Bidding on Gimpsy

[BillLomax]

Hello all,

I submitted my site and it was accepted into Gimpsy. I found that I am the first site in my category and am highlighted above the other entries in the category.

Here is my question, I notice that I can bid in Gimpsy, which I assumed was for PPC, but was unclear why I would do that.

If someone could explain the model briefly to me, I would appreciate the help.

Thanks,

Bill Lomax

[Stuart]

Hi Bill

Nice to hear from you. Let's see if I can shed some light on your questions.

I submitted my site and it was accepted into Gimpsy. I found that I am the first site in my category and am highlighted above the other entries in the category.
All new sites that are approved in Gimpsy, are promoted at the top of the search results for at least on calender month. At the end of this period Gimpsy uses random placement as a matter of policy.

Here is my question, I notice that I can bid in Gimpsy, which I assumed was for PPC, but was unclear why I would do that.
As for the bidding, I would like to make something clear. Gimpsy is not a PPC directory. Site owners are not charged for click throughs to their site. Site owners bid, on a monthly basis, for placement in the category that their site is in. If you win the bid, your site is placed at the top of the results with a red star next to it. Once the month is up, site owners once again have the opportunity to bid for placement in the category.
Please see the following help file for a more detailed explanation: http://www.gimpsy.com/gimpsy/doc/faq/faq_owner.php

So the reason for bidding is quite simple. After the initial promotion period, the search results are randomly generated. Therefore you site may be displayed on the first page, or alternatively on the last. It will never be in the same position. So the best way for site owners to maximise their listing is to bid for the top position!

I hope I have answered your questions, and I wish you many hours of happy searching:)

Regards
Stuart

[MC]

Hi!

As you might have experienced yourself, Gimpsy is rather verbose when it comes to communicating with users and site owners. :)
To see the full list of our communication channels, check this thread (http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6542).

Thus, the online help to Site Owners (http://www.gimpsy.com/gimpsy/doc/faq/faq_owner.php#6) goes into quite a lot of details. However, I'll take this opportunity and highlight the main differences between the Gimpsy auction and the other PPC auctions:

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The Gimpsy auction relates to the RANKING in a CATEGORY where the site is placed. It is NOT keyword based and you CANNOT choose which category you wnat your site to be in.

The Gimpsy auction is a monthly event. A standard PPC auction is ongoing, real time, 24/7.

Consequently, a rank obtained via the Gimpsy auction is guaranteed to remain the same for the full month. In the PPC model, the rank may change anytime, and could be different for different keywords.

Once a site won a place in the Gimpsy auction, it is not liable for any further payment, irrespective of the number of referrals that Gimpsy sends to it. Obviously, in a PPC engine you are paying for every click.

The starting bid at the Gimpsy auction is 5 USD. PPC engines have a wide starting rate, from 0.001 to 0.10 USD (maybe even higher).

Gimpsy doesn't ask for any deposit. If the bid was unsuccesful, no payment is due and no money changes hands. All PPCs directories and Search Engines ask for a deposit which gets depleted when users click on the site link.

Consequently, budgeting a marketing campaign with Gimpsy is much more predictable and regular than with a regular PPC. In fact, one can set up an 'autobid' facility that will bid the same amount every month.
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Hope that helps! :cool:

MC

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums Bill and Stuart! :hi:

Thanks for the detailed repsonses MC and Stuart! :thumb:

[BillLomax]

Thanks for the great replies!

Sorry I misused the the PPC term.

As I understand the PPC model as Overture has implemented it, you are bidding to stay ahead of the next lower bidder.

So if you autobid $100 for a keyword, but the number 2 person bid $10, you would only pay $10.01.

In Gimpsy, if I bid $100 and everyone else was bidding $10, I think I would have to pay the $100 and never know I was way overbidding, is this correct?

Without the context of knowing how much competitors are bidding, that makes it difficult for someone new. Not a criticism, just an observation.

Anyone have any ideas as to the ranges of bids that are or have been successful?

Thanks,

Bill

[MC]

Excellent observation Bill - and a very good point.

Indeed, the 'blind bidding' or 'sealed bidding' used by Gimpsy has an element of uncertainty. As with every system - it has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that there are no 'bidding wars'! The participants just have to make up their mind if they want to participate and how much it is worth for them - place the bid and wait for the results to be published.

I could go on forever about the problems associated with the PPC model used by Overture, Google and almost everyone else. Suffice to say that FRAUD is a real problem. It is so tempting for the site owners, competitors or just about any malicious person to simply click on a link - knowing that by doing so the site owner will pay dearly. Sure, they all claim to have very efficient fraud prevention methods. For obvious reasons, they are not going to tell you what they are. Maybe they do - maybe they don't. You are very unlikely to find out, and it seems that in most cases it is YOUR responsibility to do the investigation in the first place.

I think that there are some reputable SEO that would simply not use PPC engines, while other do it reluctantly. But - as traffic is king - this is a legitimate way to get some.

And before giving the complete picture of how things work at Gimpsy - I hope that it is absolutely clear that no fraud is possible with the Gimpsy method. After all, the payment was FIXED for a month. No amount of clicks will change that - so why bother?

Now, finally, here is what happens at Gimpsy:

As a site owner you have access to historical data, showing what were the winning bids in YOUR category for the last 12 months (although we are live less time than that ...). It also shows exactly how many click-throughs each of the first positions received. Armed with that information, you are well placed to know just how competitive your category is and what MAY bring you to a good position - should you decide to bid.

SO, although it is a 'blind bidding system', you can see quite a lot :cool:

Hope that helps

MC

[ihelpyou]

That sounds like a great system MC! :)

[MC]

Thanks, Doug, your support is highly appreciated!

MC

[BillLomax]

Very,very helpful information.

As I am new to SEO, and to me it is a means to an end, not my profession here was my strategy.

1) Build Site
2) Promote reciprocal links
3) Request inclusion in indexes
4) Setup Blog to help with link pop.
5) Learn more about SEO to increase position in SERPs
6) In the mean time, use Low Cost PPC with positive ROI to drive
traffic
7) Do 5 and 6 over and over again until I am rich
8) Hope :)

Again, thanks for the info.

Best Regards,

Bill