Google AdWords for Web Hosting?

earthsusan · #1 (**permalink**) 10-10-2003, 01:33 PM

Hello there.

Does it make any sense to start a Google AdWord campaign for a Web Hosting Company? It seems as though it would be worthless to compete in such a large market, although, being an offshore web hosting company does allows us a potentially smaller niche. But wouldn't we just end up advertising on our competitors' sites? Not exactly the best case scenario...however we do need to get ourselves visible in Google, as it has been months now and our URL has yet to be listed by any of the free search engines or directories.

See the thread in this forum titled:
Can the https:// be a problem?, http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=6575 , for more information on our Google woes.

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.

Cheers, Susan

<Edit: Moved to Google Adwords Forum - Brittany, Forum Host>

masterpeace · #2 (**permalink**) 10-10-2003, 10:53 PM

Well i am not sure how that part of it works, but I think you can limit what type of sites your asds are shown on.

I have found that a number of hosting companies are using Google Adwords here. I have a free counter with http://www.extreme-dm.com/tracking/. They have recently put up AdWords and i am now very aware of a number of Aussie hosting companies I hadn't heard of before...

I think there are quite a few searches for that sort fo thing on Google and they also come up on Googles AdWords page if you search for web design...

JMac · #3 (**permalink**) 10-13-2003, 12:26 PM

Hi there,

While none of the sites we manage are using AdWords, we do use AdSense - (which means we show the ads that AdWords users pay for).
If AdWords is anywhere near as configurable (is THAT a word??) as AdSense, you should be able to pick and choose where your ads are shown.
Think about this though - the complaints from Adsense users seem to stem mostly from showing competitors ads on their site. As an AdWords user, I think that is exactly where you want them shown. The surfer is someone already looking for that service (in your case, hosting) - it would be great if they were looking for hosting, found your competitor's site and then noticed out of the corner of their eye - your company's blurb about why your hosting is different and/or better. Just a simple click and you have your targeted visitor.

That's my two cents. It's up to the AdSense user to block THEIR competitors' ads. The AdWords user probably wants their ads on their competition's sites.

Either way, you should be getting your site onto the search engines - without AdWords - by optimizing. I don't know of any good reason you shouldn't show up on Google - secure server or not. Then again, I wasn't able to click through to your site this morning. Let's hope Googlebot doesn't wander by during some maintenance scheduled downtime! :-)

Good luck and prosperity.

JMac

earthsusan · #4 (**permalink**) 10-13-2003, 06:09 PM

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think we will end up pursuing a modest AdWords campaign and see how we come out. Is there general agreement that one should set up AdWords groups that have multiple keyword strategies, ie having the following keyword phrases all in the same group:

offshore web hosting

"offshore web hosting"

"[offshore web hosting]"

Cheers and thanks again.

Susan

++We had to physically move our servers today in the data center which caused the downtime. Mondays. Grr.

BureauAdmin · #5 (**permalink**) 10-14-2003, 05:34 PM

We use Google's AdWords from time to time. It works but can sometimes be expensive for a hosting company just starting out or with a very small budget.

The phrase 'web hosting' in AdWords is a hot one and will come with a price of around $4.00 to $5.00 per click to get into the top spots.

You definitely will get the traffic but your site has to be one that will grab your visitor's attention and make them buy right then and there to make it cost effective. You can't afford for them to leave and hopefully come back. Some do come back but they usually don't bookmark your site and go back to Google and search again. If your ad is still listed they will click on it again and it will cost you twice as much for that client. Although Google has a mechanism to reduce visitors from repeatedly clicking on your ad, it does have a small window.

It is a good idea to invest in some sort of tracking technology that will track the traffic coming from your Google ads, and get some visitor information. Use this to help analysis your effectiveness and help reduce click through abuse. You should report click through abuse to Google so they can try to reduce it in the future.

In Summary:

It works, but you have to be ready to take every advantage you can to make your visitor sign up the first time.

Just my $.02, hope it helps.

namita · #6 (**permalink**) 11-08-2003, 11:28 AM

We are a web hosting company and are getting pretty OK response with adwords. Its true that the important keywords like "web hosting" and all you have to bid for upto $4+ to be on the top 9. Because if your ad doesn't come on the first page, its useless as just the impressions are going to increase and the click though rate decreases.

Although you should try other words may be to your specific region like..."web hosting dubai" for instance, so in this your ad ranking improves and so does your CTR.

Ofcourse web hosting is a very compepitive field and you have to really work hard and market your services correctly.

So finally its worth a try.