Our "gift" of holiday advice may help you increase your sales You may have heard once or twice that the holidays are the season of giving, but given the current market, you should probably rely a little less on consumers' giving spirit and a little more on tactics that can give you an edge. Which is why â€" in the spirit of giving, of course â€" we wanted to share some cross-selling tips from Laurie Briggs of Yahoo!

Display ads can be combined with search if you have the right data Have you ever stayed away from display advertising in favor of search ads because you believed that your display ads don't perform well?  You're not alone. Some advertisers have shifted display marketing dollars toward search with the belief that search advertising is "more measurable" and that it provides a higher return-on-investment.

We've doubled the number of domains on which you can block your ads from appearing Your time is precious, so we're going to try to give you some important news about blocked domains in a mere 250 words. Here's the scoop: In your Sponsored Search account, you have the ability to block your ads from appearing on particular sites in our Sponsored Search network. When we initially launched this feature we provided the ability to block up to 250 sites per account. Now,

Too high? Too low? Learn to find the "sweet spot" with bids This is an excerpt from Yahoo!'s Smart Start Guide , which is packed with helpful content to assist you in making your campaigns as effective as possible. Whether you're an expert search marketer or just starting out, the tips from Yahoo!'s "Sharon Goodsense" offer practical search marketing insights. Download the Smart Start Guide .

Yahoo! shares tips on keyword management Do you like to listen to good advice, instead of just reading it? Whether you're a seasoned search marketing expert or just starting out with your Sponsored Search campaign, a new free podcast provides useful info that can help you reach your business goals. Our own Patrizio Spagnoletto, Senior Director of Marketing here at Yahoo!, recently talked with Lon Safko, one of the authors of the "The Social Media Bible,

Join Yahoo! at the upcoming ad:tech conference in New York Cityâ€"with a 20% discount The interactive marketing and technology conference ad:tech is held at sites all over the globe"London, Shanghai and Sydney, to name just a few"but if you're a blog reader in the northeastern U.S., there's one coming up in your own backyard. The New York edition of ad:tech will be held November 3-6 at the New York Hilton in Manhattan,

Some Sponsored Search tricks for you"our treat Halloween is a fun time for young and old, and when it comes to spending, consumers don't disappoint. According to a study conducted by the National Retail Federation, Halloween spending was expected to reach $5.07 billion in 2007"a good part of that, as we told you recently, on costumes . But other sites catering to ghouls should keep some basic tips in mind.

New ads reminds users to give Yahoo! Search a try We've worked really hard to make Yahoo! Search a better experience, with interesting new features )and interesting names, to boot( in the past year like  SearchMonkey  and Search BOSS . So, naturally, we want people to know about it. Tens of millions of users choose Yahoo! Search every day. But, says Raj Gossain, VP of Marketing for Yahoo! Search in a blog post today, "We don't think that's enough.

These subtle changes are designed to lead to better Content Match performance Sometimes a product launch is big, like our recent launch of APT from Yahoo! . And sometimes it's understated, like the improved version of our contextual advertising product, Content Match , which we're announcing this week. It's not a new brand, and it looks virtually the same in the user interface.

Halloween retailers: Expect a rush on these popular outfits for the holiday, and update your campaigns accordingly On 364 nights of the year when you see a guy dressed like Dracula, you better run like heck, in case he's the real deal. But on October 31, it's pretty certainly just a guy in a costume, and your bodily fluids should be safe. According to a study conducted by the National Retail Federation, the average consumer planned to spend $23.

Yahoo! on search panels at SMX East in New York City New York, New York: the town so nice we went there twice. Yep, after just launching APT from Yahoo! at Ad Week in New York City, we'll be back there next week for SMX East. Whether it's learning the latest search marketing techniques at the conference or eating the biggest slice of pizza you've ever seen in my old hood, the city is always worth the trip.

We wanted to share with you an excerpt of a Yodel Anecdotal post from Yahoo! president Sue Decker explaining the Yahoo!-Google agreement and reiterating our ongoing commitment to Sponsored Search.  As Sue puts it, There's been a lot of speculation swirling around about the Yahoo!-Google agreement. We hear everything from the claim that Yahoo! and Google will be fixing prices to the prediction that the agreement is a death sentence for Yahoo!'s sponsored search business.

Use two basic tools in your account to get noticed When you just have mere seconds to catch the attention of a searcher on the web, your ad copy better scream, "I'm just what you're looking for!" Until we introduce ads that can seductively talk to users, the next best things for getting your ads noticed are our insert keyword and alt text features.

3 tips to capture more impressions and clicks through hot happenings Between the presidential elections , the Olympics in Beijing, and NASA Messenger's second flyby past Mercury , 2008 is a year of big events. Search marketers should take note. Why? Because whether you're dealing with a nationwide political decision, an international sports event, or a hot dog eating contest , "big events" can drive serious search activity .

What not to do with your search account We've already nagged you plenty about the things that successful advertisers should doâ€"and it isn't just cleaning your room or taking out the trash. But sometimes knowing what not to do is just as important. When it comes to creating and managing your ads, avoiding certain mistakes before you make them can save serious time and headaches down the road. Here's a quick breakdown of the pitfalls to avoid,

3 strategies to help you monitor and react to bid requirements Remember how you used to daydream in school, only to snap out of it just as you heard the last bit of information that you knew was going to be on the test? OK, maybe that was just us. But we're guessing that, along those lines, over the last few months you may have missed a lot of the advice we've offered on managing your new minimum bids. By now,

Yahoo! helps LendingTree test the benefits of combining paid and organic search   Who: LendingTree, LLC, an online lending exchange that connects consumers with multiple lenders who compete for their business. Objective: Yahoo! and LendingTree wanted to quantify how using sponsored search ads and paid inclusion listings together increases traffic. Products Used: Sponsored Search and Search Submit Pro Results: During the study,

How much traffic do you really want, and can your budget afford it? Before iPods enabled teens to retreat into their music at any volume they like without disrupting the rest of the household, parents employed a three-word mantra that both parties quickly grew tired of: "Turn it down!" It's a generational power struggle that probably echoed the world over. As adults, our musical tastes may have changed,

Arrange your keywords and ads properly to help you achieve better results This is advice taken from Yahoo!'s Smart Start guide , which is packed with helpful content to assist you in making your campaigns as effective as possible. Whether you're an expert search marketer or just starting out, the tips from Yahoo!'s "Sharon Goodsense" offer practical search marketing insights. Download Smart Start . You probably know by now that your account is made up of campaigns,

Get a personalized campaign optimization session from Yahoo! If you're heading to Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo in San Jose next week in search of free tsotchkes, you may also want to try something considerably more valuable â€" one of our free personalized campaign optimization. You have to be there in person though because this is not an online session. The half-hour one-on-one optimization session, with a Yahoo! Search Marketing content specialist,