Yahoo! Search Marketing has begun inviting advertisers, in the U.S., to upgrade it’s new Sponsored Search interface. The new interface changes resemble Google AdWords, with new organization of ad categories and ad listings. The YSM Upgrade Center includes checklists for preparation for upgrading, FAQs, and a request form for upgrading early.
Google AdWords has released a new tool for advertisers to enable them to easily test conversions on different landing pages and elements. The tool then shows advertisers the results, including graphs, allowing them to chose the best converting ad options for their campaigns. Advertisers interested in signing up for the beta can do that here: http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/.
Ben Stein usually posts articles on Yahoo! Finance regarding investments, however on Monday he posted a great article entitled, “The Art of (Killing) the Deal” which gives several key ways you can destroy customer relationships. Here are a few which I found especially amusing:
“#3 You learn from talking far more than you learn from listening. Talk all you want, but don’t bother to pay attention to anything your customer says. He’s just a bore.”
“#7 Don’t do it today if you can possibly do it tomorrow. Mañana is your motto.”
“#16 Never apologize, even if you’re totally wrong. Never admit you’ve done anything wrong, no matter what. If you’ve done it, by definition it’s right.”
Over at Search Engine Roundtable is a post regarding all of the problems that YSM is having with its account management interface. We’ve been experiencing the same problems and frustrations on our end since Monday (Oct. 9). As of this morning we’re finally able to login and manage our accounts with no problems.
It’s issues like this one that make us question who our primary ad portal should be moving forward. Yahoo! Search Marketing has always had the most problems between all the different ad portals we use for our clients. Hopefully, with the release of its new CPC model, YSM’s problems will become a thing of the past.
It’s now official, Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. The biggest struggle that Google will now face is the filtering of copyrighted material and the current copyright infringement issues that YouTube has been dealing with.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is in talks with YouTube for approximately. $1.6 billion. The rumored aquisitioin is still just speculation and neither party has commented on the issue. YouTube currently holds the lion’s share of monthly audience compared with other top video sites, with over 30 million visitors monthly.
