PPC Campaign Expansion

Now that MSN has walked away from Yahoo's Search Marketing there are three players in the field. Well, sorry little guys, the major leaguers are the ones we're focusing on at the moment.

With Google's AdSense, Yahoo's Search Marketing and the new MSN adCentre it may be time to plan on spreading the love (i.e. money) around.

MSN's adCentre boasts demographically and geographically targeted software making it a possible giant in the PPC world. It's MSN Search falls behind in search engine popularity. Google's AdSense has its quirks but also boosts the most popular search engine. So will the sophisticated ad service be enough to pull in buyers? Probably, but not as many as Google's AdSense until they strengthen the MSN Search tool.

Why is this a big deal? Last year the online advertising market was about $12.5B. That's only in the US. Google had a 49% share, Yahoo 22%, and MSN falling in at 11%. The projected growth for 2006 in Internet marketing is about 25%. MSN is setting itself up to receive a larger share of the profits.

The ability to target your traffic much more easily seems like a no brainer. It would usually mean less wasted clicks, more target traffic, more conversions, and better ROI. If your ads could reach a demographic it may make writing text ads les involved. Geographic locations can help with local suppliers and business markets as well as targeting certain areas for "specials". If adCentre delivers AdSense could feel the pinch.

Can Microsoft's $2B ramp up actually make them more relevant online? Two good moves placed coming out of the gate: adCentre and IE7 including the Windows Line Search.

The next few days and weeks should get interesting!

Kristen Owen
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