Yahoo and Microsoft Partner Up
photo by: Suat Eman
We knew it was coming. Today, Yahoo Search Marketing announced their “search alliance” with Microsoft.
What’s that mean?
Well… I’ve been using Yahoo Search Marketing for several months now, and find that the cost of an identical campaign that I had running at AdWords was half the price. And, for whatever reason, my optins doubled. I didn’t change the page… I changed the advertiser. So, in that respect, it’s been working very well for me.
My switch to Yahoo came on the heels of watching Frank Kern and Trey Smith’s “Screw Google” course, which I think is totally apropos. Why not? They think nothing of screwing us all the time. And almost anything works better for PPC when it comes to Internet marketing these days.
Just take a look at Ryan Deiss’s new Facebook Ads course and he’s screaming the same mantra. Google is uppity. They think they can treat us any way they want because they don’t need us. I’m not a huge spender, but imagine how much money is spent on AdWords by Internet marketers as a group. And still, we’re treated like well… dog food.
Yahoo, I have to say isn’t perfect, either. They have some of the most inconsistent editing you can believe. I submitted an ad that was IDENTICAL to one already running, but changed one word in the title. They rejected it. I didn’t use the F-bomb or any word that could be considered spammy, irreverant, misleading, trademarked, or anything that would be questionable. They rejected it!
Then, I’m running a campaign for my Spider Language course and we wanted to switch it over to Tellman’s account. I submitted it as was, no changes whatsoever, and they rejected it wholesale. So, I’m continuing to run it in my own account without issue. But it really pissed me off. When I asked why, they told me that the campaign I’ve been paying for for months wasn’t according to their guidelines and when it was found out, it would be suspended.
Wait a minute! The right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing over there. I was on the phone with my account rep and he told me to set up my campaign the way I did. Jeez…
So, will it be better to have Microsoft involved? Who knows. Your ads might get more exposure. That’s great, but if you’re reaching your daily spending limit already, who cares, right? Microsoft will enhance the innovation. Whoopee. All I care about is my ads working and not being hamstrung at every turn by either Yahoo OR Google.
What happened to that old saw “The Customer Is Always Right?”
In the world of PPC, we seem to be always wrong instead.
What’s the solution? Try other forms of traffic. SEO is good. Articles. Blogging. Press Releases, and maybe a service like AdBrite? Never used them, so I have no idea. But I’d rather give my money to a service that works and that I can depend on.
Is there such a place?
