我们有时被问到“为什么我要对自身品牌词进行竞价？”在大多数情况下，询问者想知道他们是否可以通过不投品牌词广告从而达到省钱（或者提高投资回报率）。这是一个有趣的问题，回答起来并不那么简单。每个点击都要钱，因此理论上说你可以通过不对自身品牌词竞价而道德省钱的目的。但是，同样的理论，你不是也可以把钱存起来而不交养老保险？

We’re sometimes asked “why should I bid on my own branded keywords?” In most cases, the asker wants to know if they can save money (or improve ROI) by not bidding on their brand keywords. It’s an interesting question, with a not-so-simple answer. Each click costs money, so yes, theoretically, you can save money by not bidding on your own branded searches. But with that same logic, can’t you also save money by keeping it under your mattress instead of in a 401k?

在起始阶段关注品牌词的花费而非价值是可以理解的。花费是一个可以测量的具体数字，可以在付费搜索账号和信用卡账单中看到。价值通常不太好测量，在计算时存在若干灰度梯度。

It’s understandable to initially focus more on the cost of branded keywords, rather than the value. Cost is a measurable, absolute number that’s seen in paid search accounts and credit card statements. The value is usually less-measurable, with some shades of gray in the calculations.

有时很难量化品牌词展现的效果，特别是以金钱来衡量。我们的经验显示品牌关键词大部分情况下是一本万利的转化，盈利空间很大。不过这只是对短期可测量的流量来算的。对客户观念的长期影响或者之后可能过来的残余流量呢？依我看，很难测量“对自身品牌词经销竞价”的效果是在上面花费更多而非更少的原因之一。

Sometimes it can be tough to quantify the effect of branded exposure, especially in dollars and cents. Our experience shows that branded keywords almost always convert at pennies on the dollar, with very high profitability. That’s only for the immediate, measurable traffic though. What about the long-term effects in customers’ minds or residual traffic that may come later on? In my opinion, the harder-to-measure effects of “bidding on your own branded keywords” are almost always a reason to spend more on them, not less.

下面是八个理由，说明为什么对品牌关键词进行竞价是一个好主意（而且是一个很好的投资）：

Here are eight reasons why bidding on branded keywords can be a good idea (and a good investment):

1. Professional appearance – An ad at the top of the page can give an impression of a bigger, more established and a more savvy company. It suggests that you’re anticipating the visitor and welcoming them to your site with a paid ad.专业形象-在页面顶部展现广告显示出公司大，知名度高，有见识。暗示着你期望访问者访问并且用付费广告来欢迎他们。
2. Ads are ads, organic results are not. With ads, you have absolute control over which messages your searchers will see. You can instantly get a message in front of your customers without waiting 2 months for your site to get re-indexed. You can quickly and systematically test different brand messaging in your ads. You can set start and end dates to your messaging. I wouldn’t recommend trying those things with organic listings.广告就是广告，自然结果不是广告。通过广告，你可以精准掌控搜索者将会看到什么信息。你可以即刻展现一条信息给你的客户，而无需等待两个月搜索引擎重新索引。你可以迅速而系统地在广告中测试不同的品牌信息。你可以设置开始和结束时间。我绝不会推荐使用自然排名尝试这些事情。
3. Better traffic control through a paid ad can help your customers reach your site’s best page (according to you, not Google’s crawler). Believe it or not, a company’s home page is not always the best place to send branded traffic. Your company’s top organic search result may not be the most ideal landing page. Is there a different page that’s better designed and has a higher conversion rate? If so, use a branded ad to get people there.更好的流量控制通过付费广告你可以帮助客户达到网站的最佳页面（由你定而非谷歌蜘蛛）。不管你信不信，一个公司的主要并不总是传达品牌流量的最佳着陆点。你公司的搜索最多自然结果可能并非最理想的着陆页面。是否有一个不同的页面，或者设计更好或者转化率更高？如果有的话，使用品牌广告来让人们访问那里。
4. Two links are better than one. One more link on the page makes your site easier to find. It’s one more search result that you have control over, and one more chance to create a positive impression of your company. Own as much of the results page as you can.两个链接比单一链接好。在结果页中多一个链接会让你的网站更容易被发现。这是你有控制权的更多一个搜索结果，这也是建立你公司积极印象的更多一个机会。尽可能多地拥有搜索结果。
5. Guard your customers from distraction. If someone’s on their way to shop at your store, you don’t want them seeing other people’s ads, offers or companies along the way. Bid on your terms and be the first one to catch their eye.防止你的客户分心。如果有人准备来你的网店购物，你不会想他们看到其他人的广告，促销或者在途中看到其他公司吧。对你的品牌词进行竞价，成为抓住他们眼球的第一个。
6. If you don’t, someone else will. Competitors’ ads can show up for your terms too, potentially robbing you of sales and customer loyalty. More commonly, ads from your own affiliates and authorized resellers can chip away potential profits and erode your bottom line. Consider the example of Reebok (below). Each pair of shoes they sell on their own site is likely worth considerably more for them than each sale through one of their distributors. Would they be wise to only rely on their #1 organic ranking in this case?如果你不投，其他人会。竞争对手的广告也会在你的品牌关键词搜索结果中出现，潜在地抢走你的订单和降低客户忠诚度。更常见情况是，你的联盟或者授权分销商可以蚕食一些潜在利润并且侵蚀你的底线。考虑下面Reebok的这个例子。在他们自己网站销售每双鞋的价格可能明显超过在经销商的价格。这种情况下，他们还会傻到仅仅依赖自然排名第一吗？

