Usability Consultancy, Website Reviews, Website Optimisation

A few months ago I got a couple of juicy bits of gossip but kept them under wraps due to 'wher' the yip-offs came from. I had to be discrete about it, until now. Because now

We all know that Yell.com is a Google Reseller. But the frightening thing (to me) is what they say about the service they will be selling.

According to a few reports,"The Search Marketing Service platform, which has been under development phase for a year, automates many of the labor intensive ad creation, bid optimization and campaign management functions that have presented barriers to the adoption of search by UK SMEs".

Automate an Adwords Campaign? Frightening!

How can anyone run an Adwords, campaign, or any pay-per-click campaign for that matter, on auto-pilot? Okay, a PPC campaign that is flawed and fails to generate results, yes, plug it in and leave it but you will not have a successful time with it.

Or, perhaps, the example advert shown here is how hey intend to do it? Are they running Adwords campaigns that bring traffic directly to their customers' websites or are they simply pulling traffic to Yell.com and hoping that a few of them will click through to the advertisers' websites or just pick up the phone.

It is such a long shot - especially when you consider the percentages of probability...

Adwords generates a typical click-through rate of less than half of 1%.or less. Most businesses, even if the bid high enough to be the top advertiser and write very specific and keyword rich adverts, will only get between 0.1 and 0.5%.

What that means in real numbers:

For every 100,000 people who search for a 'plumbuer' in a geographic area (town, city, county), roughly only 500 will click a 'sponsored listing'. Now I agree that these clicks are from people definitely looking for the product or service and are, most likely, at the buying stage of their shopping process - their credit card is poised (we hope) - but then, if the click goes off to Yell, we then need to look at the probability of that same person clicking on any of the listings at yell.

Now the probability gets even less attractive.

With 18 businesses listed on the results page (following the link from the advert above), what is the likelihood that the person looking for the plumber actually contacting you (if you were a plumber)?

In addition to the 18 plumbers listed, there is a whole range of Yell.com links on the page too, hoping for the reader's click.

There is a massive 98 Links on the results page! So what chance does each of those paying advertisers have of being clicked?

A Thorn in Yell's side... me, not at all.

Come on folks. You cannot leave any advertising campaign on auto-pilot. I don't care what sort of advertising it is, but adwords - no way. Anyone running a successful adwords campaign monitors it and tweaks it daily. Constantly adjusting the list of keywords and click bids depending on recent search volumes and click through rates.

It may be cheap - but cheap is no value at all if it doesn't work

At the end of the day this represents the merging of two huge corporations who are in business for one reason and one reason only - to show the share-holders a profit and finance the fleet of Mercedes in the car park. Not to put food on your table. Not to ensure your survival.

But the rep - he said...

I know the sales rep claims to be your bestest best friend while he/she is waiting for the ink to dry on your new contract, but come on... All they are interested in is their £80k job, their £25k bonuses and company expense account - financed by their over priced advertising.

Okay - I'm off my soap-box now...

When you stop spending money with Yell, or Google for that matter - probably because the money ran out while waiting for the phone to ring - they will move on... successfully, and without any remorse for your business going bust, sell the advertising space to someone else.

Yell.com declined to comment

When asked by Reuters, back in May 2009, to comment, Yell.com, which has a customer base of more than 450,000 businesses in the UK, declined to comment on the terms on the new business model and how the new service would be offered.

Make sure you read: Get The Details of The Service