September 13, 2005

A forum member posts his findings on the new MSN Keywords AdCenter.

Here is a brief summary of his experience using AdCenter:

-- Clean & easy to understand user interface, similar to Google AdWords
-- Ability to manage several campaigns under just one username
-- Advanced & Cool Metrics, with "view demand for each KW/KP"
-- Budget Estimator (Price Estimator) can be better but it is usable
-- Reports are nice. Create reports on all types of data including dates and targeting
-- Time Based Ad Delivery Options
-- Cost to set up an account: a $5 service fee, then PPC fees onward
-- $0.10 CPC minimum, but for some reasons, $0.05 bids can get through
-- Bidding works based on keyword phrase and the ad itself
-- “Targeted Bidding” is good and practical

For bidding, you basically set a price by keyword phrase and ad. In addition, you can opt to increase your bid to reach a targeted audience, through “targeted bidding,” more often.

Targeted Bidding allows you to target based on:

A) Users in a specific geographic location
B) Users searching on certain days of a week or during a specific time of the day
C) Users of a specific gender or age

Source: Search Engine Journal