Unique Original Articles » Advertising Past Adwords-Is Ask. Com Effective?

If you haven’t thought about a sponsored listing on ASK.com now might be the time.

ASK has invested significant time and money in new campaigns designed to attract new users. They are focusing on the uniqueness of their algorithm for search results.



There is an opportunity here. You can have ASK.com do all the set up work for you. They have a program called “Set Me Up”. They state that the program is designed to ensure you are successful. To that end they will:



· Select keywords tailored for your campaign

· Create effective ads for your business, products, and target audience

· Include bid recommendations and best practices

· Setting up both match types and geo-targeting



If your budget is tight ASK may be a good search engine to begin with because you will pay a lower price - ASK offers the lowest CPCs of all the major search engines.



Ask Sponsored Listings offer all of the essential features you get with the other search engines including conversion tracking, geo-targeting and ad scheduling. As an added bonus you can upload your Google bulk sheets directly into ASL!



What about target audience reach? The figures indicate that: 66% of ASK users do not use Yahoo!, 44% of their users don’t use MSN and 16% of their users don’t use Google. There are no figures now for Bing. With the deal between BING and Yahoo! These figures may change drastically so you do need to beware of the changing search engine landscape and plan accordingly.



You can read testimonials indicating the results provided by ASL (ASK) search but here is a direct testimonial from Aptimus about the ASK marketing program taken for ASK.com’s site:



Aptimus is the marketing arm of The Apollo Group, one of the world’s leading education providers. "Aptimus solely focuses on the Apollo business, 95% of which is comprised of University of Phoenix." said Rico de León, Senior Director of Media Services Operations.

Search Engine Marketing had always played an important role for Aptimus, but even more so now, with all eyes turned toward a very specific industry. "(SEM) generates the highest quality…



Aptimus is the marketing arm of The Apollo Group, one of the world’s leading education providers. "Aptimus solely focuses on the Apollo business, 95% of which is comprised of University of Phoenix." said Rico de León, Senior Director of Media Services Operations.



Search Engine Marketing had always played an important role for Aptimus, but even more so now, with all eyes turned toward a very specific industry. "(SEM) generates the highest quality (leads) compared to any of the channels out there, and it brings in the most volume," de León noted.





However, not all SEM resources are created equal, as Aptimus discovered by introducing Ask Sponsored Listings into their SEM mix. With ASL, Aptimus has enjoyed higher conversion rates, not to mention the most precise results – ASL provides the most qualified consumers for the University of Phoenix directives, more so than Google, Yahoo, and MSN. "ASL beats out all three," said de León. "The quality is unbelievable."



Aptimus dedicates a substantial piece of their entire marketing budget to SEM initiatives, to the tune of 75%. Thanks to delivering proven results, ASL accounts for a considerable percentage of that slice.



"ASL has exceeded our expectations," commented de León, going on to describe the company’s quality experience as "surprising" and "efficient." As it turns out, a change of pace in both Aptimus’ business focus and SEM resources has proven to be a formula that works.



There are varying opinions in the ASK vs. Google debate but overall ASK.com does seem to have fans that truly believe ASK.com’s returned search results are superior to Google. There focus on context and community over popularity of a site tends to produce more relevant search results.



With Google moving toward more personalized searching the cometition is guaranteed to continue and escalate-especially with the new partnership between BING and Yahoo!



In the end you need to decide if ASK.com’s sponsored listings are a good choice for your business. The good news is they will do all of the set up free of charge. It may well be worth your time to get started with ASK.com. With their own marketing campaign in high gear you may be able to ride a new wave of users and increase your ranking in the meantime.
Mr Marketology provides http://www.mrmarketology.com">http://www.mrmarketology.com (this link goes outside odesk.com)">search enginemarketingservices for the business owners and marketing executives.
Article Source: JS2 Article Submission Software