How to make the most of GoTo.com Teacher: Ken Evoy GoTo.com charges you "per-click" to your site -- *you* decide how much to pay for each click by bidding against others for the same word. Bidding starts at a penny. You can bid for as many keywords as you like (must be relevant to the website). Last issue, we mentioned how this was almost the exact opposite of RealNames, where you pay US$100/year to buy a RealName. So your RN goal is to get as many clicks as possible to your site for your FLAT FEE of $100. With GoTo.com, however, you almost want the opposite.. as FEW clicks as possible. Why? Because you pay for each click! Now, you don't really want as FEW clicks as possible... you want as FEW OFF-target visitors as possible. So gear everything you do to maximizing on-target visitors for the least amount of money. Bottom line strategy?... 1) Bid for hundreds of ON-target keywords, especially the less-obvious ones which will be quite cheap to buy. Unfortunately, obvious, popular keywords have become too expensive. I'll tell you this -- there's no way I'm paying $5.00 for popular keywords -- not unless I'm selling a product that has a profit of $500 and I have a 10% Conversion Rate! 2) Write your Title and Description so that *ONLY* your target market clicks (since each click costs you). A GoTo searcher who reads your Title and Description should clearly understand what she'll get if she clicks. If it does not interest her, she'll give you a pass. Which is EXACTLY what you want when it comes to GoTo.com. That's GoTo 101. Now let's take the advanced course. GoTo.com is *NOT* your normal search engine. You actually have to pay to get your site listed. Ridiculous? Not really... Think of GoTo.com as another advertising media. Use it wisely, and you'll turn your advertising dollars into handsome profits. With GoTo.com you basically bid for search term positioning. Each time someone clicks through to your site via the link on GoTo.com, they charge you the amount that you bid. Bidding starts at a penny. You can bid for as many relevant keywords as you like. Go see for yourself now. Do a search at GoTo.com for a keyword that is important to your business. See where it says, "Cost to advertiser: $_.__)" These are what advertisers pay whenever someone clicks on their links. You'll see that each rank lower costs less, of course. If you do a search for a keyword and you don't see any price listing, that means no one has bid for that word yet. The entire bidless search results (and those that appear below the lowest bid) are powered by Inktomi (which also sells its search engine technology to Yahoo!, HotBot, etc). Don't be surprised to see bids going as high as $5.00, or even higher. Money talks *loudly* at GoTo.com. To get top positions, you either need to have... BIG BUCKS -or- BIG SMARTS. This issue of the EDGE will give you the SMARTS! It will show you a step-by-step approach to getting maximal bang for your GoTo.com advertising campaign. It's a bit heavy going at times. But hang on tight... it's worth it. :-) 1. How much is a click-through worth to you? 2. Destination URL 3. Keyword Selection and Bids 4. Title and Description 5. Time to Blast Into Hyperdrive 6. Submitting Your Bids 7. Maintenance 8. Bits and Pieces 9. Conclusion 1. How much is a click-through worth to you? Before forking out any money, always think of what you can get in return first (sorry, I'm a mercenary guy here). So ask yourself... if you pay GoTo.com $x per click-through, how much profit can you get in return? Confused? A little math will clear things up in a jiffy... Suppose you are selling a digital product (i.e., zero incremental per-unit cost of production) at $50, and you have a 1% conversion ratio, i.e., you make one sale for every 100 visitors. So one visitor is worth $0.50 ($50/100), and that is the maximum amount you should bid at GoTo.com for each keyword. We will call this your BID CAP. ----- SIDEBAR ----- To find out your conversion ratio, check your website stats. If you're promoting an affiliate program, find out if such information is available from the affiliate stats page. Your conversion ratio is the best starting guide to determine your BID CAP. The CAP is just an estimate, and should be refined along the way. ----- SIDEBAR ----- 2. Destination URL Isn't the destination obvious? Not necessarily... If you only sell one product, yes... it's obvious -- just direct visitors to the URL where you do your normal web selling. Of course, I'm assuming you have Made a Site that SELLS!. :-) But if you sell many products, don't send every keyword search to your Home Page. Send each one to your most relevant product page. If you have a large Web store with 500 SKUs, pick your most important 50. Create a special page for each of those to land GoTo visitors upon. It should contain solid content all about that product, From there, the visitor can click straight into the shopping cart. (Gradually expand this program for all of your products.) Even send some to your e-zine URL... If you can't get them to buy on their first visit, get them to buy on subsequent visits, or even get them to buy something else! But there is only ONE way for you to do this back-end selling -- you *must* first get their email addresses. You do publish an e-zine, right? You **must, must, must** put up a subscription box to ask for your visitors' email addresses! Once they give you their email addresses, they are hooked to you, for life! (Or until they unsubscribe, of course.) You can then send them periodic mails and continue your gentle blend of sales pitch and content, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Getting the email address is your Backup Response. ----- SIDEBAR ----- The Most Wanted Response and the