Google appoints ReadyPlanet

       In a bid to strengthen its AdWords search engine marketing, Google recently appointed ReadyPlanet, the ready-made website provider, the authorised reseller in Thailand.
       "We expect to have a fast growth of customers here as Thailand is one of the fastest growing markets for Google,"said Charif El Ansari, head of online and reseller sales, Google Southeast Asia.
       Citing the ITU's report of 14 million Internet users in Thailand, he said the kingdom is a very exciting market for Google. Only 100,000 of the 850,000 SMEs here have websites, he said.
       Out of a total advertising expenditure of 90,000 million baht, the budget they allocated for online media is only one percent, or 900 million baht.
       A few months ago the company addressed its 3P strategy (platform, promotion and partnership) calling for the economic value to SMEs. The platform of AdWords has been improved together with the payment system. El Ansari added that Google has completed the jigsaw of strategy through the partnership with ReadyPlanet.
       Having worked together for six months, ReadyPlanet last week was officially appointed the first authorised Google AdWords reseller in Thailand and is the first in Southeast Asia to provide a 24-7 call centre service to its customers.
       El Ansari added that existing AdWords clients can either manage their own campaigns or do so through ReadyPlanet.
       For the agencies, Google has continued to support them as usual including online training, while the relationship with ReadyPlanet will focus more on in-depth knowledge. ReadyPlanet will offer a com-prehensive search engine marketing strategy and planning, create and manage Google AdWords campaigns, campaign performance analysis and email and phone support.
       According to Pornthip Kongchun,Google Thailand marketing manager,the online search engine marketing AdWords is a relevant, cost-effective, measurable and flexible program that enables businesses to attract highly qualified sales leads to their websites.
       AdWords are the brief, four line text ads which show up as "Sponsored Links"at the top or right side of the results page when users conduct a Google search. Businesses choose the keywords they want their ads to appear next to and pay if a user clicks on their ad.Prices are determined through a keyword auction and can range from a 0.35 baht to a few hundred baht, depending on the keyword.
       Grand Planet Enterprise CEO, Songyot Kanthamanon, who provides total website solutions called ReadyPlanet said the collaboration between Google and ReadyPlanet will help uplift the service quality of online marketing and will also be beneficial to the industry as a whole.
       ReadyPlanet today has more than 8,000 customers and initially they will be the primary target group of Google AdWords marketing tool of which the company expects that some 300-500 of them to adopt the AdWords by this year.
       COO Burin Kledmanee explained that customers need to pay for two parts:first to Google with cost per click which starts at 0.35 baht a click and the latter to ReadyPlanet for campaign management at a charge of 2,000 baht a month.Customers can choose to run the campaign for 3 or 6 or 12 months.