2nd tier PPC search engines: What are they?

When it comes to PPC search engines, most advertisers do not think beyond the industry leaders, namely, Google (AdWords) and Overture. Together, they are referred to as the Tier1 PPC search engines and control almost 98% of the paid listings. However, due to their high traffic and popularity, the competition for keyword positions on these search engines is intense. The result—higher bid prices and fewer opportunities for low-budget advertisers.

This is where smaller PPC search engines, also called 2nd tier PPC search engines, come in. These include names like Espotting & FindWhat (now jointly called MIVA), ePilot, GoClick, SearchFeed, Enhance, Kanoodle, 7Search, PageSeeker, LookSmart, Mamma and Search123. Even though the combined user traffic from all these search engines may be less than that of Google or Overture, they offer a cost-effective option of paid advertising to those who can’t afford the big two.

How can I profit from 2nd tier PPC search engines?

Many would argue that due to the low numbers and bad quality of traffic that the 2nd tier PPC search engines bring in, advertising on them is a waste of time and money. However, the advantages of placing ads on these search engines (as listed below) seem to counter such opinions.
1. Prices for certain keywords on 2nd tier search engines may be as less as one tenth or one hundredth of what you would end up paying on Google or Overture.  Even with a small budget of around $50 per search engine, you will have a highly cost-effective source of traffic. 
2. Most of these PPC search engines offer free credits for clicks. This is especially useful while carrying out trial campaigns.
3. 2nd tier search engines provide their listings to popular meta search engines and portals thus ensuring that your ads are well distributed. 
4. Since the Tier1 engines miss out on around 2% of the total paid listings distribution, the second rung engines provide a niche market for additional traffic volume.
5. In case of international campaigns, secondary PPC engines sometimes generate more clicks than Overture and Google.
6. The smaller PPC search engines also provide excellent customer support and guidance, sometimes having dedicated Account Managers. This is quite unlike anything that Google and Overture are currently able to offer.
7. Vertical PPC search engines (like Business.com) generate much more focussed results than either Google or Overture.
8. Using secondary PPC engine networks, you can save up on your budgets and then utilize this saving to make a kill on Google and Overture.

The future of 2nd tier PPC search engines

Despite very obvious disadvantages like limited and irrelevant traffic, fewer conversions and fraudulent clicks, 2nd tier PPC search engines are here to stay. They are capturing niche customers by branching out into vertical and local markets. They are also introducing new services like “pay-per-call (FindWhat) and “ad discounter” (LookSmart) to lure advertisers. It is time all online advertisers take a second look at the 2nd tier PPC networks—it may just get them some unprecedented traffic without burning a hole in their pockets!