Backup Response are fully covered in MYSS!. They are critical concepts. If you're a bit hazy, take a few minutes off to read about them in MYSS!. ----- SIDEBAR ----- 3. Keyword Selection and Bids Now, the crucial step, and the most time-consuming one... What keywords do you want to target? For the sake of simplicity, I'm using keywords, key phrases and search terms interchangeably with one another. GoTo.com recently issued their new relevancy guide... http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/relevancy.jhtml. Why the new guide? Because their search results have been degrading! A direct result of advertisers buying up hundreds and hundreds of irrelevant keywords to get more traffic. GoTo.com is likely to go heavy on this one, so *MAKE SURE* your keywords are relevant to your site, or it won't be accepted by GoTo.com. Here's GoTo.com global relevancy standard... "Advertisers may bid on a search term if their Web site has content that is clearly and obviously reflective of the search term, and their search listing (the search title and description) accurately describes why their Web site is listed for the search term." The key point? It must be obvious that your site is **about** your search term, or has obvious links to it. Let's call this the "ABOUT" test... If you bid for the keyword "panda," your page must be *about* pandas. Having a cute little picture of a panda on a page that discusses wild life does not make that page relevant to the keyword. But it should be OK if you created a wonderful page all about pandas. This page would conclude by leading into your main site, and the navbar would of course present full-site navigation choices. Remember, GoTo.com is just like any other search engine. It needs to give relevant search results to attract users. Or surfers will stop using it. Plain and simple. So put yourself in the shoes of a GoTo.com reviewer. Take a hard look at your keyword, and your page. Are they consistent with each other? Does it pass the "ABOUT" test? Would *YOU* approve it if *YOU* were GoTo.com? GoTo.com's new relevancy guide has some good examples on listings that are considered relevant. Use them as references... http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/relevancy.jhtml If you're new to GoTo.com, I suggest that you start off with about 50 search terms as a test to make sure that you are doing everything correctly. No point submitting thousands of keywords, only to have them rejected. Once your listing has been approved, usually within 3-5 business days, build up more search terms gradually. If you already have an account with GoTo.com, you will quickly hear if any of your search term falls short of their relevancy requirement. Ready to brainstorm your keywords? -----SIDEBAR----- We discuss several keyword-brainstorming techniques in MYSS!. Now would be a good time to review those. We'll cover a couple with specific applicability here. -----SIDEBAR----- First, open your word processor, text editor, spreadsheet, database or any thing where you can jot down notes. Done? Ok, let's get rolling! Go to... http://inventory.goto.com/inventory/Search_Suggestion.jhtml This is the GoTo.com Suggestion Tool, and is extremely useful to our brainstorming exercise. Suppose you are offering web design services. Enter "web design" and click "Find it." This gives you a list of all searches that were done in the preceding month that contained or were related to "web design", and also how many times each search term was requested. This is what you get (may change by the time you read this)... Count Search Term 20950 web design 15979 web site design 3749 web page design 574 web design firm 543 free web design 469 web design company 409 e-commerce web design 326 free web page design 245 web design software 207 web design award <SNIP> Wow, you are in a highly competitive area! Tens of thousands of searches have been made. Can you imagine the kind of traffic you get if you occupy the top position? But it doesn't come cheap... Do a search for "web design" at GoTo.com. The top position will cost you $2.53 per click! Sorry, this way exceeds your BID CAP of $0.50 (we worked this out earlier in the first section, remember?). So what position can you get with $0.50? The 47th position, which is listed on the second page. Take note, for the same bid, GoTo.com works on a first-come first-served basis. That is, your new $0.50 bid will appear at the end of all existing $0.50 bids. If you look carefully, you realize that you can easily get a first page listing, without spending **much** more. If you just increase your bid by 1 cent, you get the 38th position, a first page listing. Remember, our BID CAP is just a ballpark estimate. Be flexible. And be observant. 1 cent to improve 9 positions and get a first page listing? It's a steal! Jot down the search term "web design" and the corresponding bid of "$0.51" in your word processor (or text editor, spreadsheet, database, etc.). Let's look at the second relevant search term that our GoTo.com Suggestion Tool has generated -- "web site design." Now enter "web site design" and let the Suggestion Tool churn out our second list of related search terms. Count Search Term 15979 web site design 99 how to design a web site 90 free web site design 55 web site design company 50 best web site design 49 web site design services 44 web site design award 43 web site design software 35 web site design new jersey 33 design web site <SNIP> This second list is slightly different from the first list that we've generated. It is more *related* to "web site design." Due to the similarity between "web design" and "web site design," expect some duplication in both lists. Repeat the same procedure. Do a search at GoTo.com for "web