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!

The advertiser’s fantasy has always been a medium where highly targeted potential customers seek specific information and knowingly choose to get exposed to ads. Sponsored search ads fulfilled this fantasy. When people search online, they are looking for specific information, their location and some other characteristics are known, and they’re willingly clicking on search results – including sponsored ads. This explains the phenomenal success of Google AdWords for both advertisers and Google.

In the online world, display ads, mostly in the form of banners, represent the opposite end. Much more like in traditional media, banners need to interrupt potential customers while they’re doing something else. Like TV ads, they ask the potential customer to stop enjoying the content she’s interested in, and pay attention to paid-for messages. This is why advertisers need vast exposure of banner ads to get to results and so we price display advertising by the thousands.

From the advertiser’s point of view, in text advertising is much closer to search ads than to display. While people are asked to pay attention while they are doing something else (mostly reading), they are not actively interrupted like with jumpy banners. Only an interested reader will hover with the mouse to see what ad is related to the highlighted double underline term. And then, after viewing the ad, only if there’s still interest, the reader will click and a charge to the campaign will be made. This means that advertisers pay only after the potential customer has given permission to get exposed to the ad’s message. In fact, the potential customer gave her permission twice – first with the hover and then with the click. This explains why in text ads come very close to advertisers’ fantasies about permission marketing.

What to Expect: CTR, Bounce Rates, and Conversion

The high engagement of potential customers with ads that they have knowingly chose to view leads to relatively high conversion rates. Clearly, conversion depends on many factors and there isn’t a specific number that can be projected for all ads and products, but you can expect higher conversion rates than with display ads and results that are closer on the spectrum to search ads. True, the conversion rate will not be as high as with search ads, but the cost per click could be significantly lower and the click through rate higher, so the overall results should get very close.

In text ads yield more clicks or as we tend to call it – a higher click through rate (CTR). In text advocates explain the higher CTR with the smart algorithms that highlight the most relevant terms. While this is true, there is another explanation. In text ads are still relatively new. While online dwellers got used to banners and they mostly disregard them, in text ads still attract more attention. With the growing penetration of this new method of advertising, the initial interest in the new format will decline. Then, the genuine interest in the advertiser’s message will remain to justify the click rate, which will probably be a little lower, but still much higher than with display ads.

An unfortunate side effect of the high click through rate that stems from interest in the format itself – as opposed to the interest in the ad’s content – is a higher bounce rate. As an advertiser you should expect more visitors that leave your landing page quickly. These visitors were probably mostly interested in seeing how this new type of ad works. While this behavior should decline with time, it still affects your results negatively, so you should anticipate it and include it in your calculations. And yet, despite the higher bounce rate, the genuine interest of most visitors and the relatively low click costs will yield high conversion rates.

Tips to Improve Online Advertising Results

When you first launch an advertising campaign with in text ads, please do your homework. Simply copying your AdWords campaign will work but it won’t maximize your potential results. One major difference is the keywords format. While for sponsored search results you try targeting what people are searching for, in text hooks – those double underline links – are part of written text. Think about it when you do your keyword research.

Also, keep in mind that the in text bubble is limited to a single ad. There are formats that allow more ads, but the limited space and attention leads to one ad per hover de facto. This means that you can’t set your cost per click (CPC) aiming for mid-level or lower-end results. Since only one ad will be placed, your CPC calculations should aim at the first place. Among other things, try adding just a little to your CPC, as an ad with 11 cents usually stands a better chance than an ad with a round price of 10 cents.

Due to the temporary issue with higher bounce rates (see above), keep your landing pages as clear as possible. This way, visitors who are new to the in text format will not be confused. Help them understand where they got to and easily identify your call for action. This tip is clearly relevant to all online advertising, but it’s more important with new advertising methods.

For the last tip to improve your advertising with in text ads I must first apologize. I’m going to recommend working with direct in text providers, but I also work for one of those. So, you can disregard this tip, but you can also consider it together with the reasoning. I work with most textual CPC marketplaces and those ad networks are doing an amazing job in getting potential customers and advertisers together. It’s true that they take their share of the CPC and you could bypass them, but I think they bring real value to the table. That’s not the reason why I recommend working directly with the in text providers. The ad networks’ systems were tailored to search results and to AdSense like contextual programs – both of which place several ads each time. Their pricing mechanisms and other technical filters find it difficult to maximize results from in text ads. For the time being, I therefore recommend that advertisers try working directly with in text providers. I also recommend (and work on it) that the ad networks improve their compatibility with in text advertising, so that everybody can be happy.

