Pay-per-click search positioning is here to stay. Keeping track of your bids can get out of hand quickly if you don't watch out. How do I know? Well just like most everything I report to you I screwed it up and wasted tons of money while I was learning.

Overture.com the granddaddy of pay-per-click search engines has recently rolled out it's automated bidding tool. I can't possible explain it as well as they can so here is how you get to their tutorial.

Visit http://www.overture.com Click on "advertiser center" then click on "auto bidding tutorial." This is a very clear and animated look at how the entire thing works.

In the old method of bidding it was very easy to overspend on clicks because you set a fixed amount you were willing to bid. Let's say you were willing to bid 50 cents for the top position on the keyword "aardvark." If the person below you in second position was only bidding 44 cents, you would be paying 5 cents too much for each click to stay in the number one position because a 45 cent bid would beat the 44 cent bid in position two.

The new bidding tool keeps you at the highest position you request and adjusts your bid to be only 1 cent above the next lowest bid. Bravo to Overture even though they made a dumb move by changing their name from goto.com :)

With this new tool you also don't have to monitor your bids so closely which is why this is in the automation section. You don't want to get yourself into too many things that require tons of attention.


More automation techniques:

• You can create shortcuts to frequently accessed web pages or other folders and documents right on your desktop. To do so, right click on an empty area of your desktop. Click on "new" then "shortcut." In the blank field enter the website address you want to go to (include the http://www and all that stuff) Click next. Give the shortcut a name and the next time you click on the shortcut it will take you to the webpage if you are connected to the Internet. If you are making a shortcut to a folder or document, you, of course, don't need to be connected to the Internet.

• More on shortcuts: If you send email to the same person over and over again, and also if you are afraid of using your Outlook address book because of virus attacks, then this trick is for you. As above right click on your desktop and then click on "new" then "shortcut." In the blank field put " mailto:tom@antion.com " Click next and then name the shortcut "email to Tom" or whomever your regular email recipient is. Make sure you don't put any spaces in the entire string. Click on the shortcut and an email is ready to go with the address already in place. Just type the message and subject line and off you go.

• Try to reduce the number of times you reach for your mouse each day. You'd be surprised at the number. It not only slows you down, but is tough on your hand. We don't want any carpal tunnel victims out there. Here's a quick tip. When surfing the web in Internet Explorer, instead of hitting your back and forward button, hold down your "alt" key and use your forward or back arrow on your keyboard.

Upcoming topics for this section

• Organize your email

• Reduce the impact of SPAM email

• The greatest keyboard shortcuts

• Respond to emails while you sleep with autoresponders

• Using templates so you never have to reinvent the wheel

Back to August 2002 Index page