I'm going to go out of sequence again and describe a new Google AdWords that will, IMHO, change pay per click advertising in a fundamental way. Frankly I'm surprised that there's been so little discussion about the feature in print, forums, blogs, etc.
I'm talking about the Google AdWords Conversion Optimizer. Google quietly added this feature to every advertiser's AdWords account a few months ago. In a nutshell, it regulates keyword-level bids, promising to deliver as many conversions as possible, at or below a cost-per-conversion you specify.
That's right -- automated bid management, the Holy Grail that's been so highly-valued that companies offering it have been built and sold at a profit -- some more than once.
In a perfect world, automated bid management performs a function that is difficult or impossible for a human to perform: monitoring conversion behavior several times per day, and adjusting keyword bids so that the likelihood is high that the advertiser will pay no more and no less than the amount required to get conversions at or below their target cost.
See the full story at: http://searchenginewatch.com/3632476
