Thanks to a SEW search forums spotlight piece, we’ve got a bunch of real, live people giving their honest feelings about advertising on Ask.com. It’s not often that you can find a number of obviously well-planned and well-constructed answers to the question of the performance of one outside of the top 3 PPC search engines in town. Usually with this kind of post, you get a couple of unhappy users who quickly turn things into a hate fest.
Ask.com is apparently going to try to scoot into the number 3 spot and until a couple of months ago, no one really saw that as a credible possibility. After reading through this thread, you may still not think they are a competitor, but just the ability to evoke 28 responses (none of which are the “dude, i hate ‘em” variety) has got to have you impressed. One of their guys has even checked in 2 or 3 times to answer questions and provide suggestions.
BTW, there’s also an intriguing look at the “How Much to Charge for PPC Work” issue that constantly is flaring up – good number of commenters offering up their opinions. Talk that one up over your Friday margaritas by the pool (or in my world, a Diet Coke in a lawn chair with a gazillion mosquitoes keeping me company).