Efficient Frontier Unveils Self-Service Product

Search engine marketing firm Efficient Frontier next week is expected to unveil a self-service version of its paid search product. The product will be aimed at small and medium businesses that spend less than $50,000 per month on search engine marketing.

The product, Efficient Frontier Express--which has been in beta testing since August with 20 of Efficient Frontier's small- and medium-sized clients--will be available for a flat monthly fee, and will allow marketers to run a campaign on Google, Yahoo, and MSN's upcoming keyword advertising system. The self-service product uses the same algorithm that Efficient Frontier's enterprise product uses, which allows marketers to select variables such as clicks, clickthrough rate, or return on investment, and then uses a predictive model to optimize keyword buys.

Efficient Frontier CEO and president Ellen Siminoff said the firm had been receiving requests from smaller businesses for a cheaper alternative to their enterprise service. "We've been getting a lot of demand for a self-serve product," she said. "When you're spending $30,000 a month, ROI matters just as much when you're spending $5 million a month."

Users of the self-service version will lose some of the bells and whistles that come with the enterprise product, including an account manager, and the ability to run multiple campaigns and optimize for multiple metrics.

Next story loading loading..