My introduction to search engine marketing consisted of being handed a binder full of printed off newsletters from industry pundit web sites with the instruction to read through them, learn as much as I could and then start working on Client X. Im not one to shy away from a challenge, but it would have been nice if I could have attended a free webinar hosted by search experts where I could learn about bidding, budgeting, keyword selection and copy writing techniques. Yup.

Whether you prefer to tweet , post a question in our forums or pick up the phone and speak to a real person , you've got several options for getting help with all things adCenter. Now that the paid search transition period is well underway, we wanted.

I just received word from the adCenter Desktop team that they're in the process of deploying an upgrade that will address fixes for known issues in the tool. Within the next 24 hours, you will notice a prompt to upgrade your version of Desktop the.

Now that the Back to School insanity has died down a bit, it's time to start thinking about candy corn, bobbing for apples and all things Halloween! While the seasonal Halloween PPC opportunity-and competition-is huge for costume and masquerade.

Now that the paid search transition announcement has been made, no doubt you have some questions about what the upcoming changes mean for you as a PPC advertiser. Whether you're new to Microsoft adCenter or a seasoned veteran, you're sure to find.

This week, Yahoo! advertisers can begin transitioning their paid search campaigns to Microsoft adCenter. During the transition, which is on-track for completion by the end of October, advertisers will continue to manage separate accounts on adCenter .

In the next few weeks, adCenter will be rolling out new conversion and campaign analytics functionality in response to the advanced features that youve been asking for. The new analytics functionality will give you better insights that you can use to improve the success of your campaigns and websites. Heres a quick overview of what's coming: Tracking multiple conversion goals . If your site measures numerous types of conversions such as online purchases,

The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance teams were recently invited to present at the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization )SEMPO( meetings in San Francisco )7/26( and New York City )8/2(. We all enjoyed great food )loved the bacon-wrapped dates, antipasti!(, wine and beer before the commencement of the content. Once we got started, myself and Rob Wilk )National Director, Search Optimization and Strategy, Yahoo!( ran through the vision for the Search Alliance ,

Let me start off by saying I apologize for any confusion or concern yesterdays post about a temporary increase in the adidxbot crawl rates may have caused. There was a miscommunication that resulted in some key information being left out of the.

Have you been to the Bing Blog yet today? Theyve posted some big news related to last weeks Search Alliance announcement about how the transition would soon begin where Bing would start to power the English language organic search results.

This just in from the adCenter Team: Along with our consistent efforts to increase relevance for your adCenter campaigns, we will be temporarily increasing the rate at which your sites will be crawled to 20 to 30qps. This is within the accepted standards.

If you're anything like me, when you're trying out something new, you prefer to take a crack at it on your own before you bust out the instruction manual. Granted, I've painted myself into a corner or two taking the do-it-yourself approach.

Today a prestigious panel of speakers at SES San Francisco shared their tips and tricks on how businesses with small and medium-sized marketing budgets can stretch their dollars. Online exposure can be maximized through organic search, paid search, and local search without sacrificing effectiveness or going broke, which is always important regardless of the size of your budget.

There was an interesting session today on how companies that are used to doing search advertising can dip their toes in the water with display advertising. The session highlighted some of the major differences and advancements in display, and the potential mine fields to watch out for. While I expected to walk away from the session with a few simple bullet points on how to get started,

SES San Francisco kicked off with a bang yesterday and a couple of the sessions I attended focused on developing great content and optimizing that content, or in other words, how to create and then distribute relevant and valuable content to your customers. It's not enough anymore to just publish features and benefits of the products or services you sell and expect that alone to do the work to convince potential buyers. Increasingly,

Full disclosure : I count Jason Yormark among my colleagues, having first met him in 2007 when I first arrived here at Microsoft. Although it may seem that I'm just trying to give him a plug here, I actually ran across this article when looking over.

Industry pundits at search conventions have been predicting the future of search for as long as search conventions have been around. You have to admit that when asked to predict the future it is never an easy task and one just slightly prone to error. Aptly, one of the presenters acknowledged this point by using a Magic 8 Ball on a slide. So, put on your tinfoil hats, break out your Nostradamus CliffsNotes,

It's been a long time since there were first rumblings of a possible search alliance between Yahoo! and Microsoft , and now here we are, on the verge of seeing the first signs of all the behind-the-scenes planning carried out and implemented... are.

Part of my typical process for populating the upcoming editorial calendar for the adCenter Blog involves reviewing what was covered around this time last year as a means of making sure I'm not forgetting any of the seasonal opportunities coming up.

Well be at SES San Francisco next week... will you? If so, swing by and have a drink with us on Tuesday, 8/17 at 5:15 PDT in the Expo Hall for the Yahoo!/Bing Networking Cocktail Reception. We'd love for you to join us for this alliance celebration.