"The New Kid in Town": MSN AdCenter
by Merle
Published on this site: March 11th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
If you use Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly
known as Overture) for your pay per click advertising, you'll
want to "listen up". There's a new competitor on
the scene "MSN Ad Center". Microsoft's pay per click
program is called "MSN Keywords" which is the first
of several advertising options they have planned.
At the time of this writing the only way to participate in
this "pilot program" is by invitation only. Rumor has it they should be going public
with the launch towards the middle of this year. If you'd
like to be considered for participation you can sign up at ... http://advertising.msn.com/searchadv/PilotForm.asp
If you're already a client you can log into your account
at http://adcenter.msn.com
The program, which is very similar to Google Adwords allows
you to bid on keywords associated with your online business
and your ads will be displayed on MSN's search results pages
reaching a potential audience of 49 million people every month.
Once approved for the program you'll need to create your
own "ad center" account. The sign up fee of $5.00
will be charged to your credit card at that time.
The next step is to select the keywords you want your ads
to appear for and how much you want to bid for each. The minimum
bid is five cents. You're only charged for actual clicks on
your ads not for their display. There is no minimum monthly
budget. You'll also find a keyword research tool under the
research tab to brainstorm new keywords or check on keyword performance.
If you already use "Google Adwords" or "Yahoo
Search Marketing" you can easily import your existing
ads and keyword lists. If you need assistance you can use
what's called "Quick Launch" where a marketing analyst
will assist you with your account setup. During beta there
is no charge for this assistance.
One of the nicest feature of MSN's pay per click program
is the "advanced targeting". You can select the
target markets you want to reach (male, female, by age). You
also can select locations, specific countries/regions, even
select cities where you want your ads to appear. How about
choosing the days of the week you want your ads to run, right
down to the time? Yes, you can do it all right here. This is possible due to MSN's use of "audience
data" to better target your ads to the audience who would
be most interested in your offer. They call this "Audience
Intelligence" which allows you to make smarter decisions
when it comes to your online marketing campaigns.
You can also track conversions with their free conversion
tracking.
Setting up your text ads is simple following their guidelines.
You have four lines to work with:
Title Line (25 characters max, incl. spaces)
2nd & 3rd Line (70 characters max, incl. spaces)
4th Line (this is for your url, 35 characters)
For more specific style guidelines see http://tinyurl.com/cevu4
For content guidelines see http://tinyurl.com/7ue53
You'll find a "reports tab" in the ad center so
you can keep an eye on how well your campaigns are doing.
You can track click through rates, impressions, and more.
If you're already using pay per click marketing in your online
marketing efforts, you might want to take MSN for a spin.
With their advanced targeting you'll be given the ability
to hit your target market with more precision, and expand
your reach and online exposure.
For more information visit the learning center http://tinyurl.com/b786r
or see the AdCenter Blog for members at http://blogs.msdn.com/adcenter/
Merle Makes it EASY to Promote & Market Your Website.
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