the PPC Book|Pay Per Click Blog | Long Tail Thoughts in a Short Tail World

In our last episode we saw an example of effective ad copy that was supported with landing page query reinforcement. Today we will look at an example of how to waste a perfectly good dollar. For simplicity-sake, I will use the exact same query I did in the last post.

LCD Monitors

At the time of my search, the following ad was shown:

Note the Buy.com ad quoting a 22″ LCD from $219 with free shipping. Sure, sounds like a good price, I’ll check it out. Ring up a dollar for Adwords (I have no idea what this click cost, $1 is just a guestimate)

Now let’s click on to the landing page and see what this thing looks like.

Hmmm…let’s see.

After rebate the price of this monitor is $279.95. Considerably more than $219. Not interested. I hit the backbutton and continue my search.

Not only did Buy.com waste a dollar on my click, I’m unlikely to bookmark them for future purchase considerations. Of course, I won’t lose any sleep over this, but I will surely on some subconscious level remember this and it will affect my perception of Buy.com.

Yes, I’m being hard on them. A generally very nice website, but in this case, you have to call it like you see it. Maybe they’ll do better next time.

Here’s an article from Jonathan Mendez who covers this subject in more detail...