Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Yahoo Touting New PPC Platform

Yahoo sent out this email today:
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/nl/may06ts.php

Though press releases and word of mouth have been discussing it for over 2 weeks....

Basically they are adopting the 'black box' or Google method of ad ranking and adding a bunch of features the advertisers have been asking for for some time.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Conquering Google May Be a Snap

While Yahoo and MSN battle for search volume with Google, a small pretender to the throne, Snap.com , may have a chance to push them all off of the top of the hill. All search engines look to PPC to fund the rest of their search activities.

Well if the CPA model Snap is pushing forward with under the able assistance of Bill Gross - the creator of PPC, contextual marketing and many other web marketing methods as the head of IdeaLabs and other ventures.

With all of the problems the engines are having with Click Fraud - the CPA model would eliminate nearly all of them. True it creates a situation where the search engines and their publishing partners become affiliates for the selling companies - but the early part of web economies involved a lot of affiliate models. The bid based model of PPC could be introduced and platforms developed that would take the strengths of both and move them into an even stronger evolved space.

Sooner or later this is a model that will be very successful - the engines that run with it early could be the new Google, Yahoo or MSN.....

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Google Paid Search: Time for the Broom

Okay everyone is debating the search arbitrage issue right now. But that does not help me. The financial vertical is the heaviest hit in this area.

Case in point: do a Google search for "foreign exchange rate" of the 36 advertisers there are maybe 7 companies that actually give information without needing further clicks.

The usual suspects are there. Business.com - the father of search arbitrage - and all those 'best' sites and many others. Yahoo, Ebay and the kings of dynamic PPC are present.

But less than 25% of the advertisers actually work in this space, well unless you think someone whose existence is parsitic should be included.

There is a need to clean this up. Come on guys there are ring tone sellers using currency rates, money exchange etc. as keywords.... how do they get to stay for anything beyond the time it takes to get it looked at - 48 hours?

If this situation continues I think a new technology will be able to knock off Google and the rest - all that it will have to do is go back to cleaner listings.

It would be funny if this was the issue that lost the search market for the top three.

Google Rolls Out New Toys

Earlier today at Mountain View, Google used Press Day to announce the launch of a bunch of new widgets. The latest version of Desktop (4), Google Co-op, Google Notebook and Google Trends.

Google Trends does comparisons of searches over time and the impact various news stories had on those numbers. This could be a handy tool for search research.

Google Desktop is now in its fourth version.

Google Co-op is an interesting community builder with human input ad review - this could have all sorts of impact on search results over the next few years.

Google Notebook is not out of beta yet but will be soon and it promises to provide the ability to attached notes to a web page - well sort of like a sticky that is assigned to a particular website with notes that can then be kept and even emailled to friends and colleagues.

Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Yahoo Losing Another Valuable Person

Patricia Neuray, who has been heading up Yahoo! Search Marketing's Eastern Region for some time now, is leaving for a job with Monster.com.

She has been a stalwart advocate for her clients and helped change the user experience from frustration and poor communications to a positive and profitable one.

In a time of rapid growth, Patricia always took the time to listen to the needs of her clients and I am sure many of the new changes that the Yahoo interface is about to roll out came from input she passed along from us.

I will miss her, and have some dread about the transition that is to come. Her replacement has some big shoes to fill.

Best of luck at the new job - though I know you won't need it. They are getting a skilled and dedicated person.

Monday, May 8, 2006

Raining Yahoo Mail

Okay I got ther release and posted about it. It was worthy of passing along. But I get another one - a little less detailled:

Dear advertiser,

You’ve told us your needs and we’ve listened. A completely redesigned search marketing platform is on its way, full of advanced, easy-to-use features that will help you better manage your Yahoo! Search Marketing campaigns and connect with new customers.


As part of creating these enhancements, we met with advertisers of all sizes to hear first-hand the things they liked and didn’t like about Sponsored Search. We extensively reviewed all parts of our service, including the design, features and tools. The result of these efforts is the new Sponsored Search, which will start rolling out beginning later this year.


These new features have been extensively tested by advertisers and refined over time to ensure that we deliver a service that successfully addresses the obstacles you currently face. Judging by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we’ve received, we are confident that the new Sponsored Search not only clears away those obstacles, but offers new and better ways to manage your account.


You don’t need to do anything at this time - we just wanted to let you know about these forthcoming developments. You will be notified well in advance of your transition to the new platform and will be given the appropriate information to ensure that it is as smooth as possible.

Amongst the information you’ll receive prior to the launch will be the following:

A series of emails with tips on how best to prepare your account.
In-depth articles on our new features in the advertiser newsletter.

We are dedicated to improving your online marketing experience and by continuously focusing on providing innovative products and services in a user-friendly format, we aim to offer you the best possible method of reaching customers interested in what your business provides.


I have received these two pieces in every language I have accounts in... Arabic to Zulu - well maybe not Zulu but Swedish, Austrian German etc.....

Yahoo Unleashing PPC - The Interface Wars Begin

Yahoo! is making major changes to the PPC interface and functionality. Their latest press release (below) shows how they are using some of the Google features to make their PPC process more user friendly.

The New Sponsored Search is Coming

Better Ways to Connect with Customers Will Make Your Advertising Even More Effective

You've told us your needs and we've listened. A completely redesigned search marketing platform is on its way, full of advanced, easy-to-use features that will help you better connect with Yahoo!'s vast and valuable audience.

As part of creating these enhancements, we met with advertisers of all sizes to hear first-hand the things they liked and didn't like about Sponsored Search. We extensively reviewed all parts of our service, including the design, features and tools. The result of these efforts is the new Sponsored Search, which will make its debut this Fall.

