MSN CPC, does it ever go down?

[Darren M]

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I setup an Adcenter campaign about a month ago, started by bidding over the odds to get a high placement and have been just about breaking even. If this was a Google campaign, with the high CTR and amount of clicks I've been getting I would have expected to see the CPC coming down by now.

I suppose it could be down to the competition, but the CPC has hardly budged at all. Is anyone having a similar experience with Adcenter?

[drivetowin]

I could be wrong but I don't think Adcenter works the same way as Google - I don't think CTR has any effect on bid price, it is simply the higher your bid the higher you appear afaik.

[km8]

I could be wrong but I don't think Adcenter works the same way as Google - I don't think CTR has any effect on bid price, it is simply the higher your bid the higher you appear afaik.

Yeah, I think so to. But wouldn't you think they would expalin how placement works? I've read lots of their FAQs and still know squat about how it works.

Had it been 12 months ago, I would have abandoned efforts to work with AdCenter (like I did with YSM), due to clunky interface, lack of info, slow review/approval, high rejections, inexplicable rejections, low traffic, poor reporting, inadequate invoices, and so on .......

So why am I still there?

They have Google to thank for that!
I'm persevering, hoping that MSn will get better and deliver some real competition to Google - call it an act of faith.

[Darren M]

I could be wrong but I don't think Adcenter works the same way as Google - I don't think CTR has any effect on bid price, it is simply the higher your bid the higher you appear afaik.

Hmm, if that's true then it changes everything. Both myself and my competitors seem to be bidding over the odds to establish ourselves in the ad rankings, if CTR and campaign history have no bearing on the CPC then we're wasting out time.

So why am I still there?

They have Google to thank for that!

Exactly the same reason I'm still using MSN

[km8]

Both myself and my competitors seem to be bidding over the odds to establish ourselves in the ad rankings, if CTR and campaign history have no bearing on the CPC then we're wasting out time.

Yup. I think the MSN ranking is more like the flawed YSM model - deepest pocket gets the highest spot. MSN may have learned some things from 3 years wathing YSM and Google - but few of the important things, it seems.

[Darren M]

So if this is true anyone could throw up a few loan campaigns and be paying the same CPC as the big loan affiliates. I wish you could do that on Google

In the long term though I can see it putting a lot of people off of MSN. If you can't establish a stable campaign through your click history you're forever going to be micro managing the campaign. You'll also be competing with countless new comers who are willing (or just don't know better) to make a loss to test the water.

[km8]

So if this is true anyone could throw up a few loan campaigns and be paying the same CPC as the big loan affiliates. I wish you could do that on Google

In the long term though I can see it putting a lot of people off of MSN. If you can't establish a stable campaign through your click history you're forever going to be micro managing the campaign. You'll also be competing with countless new comers who are willing (or just don't know better) to make a loss to test the water.

Yes, and yes. If that is how MSN works.

Maybe the answer is somewhere in their FAQs but I haven't found it, and there is no way I (or you) should have to hunt for that info.

As you'll have gathered, I'm less than completely gruntled at the way MSN bAdcenter works at the moment - too much like YSM. But I am hoping it will improve. It's not like they have to actually work out for themselves what works - that's already established.