site design." Good news! This time you get to sit at the 27th position with a $0.50 bid. Continue with the second search term of your second list -- "how to design a web site." Good news, again. :-) The top bid is only $0.11, way below your $0.50 CAP. You can now get a top position at $0.12. Make sure you note down all this information (i.e., your search term and bid). You need them later. The next term is "free web site design." Do you really offer free design service? If you offer free trial design service or something like that, you qualify for this search term. Remember GoTo.com's relevancy guide that we discussed earlier? We don't want to trick the search engines, or your visitors. We only want *targeted visitors*. Let's move on to the fourth term "web site design company." Take a hard look at the search results. Yes, you can buy the first position for $0.19. But wait, if you look closer, you'll find something of real value... Check out the bids for the 4th and 5th listing -- 15 cents and 4 cents respectively. Now that is a very wide spread! Why? Because people are lazy, and they didn't do their homework... Unlike you. :-) If you just bid at 5 cents, you get the 5th position. That is a good saving of 14 cents! Of course, you miss out some traffic from the top position. But if you can craft an interesting title and a compelling description, you more than make up for it, especially if the focus of your product and the target market are different from those ahead of you (more on title and description later). Here's a great little tool that spots the "bid holes" quickly and accurately... http://www.jimtools.com/gotocost/index.html Bottom line --> Do your home work and be observant, and you'll get better deals. :-) Just repeat the same procedure until you're done with the second list. Then, using the first list, generate the third list, and the forth list, and the... You get the idea, right? :-) Tough work? You bet! But you don't have to do it all in one go. Spread it out. Like I said, if you're just starting out with GoTo.com, begin with just 50 search terms. Build up your list gradually. A few more tips. If "web" is in your search term list, make sure you also include "web site" and "website" in the list. Similarly, include "e-mail" if you have "email," "ecommerce" if you have "e-commerce," and so on. Don't miss out such related terms. They can greatly expand your list. And forget about pluralizing your search term. GoTo.com has a powerful pluralizing feature that does this automatically for you. So the search results for "web design" and "web designs" are exactly the same. Still not enough keywords? Then try the JimTools Keyword Research Tool at... http://www.jimtools.com/keywords/index.html This slick little keyword-generator will come up with a whole bunch more for you! It searches the major search engines for your keywords, then examines the meta tags and page contents of the top rated pages to develop a list of words that those sites consider important. Combine these two tools together (GoTo's Suggestion Tool and Jim's Keyword Research Tool) and you can easily generate thousands of keywords. 4. Title and Description You pay for every click-through. So word your title and description carefully -- weed out the "off-target" click. Here's how... Write your title and description so that they... o *REALLY* relate to the keywords that you are bidding o *REALLY* are relevant to your site -- you definitely do not want to trick anyone to your site. o compete effectively against listings before and after you. o shout "Click Me! Click Me!" But only the right customers hear the shout! Unlike other search engines, your bid is the only thing that determines your search position in GoTo.com. Does that mean you don't have to worry about working your keyword into the title or description? Well, although your search position will not be affected, your click-through rate will... Based on GoTo.com's own research, including your keyword in your title and/or description actually increases your click-through rate, sometimes by as much as 50%. This is a fact, so we shall use it to our advantage. Let's continue with our "web design" case. You are looking for people to sell your web design service to. So your title (maximum 40 characters) might be... "Looking for web design services?" And your description (maximum 190 characters) could be... "We provide a full range of services to cater to all your web design needs. Affordable and professional. For a limited time only, we give you a... " Read the description and tell me honestly, are you keen to find out more? Absolutely! Why? Because it's a real teaser... But it only teases those looking for a Web designer. Perfect! -----SIDEBAR----- Getting a click-through from GoTo.com is different from getting a click-through from other search engines. With other search engines, all you want is traffic, the more the merrier. All click-throughs are free. But with GoTo.com, you only want targeted traffic, because you PAY for every single click-through. If you trick your visitors with your title and description, yeah, you get lots of traffic. But it's non-targeted traffic that does *NOT* buy. All you get is a big GoTo bill! Also, make sure you have a web site that really SELLS. Otherwise you're just wasting your click-throughs, and your money, and only make GoTo.com happier. :-( -----SIDEBAR----- Let's do one more example to make sure you understand this important point... Let's say that you have bid a penny for "commercial lawyers." You want to... a) Attract lawyers who want to sell their services through the Web. b) Repel people who are looking for commercial lawyers. They're looking for a lawyer, not for ways to sell their legal services on the