I was setting up a campaign on Yahoo the other day and when I got to the bid price section I was presented with this estimate.
As much as I would love to get 2.4 billion clicks in a month to this campaign at .11 a click, sadly I think they are just a little bit off in their estimates. Obviously this was an error with Yahoo’s content network stats, but the reason I bring it up is that ALL of the big 3 are usually way off in their click estimates. MSN is another service that is usually pretty far off with their estimates. It’s easy to get excited when you are shown that estimate of 5,000 clicks, but at the end of the month its usually a fraction of that. As far as who’s interface provides the most accurate estimates, I would say:
1. Google
2. MSN
3. Yahoo
So this is a call out to all the PPC networks (you know you are reading this). We need more accurate click forecasts. It helps us set monthly budgets and allocate resources better and ultimately spend more money on PPC.
Have you tried Microsoft AdSage? It’s a very accurate MSN AdCenter click/impression add-on for Excel 2007.
I posted a tutorial of Ad-Sage and interviewed the lead developer of Ad-Sage on my blog:
http://www.scrappybusiness.com/rem/rem5ba.htm
Highly recommended!
I’ve found MSN to be off before, but the other way around.
I’ll setup a keyword and it will give me a low monthly estimate, like 37 clicks. Then I end up getting that in the first day or two.
Stupid MSN.
Joshua – Yes, I wrote a post about it. http://www.cdfnetworks.com/msn-adcenter-plugin-for-excel/
Even more impressive would be how you get 2.4 billion clicks out of 1 million impressions
And here I thought I was doing something wrong when the clicks just weren’t coming.
Thanks Chad, that’s a great screenshot…
So although this is off-topic, I’m going to ask it anyway because I have a feeling I’m not the only thinking it…
How did you do on Valentine’s Day this year?
- Dave
Scott, I didn’t even notice that!
Dave- I am going to write a a post V-day wrap up this weekend.
Chad, if I understood correctly you use Yahoo Content network? How is it converting for you? Because I heard that Yahoo Content network is converting very poorly(way worse than google content network). I haven’t tried it myself, though.
Karolis-Yes I use the Yahoo content network. I use every networks’ content networks. Conversions on Yahoo have been hit or miss, you really have to keep an eye on them and of course split them into their own campaign. But it’s definitely worth a test.
Thanks for answering. I guess if something doesn’t work for several people it doesn’t mean that it won’t work for everyone. I’ll give it a try.
Thanks Chad, honestly I never noted such error, or thought it possible till I read this. Thanks u the man.