If you’ve already created a successful Google AdWords campaign, a great way to drive more leads through PPC is to start to expand to platforms outside of AdWords, like Microsoft’s adCenter, which allows you to place ads on Bing, Yahoo! and their partner sites. (And now that WordStream Advisor offers support for adCenter in addition to AdWords, it’s the perfect time to learn.)
Many of the fundamental best practices for being successful in Google AdWords also hold true for creating a successful adCenter campaign, but the platform definitely has some distinct wrinkles. If you’re starting to advertise with adCenter, or thinking about getting started, there are several great informational resources available to help you get more out of your campaigns.
One thing I think is worth clearing up before we jump into the different resources available is a simple questions a lot of advertisers new to adCenter ask:
Where Exactly Can I Advertise Through adCenter?
The reason this is a bit confusing is because of the advertising deal struck between Microsoft and Yahoo! that led to a merger of the two companies’ inventory. Now by running a campaign on adCenter you’re able to reach:
- Searchers on Bing.com - Microsoft’s search engine, formerly MSN.
- Searchers on Yahoo.com - Formerly inventory available through Yahoo Search Advertising, but you can now target exclusively through adCenter.
- Microsoft & Yahoo! Search & Display Partners – Just as Google does, both Microsoft and Yahoo! had contextual/display ads showing on various sites, and were showing ads against search results for a variety of partners – these are now all available to be targeted exclusively through adCenter
So if you’re thinking about advertising with Bing, Yahoo search, Yahoo advertising, and/or adCenter, you’re really thinking about advertising in the same place: within your Microsoft adCenter account. Now let’s take a look at some resources to help you better accomplish that.
adCenter Learning Resources
First, as Google has with AdWords, Microsoft itself has created a lot of resources for using the platform:
And for those of you just looking to login or create a new campaign you can do that here: .
Additionally, because adCenter and Yahoo have merged, you can also get a lot of great tips and resources for advertising on adCenter from Yahoo’s materials:
But as with AdWords and Google, there’s a lot of great information available beyond what’s offered by Microsoft itself:
PPC Hero – The Microsoft adCenter blog category over at the PPC Hero blog is a great place to learn more about a number of very specific adCenter issues such as:
Search Marketing News Sites – To stay up to date with changes to and best practices surrounding adCenter on an ongoing basis, the pay-per-click subsection of some of the top search marketing news sites is usually a good means – specifically here are a few:
- Search Engine Land’s adCenter Category
- Search Engine Watch’s PPC Category
- Search Engine Journal’s PPC Category
Webinars – Webinars can be a good visual means of digging deeper into a subject, so checking out free Webinar content such as this adCenter best practices Webinar or this Webinar on bulk editing and importing with adCenter desktop.
Ultimately, of course, setting up an account and iterating on your initial performance is the best way to really understand how adCenter works and how to get the most out of it, but as you get started on the platform a lot of the links above will help you to get the most out of your account.
Greg Meyer