Milwaukee Search Marketing

Microsoft adCenter in a word...Sucks

Google has already eaten their lunch and Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo to keep them from eating their dinner too! It is a sad state of affairs when Microsoft has to buy Yahoo and the Panama platform would be an upgrade. 

The adCenter UI confusing and lacks some really big pieces of functionality. Functions, by the way, third party tools can provide via API but adCenter itself cannot provide to users in an intuitive way. Wow. The big one, in my mind, is the ability to export your account for manipulation in spreadsheet form. Then when the changes are made, you import the spreadsheet and the system makes your changes. You can't do that. adCenter has been around for what 3 years or more? THIS IS MICROSOFT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. Don't they employ software developers?

Does Google have a patent on search advertising interfaces that do not suck? Why can't Microsoft just copy what Google does and wait for the lawsuit if there is one?

Every single chance I get I gripe about the lack of the import functionality and am even more passionate about a lack of an offline editor a la AdWords Editor. It boggles my mind they cannot integrate real tools for power users.

                        

I am only one of many that feel this way.

Handling Multiple Accounts? Don't Silo Your Efforts

One of the most important take-aways I had from Search Engines Strategies - Chicago 2007 came from the Managing Multiple Accounts session. In spent a number of years focusing on the PPC efforts for one website. Now I handle the PPC for a number of websites. The head-smacking moment during the session for me was the phrase: Don't Silo Your Efforts. I had been looking at, for example, Google AdWords data for each of the sites/accounts individually then optimizing based off of that. Now I take advantage of the My Client Center reporting to combine all the accounts on to one report, then go to each of the accounts and make the changes. This helps when the sites have similar KPIs. Meaning they all similar Cost Per Conversions etc.

MIMA - Milwaukee Interactive Marketing Association February '08 Event

Connecting with Brand Champions Online

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Cocktails & Registration: 5:00 – 5:30
Appetizers & Presentation: 5:30 – 7:00

Eisner Museum
208 N. Water Street
Milwaukee WI

See you there!