What Is Yahoo SM?

Create a business ad for display in search listings on Yahoo and other websites. Create a textual ad that promotes your business using keywords that relate to your product or service. Set your ad budget, which is the most you’re willing to be charged every time someone clicks your ad. When someone uses one of your keywords in a Yahoo search box, your ad will be shown. Ad positioning is based on the quality of your ad and your maximum CPC bid. The highest-quality ads with the highest CPC bids typically appear closer to the top of search results listings, increasing the likelihood of someone clicking. When someone clicks on your ad, he is taken to your website, where he can purchase products, register for information or perform some other type of conversion.

Yahoo Search Marketing offers several benefits that allow you to display your ads to a more qualified audience in a specific geographic region. Ad targeting is a great option if you’re looking to increase traffic to your local storefront or if you’re offering services in a specific region. Ad testing allows you to create multiple versions of your ad, which you can use to test which ads and promotions your customers best respond to. Keyword suggestions help you select the most targeted text for your ads and expand your keyword list. Yahoo Search Marketing offers support in the form of online guides and a customer support team. The forecasting tool will help you estimate the number of clicks you’re likely to receive, helping you place the best maximum CPC bid. In-depth tracking reports allow you to measure results at both the campaign level and by ad group.

Set your total monthly budget once you figure out how much your business can afford. You can change your budget at any time. Determine your maximum bid, which is the amount you wish to pay for each click. Yahoo Search Marketing will recommend a bid for you. You only incur charges when your ads are clicked. The Yahoo Search Marketing dashboard displays your account daily spending limit, 30-day estimated cost, maximum bid and recommended bid, as well as your monthly estimates, impressions and clicks. Yahoo will calculate a targeted monthly budget by figuring 30 times the amount of your daily bid budget. Your account daily spending limit is only an estimate; you may be charged more than your max bid on a daily basis. However, your total monthly charges should accurately reflect your total monthly bid. Your total monthly charges cannot exceed your monthly budget by more than 10% or you may receive a refund. You must make an initial deposit of $30 upon account creation.

Yahoo offers several resources to help you manage your campaigns. Yahoo Search Marketing Desktop allows you to manage campaigns from your desktop PC. The desktop application helps you to expedite campaign activities. Register for the free Yahoo Search Marketing quarterly newsletter, which includes Company Updates, Latest Happenings, Business Insights, Business News and Search Insights. The Yahoo Search Marketing Smart Start Guide, which is available in PDF form, is aimed at helping new search marketers navigate features, manage search marketing accounts and control spending.