When running a pay-per-click campaign, many advertisers have a specific demographic of customers they would like to reach. Selecting the appropriate demographic is not only easy but it allows you to broadcast your message to the exact audience you are trying to target. Many search engines such as Yahoo allow you to target your audience by age, location, even income level.

A blend of the basic targeting options can produce good quality traffic. Using targeting features in conjunction with a behaviorally targeted media buy could produce an enhanced volume of qualified traffic. Behavioral targeting uses information collected on a searchers web-browsing behavior. Some these behaviors include the pages they have visited and the previous searches they have made. A user’s online behavior is evaluated when displaying ads to that them.

It’s practical to believe that behavioral targeting can deliver your ads to the users who are most likely to be interested. The other forms of targeting include geography and demography (mainly age, gender, income level). Behavioral targeting can increase the impact of your ad messaging.

Yahoo recently introduced Yahoo! Retargeting in an effort to help advertisers allocate marketing dollars efficiently to their targeted audience, hence increasing the effectiveness of online advertising expenses. Yahoo! Retargeting is an online advertising platform that monitors prospects who have visited your site before and tries to bring them back by displaying your ads the next time the searcher is on a Yahoo network. This is an attempt to convert users into customers and customers into repeat buyers.

Yahoo is one of the first search engines to introduce a behavioral tool that can be used with their other targeting options within Yahoo Sponsored Search.  For more information about Yahoo’s other targeting options, read Enhancements to Yahoo’s Targeting Features.

A trademark is a word, phrase, logo, or symbol that identifies and distinguishes a product or service from others in the marketplace, especially those who can bid on your keywords. If you use your trademark symbol in your ad text, it should increase your click-thru rate.
With Google AdWords, advertisers may select trademarked terms as keywords or use them in the content of the ad. As a provider of space for advertisements, Google is not in a position to arbitrate trademark disputes between advertisers and trademark owners. Accordingly, Google encourages trademark owners to resolve their disputes directly with the advertiser. As a courtesy to trademark owners, