Frank Orman, MD of LeadGenerators, was commissioned to write the article below for Executive Traveller Magazine. This is the unedited version of the article that was featured in the Spring 2006 Edition.

These days, Google is just a synonym for search engine, right? Wrong! In fact, we find that we can achieve better results for many of our clients using the Overture system, which provides sponsored search listings for many engines, including Yahoo!, MSN and many lower tier engines. Depending on your product and market, the directories can also be great opportunities for vertical sales, which are typically in the business to business sector.

Google is the biggest single player on the search engine scene, and it is currently the one with the most brand-name recognition. However, to exclusively focus all your attention onto Google AdWords is a serious mistake. Overture, known in the US as Yahoo! Search Marketing, provides results to several engines including Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista and more. In our experience, Overture provides a greater ROI than AdWords for companies in many sectors.

In the last couple of years Google has cemented its position as the default search engine for many users. The Google AdWords sponsored search also supplies results to AOL, Ask Jeeves, Netscape and many other sites, often with worsening conversion rates. While AdWords is a good system, many advertisers, particularly in big sectors such as travel and finance, find better results elsewhere, in the Overture sites.

So, what’s the advantage in using Overture? Overture is less user-friendly than AdWords, and the system is far less intuitive. In addition, the interface is more difficult to use, and submitting your adverts is a longer, more laborious process. However, once you have jumped the first hurdles you will find that Overture gives you much more information about your bids and about the market than Google does, and this openness allows you to be more precise with your bidding strategy. We have found that Overture tends to generate more leads of higher quality at a lower cost per lead.

On current trends, paid search seems likely to evolve in the same way as other media such as magazines and television have done in the past: with broad-based engines spawning a host of vertical players devoted to specific categories.
Currently, a huge 79 percent of spend on paid search is densely concentrated within four vertical sectors: retail, financial services, travel, and media and entertainment. Search is beginning to evolve, and those companies investing time and advertising budget in specialist vertical engines now will see greater rewards later, as these sectors are forecast to double in size over the next five years.

Good examples of already established vertical search engines devoted to retail include shopzilla.com and shopping.com. Travel search engines like Yahoo!'s fareChase, kayak.com, SideStep and Mobissimo have also begun to make an impact in recent months.

We must also remember that sponsored search is still in its infancy. AdWords was launched less than 6 years ago, at a time when AltaVista and AllTheWeb were among the most-used engines. The picture will change again soon, as MSN are set to launch their own pay per click service, called AdCenter, later in the year.

The moral here is simple; don’t put all your eggs in one basket! If you’re running, or thinking of running a Pay per Click campaign, ask the company managing the campaign about the options available and the differences between the systems. If you’re managing the campaigns yourself, make sure you are aware of all the possibilities so that you can get the best returns from your online marketing mix.