Yahoo Ad Scheduling

Yahoo Search Marketing, the Pay Per Click (PPC) division of Yahoo! Inc has been historically behind the 8-ball, or more specifically behind Google AdWords for the last 3 to 5 years of PPC advertising.

Yahoo's argument was, we were the 1st on the scene and Google has since leap-frogged us by taking our model and improving upon it- an argument with some validity.  But now 5 years down the road, Yahoo is still playing catch-up.  This is even after the famous 'Panama' launch that was to solve everything.  Not to be confused with your favorite South American canal, or a Van Halen song.


Well Yahoo has taken a small step in the right direction by now including a full ad scheduling feature.  Previous to this upgrade, Yahoo's scheduling was all of, start date- end date.  Now, like Google, the PPC advertising can be scheduled to the hour, every hour of every day of the week.


For example, I want to push my Ad's in the morning only, Monday, Wednesday and Friday but have evenings only on the weekend.  You can customize and specify exactly to the 1/4 hour when your ads will run and when the won't.  The trick now is deciphering when and when not to run your ads.

Do you feel like you want to utilize this type of tool, targeting only parts of the week where you see your best results?  Let us help- Webconsuls.com.

Yahoo Phishing Hijackings- Be on the Lookout

I have recently come into contact with  a Phishing scheme where an owner of a Yahoo Search Marketing sponsored search account was emailed falsely as Yahoo.  The account owner then logged into this fake page giving the phishing thieves access to that account.  The thief then hijacks the account using someone else's money to pay for advertising until the fraud is captured and stopped by Yahoo themselves.  Whats more is that the thieves even leave the previous advertising campaign active and running so that the owner will not notice any difference until logging in to the account itself.

Similar fraudulent tactics have been widely publicized with eBay.  Again, this is not Yahoo or eBay's doing and that parent company does give all stolen funds back to the rightful owner.  But the best case scenario is a major headache and time wasted researching the issue and dollars lost/refunded.

In conclusion, do not ever log-in to any account of any type using a hyper-link from an email.  Always go to your normal log in page to enter in private information.  I promise you will not notice a difference in the fake and real log in pages- these guys are pro's.  Save the irritation and time.  It can happen to anyone not paying attention.

Here is Yahoo's company line on the matter- http://www.ysmblog.com/blog/2008/12/12/no-phishing-here/

PPC Ad Scheduling

Both Yahoo and Google have their own forms of 'ad scheduling'.  This means that we can choose when we want our ads to be shown and just as importantly, when we don't want our ads to be shown-- well kind of.

Google fully provides this functionality- hour by hour, day by day, even down to every 1/4 hour, when to display your ads.  The campaign 'edit status' button has what looks like a hyperlink, which is where you can find the ad scheduling function.

Yahoo Search Marketing on the other hand, allows you to schedule a start date and an end date, which is their full and complete definition of ad scheduling.  Therefore, taking your campaigns on and offline at certain hours is a manual process-- log in to the account and literally turn the account offline or back online to perform the same function.  This is ridiculous- Yahoo needs to step up to the plate.  We are not asking for voice command here.

Both search engines have the faults and points of utility, but for this function it's a runaway: collegiate versus kindergarten.

Pay Per Click Landing Pages

In pay per click marketing, in most cases I find myself defining the typical internet user/searcher/customer in very specific terms. I must assume that the potential customer is looking only for the particular item/service searched-- nothing more nothing less. Therefore, specific landing pages corresponding to that search term are a must, while sending a searcher to your homepage is not optimal.

To quote the linked article, "The first and most important objective of the landing page is to convince the visitor that they've come to the right place." In my opinion this must be done, clearly, simply, and above the 'fold' or without making the searcher scroll. The Szetela article uses the metaphor of going to a Sears department store. When you know the specific item you are looking to purchase, you can go directly to it by parking and entering the store in the door leading to that particular department. You then find, purchase and leave the store creating as efficient and seemless an experience as possible.

If the searcher then stays to browse or comes back later for similar items, it is all gravy. But the conservative, strict approach assumes this is not the case and in my experience, it is not. Secure the immediate sale- any other objectives cannot be campaigned for with statistical confidence.

The browser or the type of person who enjoys shopping and spending time do so is not the person we are concerned with as previous topics have covered. In short, the browsing shopper will either find the product regardless of what 'department door' they arrive in or aren't looking to buy in the 1st place. They are simply browsing.

Please read the article for another point of view and as always- share your experiences, tips and tricks by replying and helping out the rest of the viewership.

http://searchenginewatch.com/3631984

Yahoo and Microsoft can't work it out

Microsoft and Yahoo have yet to work out a deal for Microsoft to takeover Yahoo via a stock bid in the $30 range. We at Webconsuls are not noting this in the slight chance that you hold Yahoo stock or in my case stock options. It is significant to note the impact of re-merger of the 2 giants in the search results category.

That is, Yaho and MSN used to have a search marketing partnership which ended about 2 years ago. With Google the clear market share majority player, it would be nice to see Yahoo beef up its partners, especially for MSN who since the split from Yahoo has yet to be a formidable opponent.

In a perfect world, Yahoo Sponsored Search would give us the option of eliminating the partner network with the exception of MSN, should a merger ever be completed.

We'll keep you updated.