Source: ypnblog.com

Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN) has cleaned up the presentation of their contextually targeted link advertisements by dropping some descriptions, trimming back some titles, and has changed the number of link displays.

We’ve been doing some tinkering under the bonnet recently, so some of you may notice a few changes in your ads. The changes you’re likely to see include the removal of ellipses (…) and truncated words, the inclusion of 40-character titles on certain ad units, and a change in the number of ads displayed on certain ad layouts.

Tom Furukawa, Director of Product Management, posts on the YPN Blog:

These enhancements have to do with our efforts to upgrade our contextual advertising product, and in the coming weeks will take effect across the entire network. They come in response to your feedback and should, in the long run, help enhance your account performance. We’ll share more details with you as they become available.

So, exactly what are the changes to each individual Yahoo Publisher Network ad format?

Here’s a list:

* 234 x 60 and 468 x 60 ad unit size will no longer display a description

* Number of listings will change based on the following:
160 x 600 = 5 listings
180 x 150 = 1 listing
300 x 250 = 3 listings
336 x 280 = 4 listings
728 x 90 = 3 listings

It will be most interesting to see the difference in performance between the previous ads which included a description, and the new banner ads which do not.

Spread the word: bookmark it/ readit

By: Scott Buresh | Source: searchnewz.com

When people hear about online marketing, they often think of two of the more popular methods that a company can use to enhance its visibility on the Web: organic search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising.

In an ideal world, you would use both strategically to maximize your site’s profile. However, budgetary constraints often make this impossible, and trying to do both on a limited budget or with minimal resources can result in neither campaign producing ideal results. In this case, it’s usually better to focus on one or the other. But which is best for you?

Organic Search Engine Optimization

Organic search engine optimization campaigns offer several distinct advantages over pay-per-click advertising campaigns, as many recent studies have shown. What follows is a brief listing of some of the findings.

Propensity to Click

Study after study indicates people are less likely to click on paid search ads rather than on results from organic search engine optimization. For example, one study found that search users are up to six times more likely to click on the first few organic results than they are to choose any of the paid results-1-, while an eye tracking study-2- showed that 50 percent of users begin their search by scanning the top organic results. Other studies have shown that only 30 percent of search engine users click on paid listings, leaving an overwhelming 70 percent who are clicking the organic listings.-3- And a 2003 study found that 85 percent of searchers report clicking on paid links in less than 40 percent of all of their searches, and 78 percent of all respondents claim that they found the information they we searching for through sponsored links just 40 percent of the time.-4-

Trust

Studies are beginning to indicate that the trust level for organic results is much higher than that of paid results, and that paid results are looked upon as a nuisance by some searchers. One study found that only 14 percent of searchers trust paid listings, and 29 percent report being "annoyed" by them.-5- Another study found that 66 percent of customers distrust paid ads.-6- Clearly, it’s not generally a good idea to upset potential customers before they even click on your link.

Value of Visitors

Organic search engine results tend to be seen as non-biased, and they therefore are able to provide visitors that are more valuable. The overall conversion rate, or the rate at which searchers take a desired action on a site, is 17 percent higher for unpaid search results than the rate for paid (4.2% vs. 3.6%).-7- Trends also have shown that more of the sales that result from search engines originated in organic search listings.-8-

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Source: rankrover.com

Link Popularity is the amount of links pointing to your site from other sites. The more links you get to your site the better. Of course some links are better than others. For example. FFA Pages are usually completely ignored so if you have thousands of FFA Page links then it is not helping out your site unless someone goes through and clicks on the link. Not very many humans actually visit FFA Pages but there are a couple that do. a Link from the Yahoo homepage though will probably guarantee your website a top ranking. For that you would need to afford the $10,000 per day to advertise on the homepage. For a small business a link from the Yahoo directory will suffice.

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