1. Make it tough for your competition – If competitors bid on your branded keywords, then you can raise their costs substantially by simply slapping your ad next to theirs. Yours will very likely have a higher CTR, better position and better quality score. Great for you, bad for them. As a result, you’ll reduce their conversion rates, increase their CPA, lower their position and diminish their traffic volume – all while requiring them to jack their bids to compete for your same ad slot. If you don’t bid on your own branded terms, you make it much easier (financially) on your competitors who might.让竞争对手很难办-如果竞争对手投你们品牌词的广告，那么你可以通过出奇制胜地在他们广告旁边展现你的广告，从而提升他们的花费。你的广告很可能会有很高的点击率，更好的位置，更高的质量得分。对你很有利，对他们不利。结果，你将降低他们的转化率，增加他们的每行动成本，降低他们的位置，缩减他们的流量-这些都要求他们提升价格来竞争同样的广告位置。如果你不对自身品牌关键词投放竞价广告，你让潜在竞争对手（财政上）很容易。
2. Prepare customers for their visit. A paid search ad can effectively reroute the visitors’ attention to specific events or issues:为客户访问做准备。付费广告可以有效地变更访问者的注意力到特点事件或者问题上：
   • Promotions & Sales – If you have a sale or a special promo, branded ads are the best and fastest way to get the word out to people before they come to your site. Holiday specials, upcoming sales, coupons, etc.促销或者打折-如果你在打折或者有一个特定的促销，品牌广告是在人们访问网站之前最佳最快传递信息的方式。
   • Company Info – News, product launches, contests, slogans, mottos, credibility, testimonials, phone numbers, etc. Search engines might not show the text you want. If you have a clear and effective “value proposition” that’s nowhere to be read in your organic rankings, think branded ads.公司信息-新闻，产品发布，竞赛，宣传员，格言，信誉，电话号码，等等。搜索引擎可能不会展现你想的词。如果你有一个清晰且有效的“价值提议”，如果在自然排名中无法让人们读到，那么考虑品牌广告吧。
   • Public Relations or clarifications- Taco Bell recently received some bad press when word got out that their beef was 88% beef. Never a better time for a branded search ad. They bid on “taco bell” and wrote an ad to welcome researchers to their page and prepare them to learn more about their high quality beef (their words, not mine). 公关或者澄清-Taco Bell 最近收到一些消极报道，说他们的牛肉不纯正。这是做品牌词广告的最佳时机了。他们对“taco bell”投放竞价广告，写了一条广告欢迎搜索者来到他们的页面，这个页面目标是让访问者了解他们的高质量牛肉（他们说的，不是我说的）。

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     Notice that in their ad, they also offered a “limited-time-only” promo for people to try the beef for themselves: An 88¢ Crunchwrap Supreme. While I didn’t “convert” on the Taco Bell site or partake of the Crunchwrap, I was impressed at their reaction to the press, and it had a positive impact on how I viewed the company. Price of a click – maybe $0.15. Price of losing a lifetime customer? That’s another story.

Google’s released a slew of new ad formats over the last few years that are both eye-catching and functional. You can do some creative stuff with your branded ads to increase the value of your company and give a better user experience. Some new ad formats include:谷歌在过去几年发布了一些新的广告格式，他们很吸引眼球并且功能性很强。你可以对你的品牌广告做一些富有创意的事情来提升你公司的价值并且给用户更好的体验。一些新的广告格式包括：

• Click-to-call mobile ads – shows on mobile devices only.点击拨打的移动广告-仅在移动设备展现
• Site links – you can send traffic to up to 4 more highly-targeted pages.网站链接-你可以把流量引至最多4个更具目标性的页面
• Location extensions show a map of your store(s) underneath your ad.本地信息扩展-在你广告下面显示你商店的地图
• Seller ratings place your 4 or 5 star rating next to your ads.卖家评级-把你的四星级或者五星级评论放置在你广告旁边
• Phone extensions can track phone calls from your AdWords ads.电话扩展可以跟着来自AdWords广告的电话呼叫

Each advertiser’s situation is very different so I won’t recommend branded ads in all cases. In most accounts that I’ve seen, branded ads can be utilized and tested much more efficiently, and can really help influence both direct sales and customer perceptions.每个广告商的情况很不相同，因此不会推荐所有情况下都使用品牌词竞价广告。在大多数我曾经看过的账户中，品牌词广告可以被优化并且测试达到更有效，而且可以着实帮助营销直接销售及客户评价。

If brand loyalty is a big deal to you, then branded ads are certainly worth rethinking.如果品牌忠诚度对你很重要，那么品牌词竞价广告理所当然值得考虑。

译者肖庆，原文：http://www.roirevolution.com/blog/2011/06/rethinking_branded_ads_in_paid_search.php