Powerful New Features
The new features that will make advertising with Yahoo! better and more effective include:

Ad Testing
Easily test multiple versions of an ad to find the message that works best for your customers and provides the greatest return on your advertising investment. You can then choose to shift impressions to the ad that performs best.

Geo-Targeting
Display your ads broadly or narrow your geographic distribution to better target your customers, customize your ads and control your costs.

Campaign Budgeting, Forecasting and Scheduling

Create, budget and schedule individual advertising campaigns for greater control over your advertising strategy and spending. Review forecasts of your potential clicks based on your bids and budget and see how many clicks you're leaving to your competitors.

Fast Ad Activation
Most new ad campaigns will go online in minutes, allowing you to connect with customers quickly, and easily make changes to your ads whenever you need to.

Visibility
Understand how well your ads are performing relative to your competitors with the new Quality Index displayed for each ad. You'll also see the bid range necessary for premium placement at the top of the search results page.

Campaign Optimization
Our systems can automatically adjust your ad rotation and bids to help you spend your budget most effectively, based on guidelines you provide for metrics such as CPA, CPM or ROAS, allowing you to focus your time on managing your business.

Easy-to-Use Control Panel
A completely redesigned, easy-to-navigate control panel will help you see what's working and what's not--at the level of detail you choose--so you can take action and get even better results.
Thoroughly Tested and Reviewed by Your Peers
These new features have been rigorously tested by your fellow advertisers and refined over time to ensure that we delivered a service that successfully addresses the obstacles you currently face. Judging by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we've received, we are confident that the new Sponsored Search not only clears away those obstacles, but offers new and better ways to manage your account.

Frequent and Detailed Communication with You
Your account team will be working closely with you every step of the way to make this transition as smooth and easy as possible. In addition, beginning next month, we'll begin to provide you with much more detailed information about all of the upcoming enhancements, including:

* A series of emails with tips on how best to prepare your account
* A customized account transition plan and transition packet
* Online training seminars
* In-depth articles on our new features in the advertiser newsletter
* A new Yahoo! Search Marketing blog--a community forum for tips, news and your comments, as well as the inside scoop from our own staff, to help you be more successful.
This is just the first step. After all advertisers have successfully transitioned to the new Sponsored Search, we plan to quickly introduce many more innovative products, features and tools that will give you even more ways to connect with customers.

As always, thank you for doing business with us. We look forward to delivering the new Sponsored Search to you later this year.


They are coming out hard - the interface wars are about to start - October 1st seems to be a date bandied about for the implementation of most of these features - including the CTR influenced CPC bidding.....

TO BE CONTINUED

Thursday, May 4, 2006

The MSN Adventure Begins

This was the press release from Seattle today at the Strategic Account Summit:

Today at the seventh annual MSN Strategic Account Summit, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the launch of Microsoft adCenter, the company’s online advertising platform, now serving 100 percent of paid search traffic on Microsoft online properties in the U.S. market. The launch of adCenter marks the next step in Microsoft’s commitment to online advertising. Microsoft adCenter is now live in three markets: the U.S., France, and Singapore.

“Ad-supported software services are an integral part of Microsoft’s plans to give consumers access to a broader variety of digital media, whenever they want and on whatever device they prefer,” Ballmer told the audience of more than 700 leading innovators in the advertising, marketing and media industries. “Our close partnership with the ad community is extremely important to us as we evolve into the world’s largest, most attractive provider of online media through MSN, Windows Live and adCenter.”

I am very excited about adCenter’s ability to provide advertisers like you with tremendous business value. Please take a look on http://advertising.msn.com for a video clip of the announcement.

So what does "launch" mean? As of May 4, 10 A.M. Pacific Time, traffic is at 100% and anyone can sign up for an adCenter account. Existing customers will have no impact on their account. However, you should now adjust your budgets to accommodate 100% traffic from adCenter.

In addition, adCenter has been rebranded to “Microsoft adCenter,” signifying that advertising is more than a function of MSN – adCenter is a significant part of Microsoft's overall strategy to build create a next-generation advertising platform and building through MSN and Windows Live services, the largest and most engaged audience on the planet.. Regardless of whether advertisements are on search, MSN properties, Windows Live, Office Live, or even Xbox, they will all be a part of the adCenter one-stop-shop experience.

I’d like to thank you for your participation in the pilot phase of adCenter. We have learned a lot since you’ve been on board, and we are committed to serving your Search advertising needs going forward.

Amazon Drops Google for MSN, Now Delivering 100% own PPC

The battle over the search space has been escalated by Microsoft recently. They have made some deft moves acquiring web partners and some talented people and finally have announced they are providing 100% of their PPC traffic.

Microsoft is working hard to build its publisher partners and the addition of Amazon - once a Google stalwart - will help this effort. According to an article by David Utter, the newly unveilled Windows Live Search results are now being served for Alexa and A9 site results.

Add the recent hiring of Ask CEO Steve Berkowitz to their team and the MSN push is starting to look aggressive.

By finally taking over the full PPC traffic distribution they have just created a whole in Yahoo!'s numbers - though it has been a gradual transition allowing Yahoo to get used to the loss.

Yahoo Gets BabelFish

Yahoo is adding another powerful little widget to its arsenal - translations. They are teaming with BabelFish to develop some interesting language tools.

The company's Search Translator Beta, available in Germany and in France, allows "users to translate queries and search for web pages, images, and videos in multiple languages simultaneously."


Now that is a cool new trick.