So I try to give Yahoo! Search Marketing a call today. I’ve got a few questions to ask regarding their editorial process for ads. As I proceed through the phone tree, I’m asked to enter my account number – I comply. “For inquiries regarding your Yahoo! Search Marketing account, please contact us through the ‘Customer Support’ link in the upper right hand corner of your account.” WTH???...

This week I’ve been driving home the point that if you are advertising with pay-per-click, you need to be diversifying your efforts across multiple PPC search engines and networks.  Remember such classics as “Different people use different search engines” from Tuesday? Or how about “Lower CPC and increase ROI” from Wednesday?  Whatever the reason, the truth is there are a lot...

Opening minds to the wider world of pay-per-click advertising – that’s my lofty goal this week! Yes, I’m talking to those advertisers out there who equate “PPC search engine” with “Google AdWords.” On the surface, this is correct, but it is a dangerously short-sighted view of the world. Tunnel vision if you will. Yesterday I kicked things off by talking about how different...

I’ve been in the PPC biz for a few years now and still find myself amazed at the rampant amount of tunnel vision amongst pay-per-click advertisers. What do I mean by tunnel vision? On one hand, this is the inability to see PPC opportunities beyond Google AdWords as the PPC search engine of choice. As is more often the case, I’ve found that this tunnel vision applies to seeing past “the big...

Pay-per-click managers the world over are in a constant search for the “perfect” keyword list.  You know, the keyword list that covers every possible variation, misnomer and misspelling possible for your PPC campaign.  While I don’t think that list exists (or will ever exist), the point I’m driving at is that most of us are in a constant search to grow, expand and otherwise improve...

Typically whenever Google releases new products or updates, I get excited and am pleased with the results.  In typical fashion, the announcement and subsequent launch of the new AdWords interface was initially exciting for me.  I’ll admit there are a few features of the new interface that have me excited, but on the whole I’m finding that I really miss the old interface.  In no particular order,...

Last Thursday, Google made a rather large announcement regarding AdWords’ policies on how trademarks are used in ad texts.  The policy change only applies to advertisers in the U.S. and ads being displayed to U.S. users on the Search and Content Networks.  What’s changing?  I’ll defer to Google: Under certain criteria, you can use trademark terms in your ad text in the U.S. even if you don’t...