AdWords Offers Demographic Selections

[thejenn]

Authored by: Jennifer Laycock

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/laycock/006999.html

A Snippet:

AdWords' demographic option is designed to let advertisers select specific sites to advertise on based on the demographics of that site. Advertisers will be able to specify a preference in up to three categories. Google will then examine it's database of content partners and will return a list of sites that it feels are most likely to deliver the types of visitors that the advertiser is looking for.

[KPainley]

I am interested in seeing how this new program pans out, but I am not very confident in its ability to deliver profitable leads.

I started my carrer in the "traditional" direct marketing world, and one of the golden rules in catalog marketing was to always prospect among people who tended to buy by mail. Renting a list of catalog buyers always yields better results than renting a magazine subsription list, even if the demographic profile of the two lists is identical.

The web works exactly the same way...PPC and organic leads work better than content-based delivery because, in most cases, you have a better chance of reaching shoppers. Unless they add an attribute such as "has purchased products or services online" you are still running the risk of generating a lot of poorly converting clicks.

I am continually fascinated by the fact that so many people tend to buy via only one channel...retail, catalog, or online. The ones who buy from multiple channels are golden, of course, but it is difficult, and potentially expensive, to convert "information seekers" to "internet buyers" on the web.

[esearing]

I ran a test for a week and had no page impressions. I tried bumping my CPM up several times until I got uncomfortable. Do the targeted sites control the value of incoming ads? or control which advertisers hit them?

I wish they would offer a PPC option with site target or demographics.