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September 29th, 2009 
Tom So I am back from yet another holiday, travelling round Europe where I took in Oktoberfest (at least what I can remember of it!!) and its time to pick up the reigns where I left off and continue my education and journey online.
One interesting piece of breaking news that looks to be very pertinent in the online world and will affect a number of us, particularly those who are active in PPC, was highlighted by Ryan Deiss over at drivingtraffic.com:
It’s official!
Microsoft have today announced that they have struck a deal to power Yahoo’s search, while at the same time Yahoo will be powering paid ads on Bing.com (Microsoft’s new search platform…formerly known as MSN).
Full details here:
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/jul09/07-29release.mspx
…and here:
http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com/thedeal/Default.aspx
So why is this good news for us marketers?
It’s simple. With Yahoo and Microsoft now a team, Google finally has some competition in the search market. This means:
- Ad costs may go down, and…
- Google may stop being such enormous jerks to their advertisers (which could mean less “Google Slaps”)
Obviously this is just my speculation, and the deal doesn’t go final until 2010 so don’t expect anything to change overnight, but competition is (almost) always a good thing for consumers, so for now, at least, I’m cheering this deal.
Comment below and let me know what you think…
-Ryan
———————————————————————————————–
You can read Ryan Deiss’s original article here:
http://drivingtraffic.com/microsoft-and-yahoo-challenge-google/
Thanks to Ryan for the scoop and simplifying what it actually means.
I for one am yet to delve into paid traffic (PPC) just yet, mainly as I am still establishing my foundations and leveraging free techniques, whilst I must admit that I have been put off by some horror stories of increasingly expensive clicks and ‘Google Slaps’, however with this new news it certainly is something on the agenda to visit in the future, which I’m sure I will blog about in due course…..
I would be interested to hear of your experinces or views on the merger or PPC so please feel free to leave your comments below.
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Hey Tom,
A bit of healthy competition never did anyone any harm!
Like you say, this could mean driving down prices for all of us which can only be a good thing in the long run…Google have had the monopoly for far TOO long!
Sounds like you had a pretty awesome time in Europe
A bit too much alcohol consumed by any chance…?!
Take care,
Paul
Paul
Indeed its one of those love-them yet hate-them scenarios with Google as we reap the rewards of their SE placement and traffic to our sites yet are constrained by their rules which seem to always change and often on a whim. Trip was good thanks, still recovering to an extent, will get some videos up eventually!! Shame I missed you guys in London though, would be interested in any feedback or tips from the seminar.
Cheers
Tom
I hope this works out…Google's been getting a way too big for their britches. About time they were knocked down a notch or six.
As for PPC, I avoid that like the plague. Perhaps one day, when I'm actually earning a living from this I'll have a look at it.
Cheers,
Rod
Rod
Pretty much my sentiments exactly. I was fortunate enough to get some free Adwords credit when I opened a business account so have a 'free' budget to test the waters, but otherwise its on the backburner.
Cheers
Tom
Tom:
good fr you to take in the Oktoberfest! Frank Kern just launched an entire "program" based on playing yahoo/bing against Google. (his "Screw Google" is a pretty easy to digest hook to get people into a monthly membership which used to be Info-Millionaire…)
The funny thing is that even between the two of them, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and a lot of inexpensive PPC traffic can be had on other ad syndication sites (like Facebook etc…)
Cheers,
Thomas
Thomas
I saw Frank's program actually and was considering giving it a try, interesting to know the concept behind it. You raise a good point about alternative PPC traffic, as I also know that Myspace (as well as Facebook) is another inexpensive source of PPC traffic. Thanks for your input,
Tom
Thomas
Have you enetered Frank's program, I would be interested to hear of any results that you have had!?
I've heard good things about both Myspace and Facebook PPC in that it can be very targeted and is still relatively cheap per click, so definately something worth exploring. All teh best.
Tom
Hi Tom,
Good to know that you had fun on your trip.
As for Google getting some competition it seems to me that is not going to happen.
At best their market share growth may slow down. They've been gaining steadily. So even Yahoo and MSN or now Bing combined is far from 50 per cent of market share.
At least from my experience things go up and down in Yahoo too sometimes. And the speed of their indexing is way behind that of Google. MSN is weird and slower than a snail at that.
So in my opinion nothing will really change except that Yahoo and Bing may escape total extinction.
Good competition would be nice but with just 2 real players now where one has around 65% of the market real competition is not likely to happen.
Let's wish for it though.
I have no interest in ppc now and won't have until I have some money ready to burn.
Nice, thought stimulating post. We can only guess on what the future will bring.
