You can read the first part here.
As I said, in this part I will share some numbers with you, so you can see how small the CTR is, using today’s advertising model.
Actionscript.org (forum)
We had our ads displayed for 12 days (18 Jan – 30 Jan), on a $500 campaign.
Impressions: 184,226
Clicks: 1,407
CTR: 0.76%
We canceled this ad.
Flash Speaks ActionScript (blog)
30 days (over), $50 campaign.
Impressions: 52,496
Clicks: 71
CTR: 0.10%
We canceled this ad.
WebTreats ETC (blog)
30 days, $15 campaign.
Impressions: 93,172
Clicks: 17
CTR: 0.02%
We are going to cancel this ad. This is the 14th day.
Web Design Booth (blog)
30 days, $40 campaign.
Impressions: 82,262
Clicks: 22
CTR: 0.03%
We are going to cancel this ad. This is the 13th day.
Google AdWords
Google is charging per click, which is the right way if you ask me. (10 months campaign)
Impressions: 95,248
Clicks: 1,074
CTR: 1.13%
Cost: $218
There is an additional blog we are currently still advertising on, but since we are not going to cancel the ad yet, I won’t post it here, so we have real data when we decide to close the campaign.
Conclusions
Based on the numbers above, you can see that Google’s AdWords is the best advertising option there is today, because it is the most targeted campaign, due to the fact that users are searching for something specific, which Google serves through their search engine. The trick is they add the advertiser’s links first. And we are one of those advertisers.
Although Google’s CTR is just a bit over 1%, it’s still the best value one can get today.
It’s too bad Actionscript.org, with almost double the impressions in just 12 days, has a smaller CTR, and the money paid for the campaign are twice as much as what was spent on Google. It’s important to notice the daily impressions number on the blogs, way above Google’s impressions.
In Part 3, I will share our solution. I will write this part in 4 months, so until then, I strongly advise you use AdWords for your advertising campaigns. :-)