Thinking Outside the PPC Search Box

The first thing that comes to mind when you are setting up a new ad campaign, is how the offer will perform in the major search engines. Most will setup their campaigns in Google, Yahoo and MSN and leave it at that. If you are successfully advertising through just the BIG 3, you are leaving plenty of money on the table. While ppc advertising on the search engines can drive high volume and conversions, there is still a whole advertising world out there beyond search ppc. Here are a few well known, but often forgotten methods for expanding your ad campaigns.

High Traffic News Sites
We all visit sites like Fox News, ESPN and Forbes. We also all see their ad spots and know they aren’t being run through Google Adsense. You can setup your own ad campaigns across these major network sites by running ads through Quigo / Adsonar. Adsonar offers ppc advertising, with over 13 billion ads shown per month.
(Other sources: AdReady, Marchex, Chitika, Bidvertizer, Kontera)

Social Network Advertising
This one may seem like a no brainer, but so many are still late to the social networking game. With the ability to target to specific demographics, you no longer have to worry about wasted advertising. Getting denied by social networks for affiliate offers? Then create your own custom lead gen! MySpace and Facebook alone, provide over 120 million unique ad impressions per month.

Outside Banner Media Buying
Whether you have an affiliate offer looking for massive volume, or you have your own lead gen setup, purchasing a massive amount of banners ads across a network of sites is a great idea. Banner ad networks such as CasaleMedia and ValueClick, will get you the volume and clicks you need, while paying a cpc rate. Instead of advertising on an affiliate network and paying cost per action, setup banner ad campaigns to only  high targeted sites and increase your ROI dramatically.
(Other sources: Tribal Fusion, Gorilla Nation, AdBrite)

Limiting Yourself to US Only
Just because you are comfortable setting up US/English campaigns, doesn’t mean the rest of the world doesn’t use your product. Visit different Google country versions and search for the product you are promoting. There is a good chance of less competitor over seas. If you need to convert your landing page into another language, it’s as easy as using Google Translate, then having someone proof read it to make sure it reads well.

There is so much money to be made outside of the traditional ppc marketing on the big 3. If you haven’t started marketing to any of these outside sources, you must!

Feel free to post any other service you have found to be useful.

14 pieces of wisdom given by ye faithful
  1. Tobias Fransson said on December 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 am

    Getting outside of the PPC “Only” mindset is something I intend to do for my upcoming Product Launch.

    Getting More Exposure and branching outside of PPC are great for scaling your campaigns since it lets you get exposure to different groups of people that should obviously be inside of your target market.

    By just focusing on PPC and Google Adwords for profitable campaigns you leave quite a lot of money on the table, just like Zac says here.

    I don’t pretend to be a PPC Expert but I know enough about marketing to know what I don’t know and to of course know that by painting yourself in a corner and just rely on one method of marketing your gambling with your entire business.

    What happens if the marketing method you use stops working or gets closed down. Like if Google shut down Google Ad words?

    -Tobias Fransson
    http://www.Tobias-Fransson.com

    Reply
  2. Tim - Work Plus Faith said on December 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am

    Nice article, Zac.

    Part of my plans for 09′ involve expanding outside of ppc for traffic.

    Reply
  3. Taris Janitens said on December 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 am

    You’re right - you have to think out of the box when it comes to advertising revenues. Thankfully there are many good sources of information around including yours :)

    Reply
  4. marcel said on December 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm

    Anyone using adonion? what you think about it ?

    Reply
  5. Blog Expert said on December 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm

    Love the post. I like to think outside the PPC search box.

    Reply
  6. skyroja said on December 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    Zac, have you used it on your campaigns ?

    Can you reveal CTR on those advertising networks ?

    Reply
  7. Nicholas Chase said on December 22nd, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    Zac,

    Good post man! Your information helps in discovering multiple streams of potential income. I was planning on concentrating on Yahoo this week, as costs are lower and narrow niches are producing fantastic income with less competition.

    Have a very Merry Christmas, looking forward to seeing you again at #ASW09 in Las Vegas.

    Happy New Year to you and yours,

    Respectfully,

    Nicholas Chase
    http://www.twitter.com/nachase
    http://donotreadthisblogunless.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  8. Zac Johnson said on December 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    @skyroja:
    Skyroja, sure. I’ll write an upcoming post on the comparison between networks.

    Reply
  9. Play Games Win Prizes said on December 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    I used to think that Adsense was the king, but after realizing that site owners use about 10 networks, I started seeking more.

    -Mike

    Reply
  10. Quality USA Writers said on December 22nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    Hi Zac, another great post! You’re right about foreign markets, especially as some of them are growing so rapidly. I do get some business from Latin American countries and Europe. Thanks for all the useful info. I’ll be checking out some of the resources you’ve mentioned.

    - Greg T

    Reply
  11. Silvia said on December 24th, 2008 at 8:27 am

    Zac is the best. He gives stategies in marketing and its characteristics.

    Reply
  12. Silvia said on December 27th, 2008 at 11:46 pm

    Happy New Year to everybody!

    Reply
  13. Anthony said on January 30th, 2009 at 11:50 pm

    Good post…It is good to think out the box, but one thing I notice about those other advertising avenue and its that they are expensive for someone starting out.. I

    Reply
  14. Balkhis Sweet Monday Link Love 12/22/08 said on December 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 am

    [...] Thinking Outside the PPC Search Box [...]

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