Hiya. I'm a developer for a small studio . We make a generic plastic building block MMO called Roblox and have been in public alpha for about 8 months. We've been doing some small-time advertising with Google Adwords, buying search terms. Our Cost Per Click (CPC) has been steadily rising for the past several months and we're worried we are paying too much for online ads. It seems to me that Google can and does charge a premium since they are the market leader in this space. I've been looking at Yahoo Ads and Adbrite, both of which seem to be cheaper for the keywords that we want to buy. Anyone have experience with either of these? I also looked into Microsoft's Ad program, but they wanted me to sign up before actually giving me a quote, so I didn't waste my time. In any case, we just some advertising solution that charges a low CPC and is reasonably well targetted at people who might like our game. Can we do better? I don't have any experience with anything except Adwords at this point. Thanks for any input!

Have people not been replying because:

A) They don't know.

B) They don't care.

I'm now doing some experimentation between services and if there is sufficient interest, I may consider writing an article for GD about using internet ads to drive users to your game.

People are not answering because your post was not very answerable.

You asked two yes or no questions.

Your question had paragraphs explaining that your costs have gone up, and that two other companies are offering a lower cost alternative. You ask if anybody has had experience with them -- and the answer is simply 'yes'. Then you asked if you can do better than just click-through advertising for your game -- and the obvious answer is also 'yes', there are unlimited other ways of advertising your stuff.

Most people don't take the time to reply to that type of post, espeically where the answer is obvious, intuitive, and easily reasoned by yourself.

Your second post wasn't much of a question either, more of a complaint that people weren't answering your obvious question and that you were thinking about possibly writing about this thing which you haven't found an answer for.

You may benefit by taking the time to read this.

I don't know enough about it. Sorry.

I am, however, intersted and I think you writing an article would be great!

I too would be interested in an article about advertising.

Quote:
You may benefit by taking the time to read this.

You might benefit from taking the time to read this.

Quote: Original post by Telamon
You might benefit from taking the time to read this.

You might benefit from taking the time to read this - You're stupid (no don't click on it, its not a link).

Sorry. I make it a rule to never ever be rude in forums because its unprofessional but you deserve it. Frob was being both helpful and honest with you. Your initial question was unanswerable and your second post did nothing to improve matters. Ask a meaningful question and people here will be happy to help; Don't and you will get a response that matches the question.

[Edited by - Obscure on April 22, 2007 6:02:59 AM]

Quote: Original post by Obscure

Quote: Original post by Telamon
You might benefit from taking the time to read this.

You might benefit from taking the time to read this - You're stupid.

You tell'em, mon! (^_^)
"Telamon," you can redeem yourself by completing the research you're doing and posting your findings as you previously suggested. It often happens that folks come here and ask for data that nobody's collected - we sometimes suggest that they do the research and post their findings for the benefit of those who follow. So far, hardly anybody actually has...

Disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about advertising [grin]

If I was trying to sell a game, I would want ads put in places that gamers would see them. I believe this has been very successful for Moon Pod's Mr Robot who have had adverts on Penny Arcade among other places (Penny Arcade must be like Game Advertising Grade-A Real Estate [smile]).

Regards,
ViLiO

No experience really, but try posting on forums. I made a small video about my game, posted on like 6 different forums and got 3,000 views in 4 days.