David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

I've logged into my Tradedoubler account and noticed a new program (that doesn't seem to be set up properly) called BT Web Clicks. Intrigued, I followed the links to here, BT's answer to all your PPC woes.

This really does raise some interesting questions.
 
Given my past experience with BT, you can understand why I'm sceptical. A company that can barely manage to supply a decent phone service branching out into PPC.

So what is it? BT explain:

BT Web Clicks is a search marketing service for your website or online shop. This service creates your business' very own sponsored links on both major and local search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, in order to drive relevant leads through to your site through carefully chosen keywords.

So a few people in an office (perhaps an office which cannot accept incoming phonecalls and takes at least 48 hours to reply to emails)

Just in case you're not sure what they are offering, here are some highlights:

Keyword generation - their team of "experts" analyse search engines and choose the keywords that are going to generate you relevant leads to your site. So far so good.

Advertising text - BT use professional online copywriters (not mentioned whether this is in-house or outsourced) to create a text ad for your website to attract customers.

No admin - BT's automated systems connect directly with the search engines to bid on keywords and upload your sponsored links. More or less like Google's AdWords manager you can download for free. If it's like the rest of BT their system will bid stupidly ridiculous amounts.

Fixed budget - You choose the budget so you know exactly what you will spend each month, all backed by a guarantee. This guarantee may not mean anything as for the last 5 phone bills (over 1 year), BT have never got it right. There's always something wrong.

Leads direct to your door - When a customer clicks your sponsored link they go straight through to your website and not through any other online directory. This will be interesting - will it link to a relevant product or will BT help your leads to the front door and leave them there?

So basically BT are trying their hand at PPC. So how much will it cost?



Apparently most businesses fall into Tier 1 though some industries with higher PPC costs (e.g. insurance) are in higher tiers.

Their budget package at £20 ex VAT nets you 20 visitors. Given a 1% conversion ratio, you should get 1 sale every 5 months. Rock on! The thing with Tier 1 is that it costs you £1 a click regardless of how many clicks you want.

So, if you attract 100 visitors, 1 order with a profit of £10 will have cost you £100 - an overall profit of -£90. Ouch.

And look at those poor Accident Claim Experts. £300 for 20 clicks! £15 a click!!!!!! I'd love to be the person with that AdSense ad!

We should bear in mind this is a set and forget package in the sense that you set it up and BT look after it for you, hence the high click prices. My advice is to shop around a bit before you start paying this if you are the kind of person looking for this.

Do yourself a favour and search Google for managed ppc and see what turns up. You may be suprised.