Web. So your title (maximum of 40 characters) might be... "Commercial Lawyer? Sell Your Services!" And the description (maximum of 190 characters) could be... "Are you a commercial lawyer? The Web is the perfect way to build your business. Special commercial niche? Clientele global in nature. Here's how to use the Net to expand your business." Of course, your Web site should have a "law theme." And the destination page should be about commercial law. 5. Submitting Your Bids Ok, you have done all your homework -- keywords, bids, title, description, and a killer web site that really SELLS. You are ready... Open your GoTo.com account. You only need to begin with a deposit of $25, which will be gradually depleted with every click-through. Download the Power Advertiser Change Form at... http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/powerform.jhtml This is actually an Excel template where you can submit a large number of search terms for approval... If you are not comfortable with Excel or you only have a few keywords to bid (say, fewer than 20), use the Online Change Request Form (below the links where you download the Excel spreadsheets)... http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/adchange.jhtml Remember the notes that you've made along the way -- keywords, bids, titles and descriptions? Just do some cutting and pasting, and then submit your bids. -----SIDEBAR----- None of this is hard. Each step is quite easy, but there *are* a lot of steps. If you learn faster with an experienced person showing you one-on-one, take advantage of GoTo.com's $99 Express Service. More info at... http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/adchange.jhtml -----SIDEBAR----- 6. Time to Blast Into Hyperdrive OK, now that you've got your feet wet, you're ready to go big-time. The real key to success with GoTo is to work the fringes. Brainstorm hundreds, even thousands, of lesser-searched-but-relevant keywords. Phew! Don't faint -- just do 10 per day. In a month, you'll start to feel the build. This is a "the race goes to the tortoise" affair. Use the GoTo.com Excel spreadsheet template to accelerate the process. 7. Maintenance GoTo.com has a useful web-based account management interface. It's called DirecTraffic Center... https://secure.goto.com/s/dtc/center/ Use it to... o add more money to your account (You can even opt to have your account topped up automatically.) o view online reports about your keywords o make changes, including adjusting your bids in real time. Due to the dynamic Internet environment, you need to regularly update your GoTo.com listing to maintain a steady flow of traffic. As you get more traffic and sales stats, you may want to change your bid, title, description, and/or destination URL to better suit your needs. If you do nothing, I'm afraid your traffic from GoTo.com may drop. As GoTo.com becomes more popular, its customer base will expand and higher bids will be made. This only pushes your listing position down. A lower position means less traffic. Of course, if GoTo.com's USER-SEARCHER base expands more than its CUSTOMER-ADVERTISER base, the increase in searches made at GoTo.com may make up for the reduced traffic from your lower listing position. Only time will tell. And if GoTo gets too expensive, there are several GoTo clones ready to help you find cheaper solutions (more on this below). One word of caution... Want to change a listing title and/or description WITHOUT increasing the bid? Make sure your change is a substantial improvement. Why? GoTo.com ranks sites, for the same keyword bid, on a first-come first-served basis. A re-submission, for the same bid, will be considered a new submission. Once approved, it will be listed right at the end of all other sites of the same bid. Be careful on this! 8. Bits and Pieces a) Additional exposures If your GoTo.com listing is in the top 10 positions, it will show up in meta-search engines such as DogPile.com. In DogPile.com, it will be listed in the first page of results. MetaCrawler.com also displays GoTo.com listings. b) Advice from GoTo.com Please read these reports to maximize your results... Ten Ways to Maximize Your Clickthroughs http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/tips/ Listing Relevancy Guide http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/relevancy.jhtml c) GoTo.com Clones With the success of GoTo.com, a few other pay-for-clicks search engines have surfaced. The notable ones, in approximate order of importance) are... RocketLinks (the most popular clone) http://www.rocketlinks.com Kanoodle http://www.kanoodle.com FindWhat http://www.findwhat.com SimpleSearch http://www.simplesearch.com OneSearch http://www.onesearch.com Should you advertise with them? They are certainly less popular than GoTo.com, so bids are also much lower. But they do not attract the same volume of traffic like GoTo.com, and their customer service may not be up to par. Advice about the clones? Since you only pay per-click, follow the strategies outlined above and you should do fine. 9. Conclusion This is probably the most cost-effective advertising on the Net today. Take advantage of it while it lasts. The key for the "rest of us?" Work the fringes... If you have never made it to the top placements in other search engines, you will certainly do so at GoTo.com. Now that you have the full scoop, the rest is up to you. Good luck! :-) About the teacher: Ken Evoy, M.D., President of GoodBytes Information Products Inc. and author of the best selling Make Your Site Sell! http://webmasters.sitesell.com The article was originally published in Ken's "Sales from the EDGE" newsletter and is reproduced here with kind permission.(c) copyright 2000 GoodBytes Information Products Inc.