I was browsing through a magazine – a real one with paper pages – and noticed a lifestyle article about a new mattress that uses three-dimensions. Well, I wondered, don’t most mattresses have three dimensions? But then, on the next page, a full-page advertisement announced a new 3D mattress. Hmmm… was that a coincidence? Of course not. The magazine sold the mattress ad and probably added an editorial article about the new technology. Most magazines try to separate editorial content from advertising, to keep appearance of professional writing. Separation of paid-for ads and actual content is considered ethical. In this instance, they were not that subtle. But wait, what’s so wrong about relevant ads? There seem to be a big difference in our expectations between the offline world and the online arena. While in traditional paper publications we prefer content which is clear of advertising interests, when it comes to the Internet, we actually expect the ads surrounding the content to be highly relevant to the content.

As website publishers we in fact insist of showing the most relevant ads, hoping they will yield higher click-through rates and revenues. The visitors somehow accept this as being supplemental to the content. Google AdSense ads are responsible for this revolution. Since the ads are placed through automated algorithms, we don’t see them as affecting the editorial considerations of the publisher. Moreover, if the ads are not relevant, we usually complain about it.

In text advertising is a form of contextual advertising. As such, in text ads are attached to hooks – highlighted terms within the content – and they are relevant to the terms and the content of the page. So, if your question is simply – are in text ads relevant? The answer is positive. Yes, in text ads are relevant to your content. But since there are examples where they are less relevant, this question calls for some further discussion.

No Perfect Guarantees

One of the publishers I’ve been working with has integrated in text ads for the first time. During the first month, we served ads to no less than 20 million unique visitors. When summarizing the first month’s results, the publisher was generally very happy with the revenues and feedback, but he highlighted one email from a frequent visitor, who complained about an ad that was not relevant. My first response to the complaint was – Great, this is good news! How come? Simple. It’s true that an irrelevant ad is not a good user experience. But, if we had one complaint out of 20 million visitors, we have a very good success ratio. There are no guarantees that any contextual advertising technology would be perfect. There’s nothing like a bullet-proof method with perfect relevance, not even Google AdSense, and as long as the vast majority of ads are relevant, this should suffice.

Is it really not relevant?

In text ads can be less relevant when the content is not focused. Any contextual algorithm, as smart as it can be, would have problems with pages that are a mix of issues. In such cases, the ad should at least be relevant to the hook – the highlighted term.

Another factor that can reduce relevancy is geography. When the visitor comes from a country with less online advertising, it could be difficult to match the ads with high relevancy. To improve this, make sure with your provider that he has enough advertising coverage in the countries where your most important visitors come from, and be tolerant to less relevant ads in other regions.

Last but not least, relevancy is in the eye of the advertiser. While you may think that an ad is not relevant, take into consideration that the advertiser has specifically chosen to match the ad to the term and context. A professional in text ads provider only places ads with direct response to advertising campaigns which target context and terms. For example, if the chosen term was “London Hotel”, you would probably expect a travel ad. But then, if you see an ad for a t-shirt website, don’t be alarmed. It could be that this t-shirt website is now selling new Madonna merchandise, and Madonna is on her way to a big concert in London; hence, the advertiser is trying to target tourists who head to London for the show.

Are your Hooks Relevant?

In addition to measuring the relevancy of the ads to the content, another important factor would be the relevancy of the highlighted terms to the content. Before any visitor hovers over an ad, visitors show interest in links which are relevant to the content. When the highlighted terms are relevant, you should see higher rates of hovers. Matching the ads themselves comes next. So first, ask yourself – are the terms relevant? This should be a good start.

You can improve In Text Ads Relevancy

In these cases when you still feel that the in text ads on your website are not relevant enough, consider the following options. First, calculate how serious this issue is. If you’re thinking about just a few ads out of thousands, then it’s probably not a serious problem. Second, consider the context and the geography – the more focused the content, and the bigger the market for online advertising in this country, the higher the relevance should be. If the market is not that big and the content is not very focused, achieving high relevancy would be difficult. Third, look from the advertiser’s point of view – he thought the ad is relevant, so try to understand it.

If, after considering these options, you still feel that the ads are not relevant, then it’s time to contact your in text ads provider. There’s much you can do together. Your provider can work with you to improve the algorithm and customize it to your website, direct specific advertisers to your website, and assist you with monitoring and analyzing results. After all, it is contextual advertising.

1. They don’t jump around

We all just love flashy animated banners that do anything technology allows them to interrupt our reading, especially the banners that expand to cover half the page, make creepy noises, and hide the shut-down x so you can’t find it. So, as a website publisher, why would you want to use ads that are subtle, non-intrusive, quiet, and do not disturb your visitors while they’re reading your content. Tell them you want the jumpy ones, with a video character that walks vividly and steps on your precious writing, not those cute little double underline links.

2. Too much money is corruptive

Having too much money leads to the illusion of power and then to corruption. Who needs it? In text ads are known for generating extra revenues from a website without affecting other sources of income. Having all this extra cash is a slippery slope en route to corruption. When someone tells you about monetizing your website by placing in-text ads – just say no. No to doubling your revenues. No to too much money.

