RE: search vs. content (was RE: Interesting article)

From: John Gaskill <jg_at_info-central-usa.com>
Date: Thu 28 Jun 2001 13:16:22 -0500

BRANDI JASMINE <brandi_at_brandijasmine.com> WROTE:

>Okay -but why? Why are 100,000 page-views on the results
>page for a particular search term be worth any more than
>the same number of page-views on any one of those sites
>that might come up in that search? Is there any evidence
>that the click-throughs on a search for "cars" for example
>are higher on Yahoo than they would be on BobsAutos.com?
>Why can Yahoo charge what it does, when Bob can't
>even give his inventory away, and would be happy for a
>quarter of the price?

Aside from the "branding by association" and "go
where the traffic is" aspects of big sites, previously
mentioned by others, I think one factor has not really
been discussed and that is "top of mind awareness" on
the part of the buyer community.

While every ad buyer has probably heard of Yahoo, most
may not be aware of BobsAutos.com.

Does Bob advertise his site as a location to reach XXX
serious auto shoppers every month, or is Bob actually
selling cars and does not want his traffic interrupted?

Media buyers are like most other people, they have
bosses to answer to and families to feed. They are not
entrepreneurs, they are risk averse -- that is why they
work for someone else.

Asking them to make a buy on an unknown, unadvertized
site, even for a quarter of the money, is asking them to
justify their decision to someone higher up the corporate
ladder.

Now if their boss asks them to experiment with this new
sites/he heard about... the result might be different.

Age old problem. To get money you need awareness.
To get awareness you need to advertise. To advertise,
you need money. Looks like a vicious circle doesn't it?

Regards all,

John Gaskill
jg_at_info-central-usa.com
Want more Sales?
http://info-central-usa.com/coupons.htm



Received on Thu Jun 28 2001 - 13:16:22 CDT