Vance
Vance
Thanks for the visit, I think it will be interesting to see how the next 6-12 months pans out. Yahoo and MSN/Bing will need to get their acts together to make a difference. Ive seen similar results with Yahoo's slow indexing, do you think its so they can push people to pay the $299 for their directory listing!? An interesting thought….
Speak soon
Tom
Tom my man
Wow sorry man I have been here before but im sure I could not leave a comment.
I see you popping up everywhere, its you that said we could do the three peaks challenge aint it?
Hey the weekend was cool mate just well knackered.
How are things with you my friend? looks like you got a great post here mate I will have to read it through again to take it in.
speak soon
Marcus
Hey Tom
Great Article and brillant news for all marketeers, so we will see how it all plays out. Glad you enjoyed Okotoberfeast or what you remembered.
Cheers Kerie
Kerie
Thanks for stopping by. Should certainly prove interesting over the next 6 months as the battle hots up. Hopefully it will play into our hands! Speak soon
Tom
Marcus
No worries, couple of people remarked on issues with commenting but hopefully all sorted now.
Yes I mentioned doing the Three Peaks as I've thought about it for a couple of years and your 25 things post jogged my memory! Think I'm going to sign up next year….
I'm good thanks, taking in the Entrepreneurs Bootcamp this weekend so hopefully get some good networking done. Will have to catch up for a drink soon….
Tom
This can only be good news for any PPCers. Hard to say how much impact this will have in the short term but it's certainly more promising for the future, plus it will probably speed up the testing phase of a new campaign.
I've been testing using only Yahoo and MSN for a while now with Google's slaps, rules, regulations and quality scores making it unnecessarily difficult to glean accurate data in the early stages.
It's weird how a company can be so powerful they can happily push advertising dollars to competitors!
Rob
Rob
Thanks for stopping by. How have you found the Yahoo and MSN traffic? From speaking to other marketers I hear that they find its more buyer traffic over there as opposed to Googles browsers, therefore conversions are better.
Perhaps they make too much money and need to push it away (one day we will get there)!!
Tom
Traffic nearly always converts better on MSN – but sheer volume on Google means that you can't ignore it once through the early testing phase.
Rob
Rob
A good point indeed, a lot to be said about volume and it would be foolish to ignore. Guess the key is to look for the test to be successful and profitable before full campaign rollout. Thanks for the insight
Tom
Hi Tom,
No comments on your Octoberfest; you just had too much fun!
As for PPC, I experimented with it a bit last year. Using long-tailed keywords (3-5 words) that Word Tracker pulled out for me, I actually got some great traffic for less than $5. a day. The problem was – it wasn't very targeted traffic; Googles' idea of targeted must be different from mine.
Good review of Ryan's article here; caught it earlier in the week.
Great commentary; keep up the good work.
Erlyne
Erlyne
Thanks for your visit and lack of comment on the trip, it was brilliant! Interesting to hear your PPC experiences, always good to get good traffic at low cost however not quite so when it isn't targeted how you would expect. At least it wasn't too expensive an experiment, and we can learn from your experience.
All the best
Tom
I have to agree with Vance's comments, for the most part. It's going to take more than a "small" (by comparison) merger of the competition to make a dent in Google's grasp on the market. But that doesn't, and shouldn't, stop such efforts. Dictatorships don't last forever, whether a more effective force moves in, or a mistake is made within their own ranks. While all these these things play out, savvy marketers and lucky players can reap whatever benefits come along, as long as they recognize and grab them while they can. Great post, Tom. Thanks for spotlighting this news.
Thanks for stopping by Roberta.
As both you and Vance rightly say it is not by any means the answer but at least its a step in the right direction. The new partnership will definately be worth a look for some 'cheap' traffic though, its important to be one of those savvy or lucky marketers!! Have a good weekend
Tom
Hey Tom
I've been working on using Microsoft and Yahoo PPC both. There is definitely good amounts of traffic on both and you can get cheap traffic and send them directly to an affiliate product if you wanted to (I don't).
The cool thing is that you have a lot of control with PPC traffic. It's best to start out small and test to see what is working.
From a statistical standpoint Bing has a higher % of buyers, so that's a definite plus.
Thanks for the great post, I look forward to reading your blog more soon!
Jeff Bode
Jeff
Thanks for the visit and insight into your PPC campaigns. What I like about PPC traffic is the instant nature of it in that it is turned on straight away as opposed to the free traffic methods which take time to build, so I think a combination of both is a good idea. You make an interesting point about buyer traffic on Bing as I have heard that before from some other affiliates, sounds ideal!!
Thanks
Tom
It will be interesting to see how it pans out and whilst may take a while can only be a good thing. All the best
Tom