carrier's name. We also received 28,788 for telephony-related key words, such as "PCS" or "cellular", of which this carrier had many listed in its key words, so that it showed up as an Enhanced, Priority-Positioned Listing in addition to the direct search. As you know, the national average for click-throughs on banner ads is 1/2 of 1% of all page impressions, but let's use 1% for conservatism. This carrier would had to have received 668,900 impressions to produce that amount of direct activity, the majority of which would have resulted in a direct toll free call or a click-through to the site. In addition, even if only 10% of the key word searches called, that would represent an additional 287,900 page impressions. To achieve this same level of activity using traditional online advertising, this carrier would have spent $14,348 for the month. This is assuming a very cheap rate of $15 CPM and many major sites charge as much as $35 CPM, increasing the cost to over $30,000 dollars. In addition, on key words, the higher the positioning, the better the response. This carrier was ranked 13th in our directory, under a direct search. Think of the response in position #1. Now for the plug - this is a very targeted, effective and inexpensive marketing tool on the Internet, which combines placement and relevancy via key words, click-throughs and telephone dial-ins. Other sites are starting to follow our lead as well, in the fixed pricing model versus pay-per-click. Also, versus your free key word searches, you will find that you will receive higher quality visitors, whom are more targeted, coming from paid search listings - regardless of the site. Steven Jackson sjackson@inter800.com *03 Scams Today, I'm going to talk about some of the scams that permeate our everyday life. Since we are a directory and a member of the YPPA (Yellow Pages Publishers Assoc.), I'll start here. The most common Yellow Page scam is also the easiest to implement (and fall for). An invoice is sent to the business for the renewal of an ad or listing in the "local" yellow pages. Because anyone may use the term "yellow pages" and utilize the "walking finger" logo, this invoice may appear quite legitimate. In truth, the directory may never actually get printed, or distribution may be limited to advertisers, rather than consumers, thus negating the value of the ad. If a mail-out has the appearance of an invoice but it is actually a solicitation for an order, the U.S. Postal regulations require this type of mail to include these words: "THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS A SOLICITATION. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THE AMOUNT STATED ABOVE UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER." This disclosure is supposed to be in boldface, capital letters that are at least as large as the largest type on the solicitation, but it could still be overlooked or misunderstood. Another clue to look for is the lack of a telephone number on the invoice. Scammers do not want to take your phone calls. Another popular fraud involves getting the victim to unwittingly call a pay-per-call telephone number. We all know about 900 numbers, but did you know that calls to 809, the area code for the Caribbean, may also come with hefty charges in addition to the long distance? The lack of a need to dial a country code, coupled with the proliferation of new area codes, helps disguise this "overseas" number. Since 809 is not in the US, it is not treated as 900 numbers, which require you to be notified of rates and charges when you call the number. Obviously, blocking "900" numbers will not prevent someone from calling an 809 number. Potential victims may be induced to call this number in a variety of clever ways. A message may be left on your voicemail (or pager) telling you that you've won a fabulous prize, a relative is ill or in jail, or even that someone has died. When you call the number, you may find yourself on hold for a long time and/or the message you hear is completely unrelated. When your phone bill comes in, lookout! It is very difficult to dispute these charges, as it is your phone company that is now trying to collect them. My favorite comes to me weekly via email. I am frequently contacted by members of the Nigerian (or some other) government pleading for my help. It seems they have been told what a trustworthy soul I am and have nowhere else to turn. They have a large sum of cash (at least $25 million) and need my help to move it out of their country. And they'll give me 25% for my troubles! All I need to do is give them my bank account number and they'll do the rest. Needless to say, since I'm still working here, I haven't taken them up on this offer yet. Also, as much as I could sure use that $6.25 million, I suspect that if I give them my bank account number, they might do a little withdrawing, rather than depositing. Last year, $3,387,530 was reported lost to Internet related fraud. Of course, the actual amount is much higher, as I'm sure many don't report their loss due to embarrassment or the inability to prosecute. Currently, the number one vehicle for Internet fraud is the online auction. I almost became a victim last year. I was shopping for a PlayStation2 and found a reasonably priced unit on Yahoo's auction site. After placing the order, I was notified by amazon.com that they had some in stock and I got lucky enough to buy one retail. I contacted the auctioning party and apologized for having to cancel my order. I never received a reply. Days later, I began receiving emails from others who had purchased a unit from this same vendor. They wanted to know if I had received mine, as they were all still waiting. I cannot begin to tell you how close I came to losing $700. If you utilize online auctions, I recommend doing as thorough an investigation of the vendor as possible. Many online auction sites provide feedback from other purchasers and comments about the vendor. Remember, that item you're thinking of buying won't be a good value if it never arrives. Back when I first discovered the Internet, I lost $60 purchasing some collectible sports videos. After I sent my money, I did a little research and found that the guy I paid had an incredible legacy of stiffing people. Had I taken the time to do this beforehand, I would have saved my money. Please learn from my mistake. If you would like to share your own experience, or if you have seen a new method of relieving honest folks of their hard-earned cash, please pass it along. Thank you. That is all – George (george@inter800.com) Thanks for taking to time to review our newsletter for this week. If you know of anyone that might benefit from receiving this newsletter, send them to (http://www.inter800.com/news800/ ) where they can subscribe. All Contents Copyright ©1995-2001 The Internet 800 Directory Subscribe To The Newsletter: |