During my time in Boulder last week, one of the more interesting startups I was introduced to was Trada, a virtual marketplace for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Using Trada, advertisers and agencies looking to take advantage of search engine ad networks can crowdsource the development of keyword-based ads to the service’s growing number of paid search optimizers. Previously, ads through Trada were only available on Google and Yahoo, but this morning, the startup has announced support for Bing and Microsoft adCenter.
A service like Trada is a perfect resource for the bootstrapped startup that wants to enter the search engine ad networks at a low cost. Trada works with companies to set a bid price for keywords, and the network of PPC optimizers then curate ads and keywords with bid prices lower than that of the original bid, and collect on the difference. This incentivizes the optimizers to create compelling ads, and all of this is done at a price the company or agency agreed on from the start. To see a more step-by-step explanation of how it works, check out the video embedded below.
Trada has only been in business for seven weeks, but already it has 135 clients and just under 500 optimizers working on ads and keywords – nearly double its size from launch. The company says the average campaign attracts around 25 optimizers which create around 100 advertisements based on over 6,000 keywords. With the growing popularity of Bing, Trada saw an opportunity to widen their customers’ options.
“Bing is developing into a search engine leader in travel, health, ecommerce and local business. Advertisers in the Trada marketplace will now benefit from increased visibility in the aforementioned verticals,” the company said in a press release Wednesday. “Bing also provides an opportunity for advertisers to reach a different set of demographics. According to Quantcast, Bing demographics reach an affluent audience with children.”
Trada users can now add Bing to their arsenal of PPC ads with a single click, the company says. They attribute their early success to “pent-up paid search demand from smaller advertisers” that can’t afford their own team of search engine optimizers and ad developers – a common hurdle for young startups. Luckily for these companies, with support for Bing, Trada has all your bases covered for you.