3. Web programmers are losing jobs

These are rough times and with the economy downturn, web programmers and developers are losing jobs anyway. Integrating in-text ads into a website is way too easy. It can take less than a minute to simply paste a line of code into the website and that’s it – the in-text ads are there. They require no changes to the website, no new code, no programming or developing, no IT, no QA – what will all our colleagues and friends do? Avoiding in-text ads will help keep their jobs.

4. They make affiliate programs look bad

Affiliate programs rule. We work hard to cooperate with affiliate programs and promote links to their sales efforts. Good affiliate plans have conversion rates of about 1%, which means that for every 100 clicks we get on our website, we get 1 affiliation fee payment. Those in-text ads are on pay per click basis (PPC) – the website publisher gets paid for every click. Every click. This makes our favorite pay-per-acquisition and pay-per-lead affiliate programs look bad.

5. You have to create real content

When you have nothing new to write about in your blog, when you can’t find any nice videos or images to upload, when your website is left empty of new content… Who do you turn to? The advertising banners! We cover our website with real-estate for ads: big squares, skyscrapers, leader boards, whatever we can get our hands on to fill all that space. Who needs quality content when you have good ads? But those in-text ads, they don’t take any space on the website, they don’t cover real-estate. In-text ads just blend smoothly into your content, so they actually force us to come up with original content. It’s terrible.

6. No new un-related topics

It’s nice that the ads around a website’s content throw in different ideas that are not related to the content. You can read a historic post about The Manhattan Project and the banners will announce the new season of Project Runway. It opens up your mind to new horizons. As opposed to that, those nasty in text ads insist on being relevant. Since the ad is hooked on an actual term within the content, it’s mostly relevant and supplements the content. This way, with in-text relevancy, how will you get exposed to new topics?

7. We’re addicted to ad interruptions

We breathe ads. From the moment we wake up, on our way to work or school, in our office or classroom, in the afternoon, in front of the TV and PC, all day long until we close our eyes to sleep (well, sometimes even in our dreams) – advertisers fight for our attention, interrupting us in whatever we do. In text ads are different. The double underline links tell us there’s an ad behind them and ask for our permission – interested? Give it a hover. Then, only if we’re interested in the ad within the bubble, we click on it. In-text ads are not stuck to our faces. But we got used to those ads everywhere. If all advertisements will ask for our permission, like in-text ads do, we might lose all those precious interruptions. Tell them that you need those interruptions like the air you breathe!

8. Nobody likes advertisers

People generally don’t like advertisers and marketers. Sad but true. In text ads get high quality scores from advertisers. It makes sense. Since the visitor actually gives permission to get exposed to the ad and actively demonstrates interest (by hovering, and then clicking), there’s a good chance he will be genuinely interested in the advertiser’s content. From the advertiser’s point of view, it’s the next best thing after search ads, and way better than banners and contextual ads around the content. When you use in-text ads, you make advertisers happy, and why would you want to do that?!

9. You need to analyze eCPM and CTR

Do you prefer getting paid without work related incentives? If so, stay away from in-text ads. Integrating in-text ads into your website is very easy, and money comes in instantly. But then, you can always earn more with simple changes. Consider the color, the format of the underline, the number of hooks, the location in the page, blacklist keywords, whitelist keywords… there are improvements that take little work and can add up on your bottom line. But alas, to get these higher revenue numbers, you need to look at your eCPM and CTR and analyze some data… doubling your money is possible, but if you’re afraid of some work, you’d better keep your distance.

10. Another reason anyone?

The tenth reason is up to you. When thinking about the top 10 reasons not to use in text advertising, I came up with the fact that they don’t jump around like our favorite banners; they make you too much money, which can be corruptive; they threat web programmers’ jobs by being too easy to integrate; the pay per click model makes affiliate programs look bad; you have to create real original content; they are so relevant, that we don’t get exposed to new un-related topics; they lower the volume of ad interruptions, which we’re so addicted to; and they might even make advertisers happy with high quality scores, and nobody likes advertisers… that’s 9 reasons.

Can you think of another reason not to use in text ads?

With In Text Advertising it was the other way around. The technology was initially embraced as a strong tool to monetize content on top of display ads – meaning, that the publisher’s point of view preceded the advertiser’s angle. The newly formed bubbles presented to viewers advertisements that were meant to be either responses to search queries or part of a contextual advertising display. There were no online advertising budgets allocated for in-text ads. In terms of the evolution process, first came the publishers who were looking for monetizing solutions, and only later the advertisers joined in, wishing to target in-text ads separately and use creative content which was different than their other ad formats.

When analyzing this method of advertising, I intend following the same path – first, analyze in text advertising as the hidden treasure it is for website publishers, a website monetization tool. And then, only as a secondary subject, discuss in text advertising as a solution for advertisers, an advertising channel.

* In case you wonder… the image is from Chicago’s Millenium Park, where the wonderful Bean has recently inspired me to think about point of views in general and this post specifically. If you still haven’t visited – it’s highly recommended.