Is Yahoo Search Marketing so bad?

Everyone likes to say Yahoo is horrible for PPC marketing. The point here is that it is very easy to say something without knowing what you are talking about! I have conducted Search Marketing Campaigns for dozens of businesses and also dozens of affiliate programs, and have found that Yahoo Search Marketing, many times can be as profitable although they have the shorter reach than Google AdWords, and actually many times more profitable than Google in many cases. This is not always the case, but many times it is.

"You're nuts! No one uses Yahoo! How would that be possible? Besides their customer service is bad, their logistics stinks!" Well, if you care more about how easy it is to navigate a program, or you care more about branding, or you need very high volume in sales and can afford higher PPC costs, then stick to Google! But, if you want to possibly blow away your revenues with a lower volume of traffic, then give Yahoo a try!

Why is this possible? This is very simple to explain. Here are your reasons:

1. Different Demographics in Yahoo.

   Yahoo can tend to be an excellent Business To Customer Environment for Many Markets, whereas in some markets Google is better, sometimes more so with Business to Business Markets. Yahoo Searchers tend to be OLDER than Google Searchers, which may be more of your market.

2. YSM PPC Costs are cheaper!

   Yes, that's right, a visitor in Yahoo might only cost you 50cents, when it could cost you double that in Google! Double always? No, but definitely cheaper costs in Yahoo Search Marketing as opposed to Google AdWords.

3. The Golden Egg, The Golden Goose, The Machismo of Reasons, dedicated to all those that say Yahoo is bad because no one uses it (I would not call 19% of searches no one), less competition! "I don't care about competition! That doesn't matter with my small business model or affiliate marketing!" Oh, It doesn't? Wanna bet! Your conversion rates can be much higher in Yahoo, because of lack of competitors in comparison to Google. Some Google Sponsored Results go back 15 pages for crying out loud!

Don't get me wrong, Google is good. Google is really good. But in many cases, Yahoo is as good, or better. Sometimes not, but many times, so. It all depends on the market, and also the way you setup your campaigns. However, just moving a replica of campaigns from Google to Yahoo can increase your margins significantly. You might pay $100 for 10 Sales in Yahoo, or $1000 for 20 sales in Google, say in a week's time. Yes Google got more volume for you, but Yahoo converted better for a much larger margin. Each network has it's pluses and minuses, and again Google is good, and you can make a killing in Google, but if you have not yet tried Yahoo, you might just really be missing out on a large share of ad space. Again, Google's reach is 4 times of Yahoo, but without as many competitors, and with a lower cost per visitor, that may not matter at all.