I’m sure everyone heard the news a few weeks ago that Microsoft made an offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion. Here’s a quick recap. Soon after the announcement, Yahoo’s stock went up, then Yahoo declined Microsoft’s offer, saying that they would like to hold out for better suitors. Is Yahoo holding out for more money, or do they just not want to sell to Microsoft? Yahoo said they would decide by March 14, but time is ticking.

Other suitors have expressed interest during Yahoo’s delay, including Time Warner Inc.’s AOL and News Corp.’s MySpace.com. Yahoo claims that they are not delaying the Microsoft deal in hopes they will come to a deal with either AOL or MySpace, but that they are trying to elect board members to the Yahoo committee to decide on the impending deal. They could also be waiting for a better offer from Microsoft, which some analysts say will probably happen.

Another issue has arisen since the delay in the deal, the U.S. economy. There are concerns about how well the online advertising market will fare in this lackluster economy. The economic worries have contributed to a twenty-one percent decline in Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc.’s stock price since Microsoft pounced on Yahoo. An alliance with MySpace.com looked like Yahoo’s most likely escape route a couple weeks ago, but talks with AOL have recently heated up. Hopefully a conclusion to this deal will happen soon, but it does look probable to me that Microsoft will purchase Yahoo.

I can no longer even count how many times a new client has asked me why they should pay to be in the sponsored listings on a keyword that they show up for organically. They are even harder to budget when it comes to bidding on their own brand names!

The truth is in the numbers. A recent study by Enquiro supports what I have been telling companies since the start; it pays to be present in both Organic and Paid search results. The study shows that this deadly combination results in lifts in brand affinity, brand recall, and most importantly, intent to purchase! Clients and prospects have come to the point where they almost expect you to show up in both sections of search results. Another thing that is important to keep in mind is that, whether you like it or not, your competition is out their bidding on your name as well.

One of my clients has a branding campaign that managed to pull in a 500% Gross Return last month alone. We use keywords, including their company name, trademarked products, common misspellings, and their full domain. So when you are building or optimizing your next search engine marketing campaign, don’t steer clear of these obvious choices. The reinforcement that you are providing to your potential customer can result in quite a pay day for you!

I am sure we are all familiar with the term “If it’s too good to be true…it probably is.” in the world of the internet this is usually the case. I am sure that you have all seen ads or e-mails that claim to get you thousands of hits a day. The internet seems to be full of these companies that are promising large amounts of traffic at a fraction of the cost of normal PPC, but is it really worth it?

What these companies do really depends on the method they use to get traffic. Some use browser tool bars, some use spyware programs, some use instant messenger, and some even use viruses. Have you ever seen a “free toolbar” or some other “free tool” that you install on your computer? That’s them and they are everywhere. Of course not all of these tools are bad but how are you supposed to know which ones are and are not spyware, its simply not possible in most cases. Because of this fact these programs spread across the internet and get hundreds of thousands of users.

The problem is that these users may not actually be visiting your site at all. Once again it falls to the method of choice for the traffic company but it could be pop-up ads, pop-under ads, or even bot traffic. What this means is that if you sign up for a traffic program, your page may now have become spam. Your website would be popping up on thousands of desktops world wide to people who could not care less about your products. With bot traffic, it’s even worse in that the user may not even know they went to a website at all. Their computer automatically visits the site for them, with out them ever knowing.

You can see why these paid traffic companies are often a bad idea, and why you should avoid them. The traffic is so cheap that many only need one sale to cover the cost, but so is its quality.

If you really want quality traffic that converts, the only way is to stick to what works. Stick to reputable companies with proven track records and always research a company before you enter into a contract with them. A simple internet search could save you hundreds of dollars and your reputation. It may take more time and cost a little more, but it’s better than the alternatives.