PPC Advertisers with Google India

When using Google India from an Indian IP address, search results are covered with AdWords advertising from local online advertisers. Insurance, investments and financial services, traveling, Internet related solutions – you name it. And as we know well, Google charges AdWords by the click on a Pay Per Click basis (PPC). This means that companies and marketing departments are spending online advertising budgets through this model.

CPA and CPL Online Advertising Networks in India

But when I speak with advertising agencies and ad networks in India – it’s a different story. It’s all about performance advertising, meaning that they pay only for customer acquisition (known as Cost per Acquisition or CPA) or at a minimum for detailed leads (Cost per Lead or CPL). Performance advertising is flourishing through affiliate networks since they are protective for the advertisers.

However, performance advertising methods shift the risk from the advertiser to the publisher. While this may work in certain industries, and mainly for gambling and gaming, it is problematic in other cases, since the information resides with the advertiser. As publishers, we can deliver quality clicks on specific terms using In Text Ads, but then the conversion depends on the advertiser’s ability to present an appealing offer through an effective landing page. Low conversion rates are best handled and improved by the advertiser and not by the publisher who doesn’t control the visitor after the click on the ad (I wrote more about PPC and other In Text Ads business models here).

Where are the PPC Advertisers in India?

So, where are they hiding? From the Google AdWords ads on search results it’s obvious that the Indian market is well accustomed to Pay Per Click advertising budgets. But other agencies and ad networks don’t seem to have such budgets. Can someone please explain this? Can it be possible that the PPC market in India is fully owned by Google and perhaps Yahoo?

One possible explanation is that the advertising agencies do charge the advertisers per click but pay the publishers only per conversion. If this is the case, it is very much different than what I know anywhere else, so I have to doubt it. A more reasonable explanation is that I’m missing something… and that’s why I’m posting this question here: What am I missing… How can I reach the media buyers of PPC online advertisers in India?

Please share your insights here by posting a comment for others to enjoy as well, or contact me directly through the About Page. Thanks!

What do thousands of publishers who work with the same in text ads network have in common? Well, first, they all operate a website, but that’s a given that derives from the very definition of an online publisher. What else? Usually not much. But lately, several publishers from around the world came together to create a wacky video, as part of an initiative for the New Year from Infolinks.

Double With A Bubble

If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I don’t often mention Infolinks here, as I’m trying to avoid conflict with my friends and co-workers there, but from time to time, I just can’t avoid it. If you still haven’t watched this funny video, I recommend spending one minute and watch it – you can click here and go directly to YouTube: Double with a Bubble.

One professional reason could be to get to know the faces behind all these websites… they simply come in all shapes and different degries of craziness… If you need another reason, for me it would be the funny guy who dances with his hands almost like Michael Jackson. LOL.

You can also watch it here embedded:

Surprisingly, online publishers often ask if they can monetize their websites with in-text ads even if their content is not in English. The answer is that, of course, yes they can. The question sounds surprising because most monetization schemes, including Google AdSense and other AdSense alternatives, do work in many languages. But, in fact, it is a very legitimate question. In text ads are closely tight to the actual text and as such, the provider needs to be able to analyze content in each supported language. And, as it turns out, not all providers can support languages other than English. So, the first part of the answer, again, is yes, you can monetize non-English content with in text ads, but you must check with the provider if your language is supported.

Different Languages Worldwide

The second part of the answer is that you must also consider the geographic aspect. Even if an in text ads provider supports a language, the provider must also support the geographic location of the visitors. For example, let’s say that a provider supports monetization of German content. It’s a good start. But if this provider only has ads for the American market, visitors from other German speaking countries will be left untouched. If, for some reason, you target German speaking visitors from the US, then it may work. But if you’re counting on visitors from Germany and Austria, then obviously US ads won’t be enough. Accordingly, before choosing your in text ads provider, you need to make sure that there’s both support for your website’s language and for your visitors’ major locations.

Multiple Language Websites

More and more websites today offer content in multiple languages. This is true in countries like Canada where both English and French are required, and in the US where Spanish works well next to English. But it’s also common in international websites that operate in many different languages. If a big website has content in English, German, Spanish and French, there’s no reason to integrate in text ads on the English section only. It’s money on the table. Working with one provider to cover all languages will leverage the website’s reach to get better monetization results.

Examples for In Text Ads in Spanish, German and French

Usually, a question like this comes with a follow up question – can I see some examples? Clearly, English examples for in text are everywhere, and I always like to point out Britannica and Squidoo. If you’re interested in other languages, I can direct you to a couple of examples from my own experience. For an example of in text ads in a Spanish website, see Punto Fape, and for an example of in text ads in a French website, see Top Serie. If you need more, drop me a word – in any language!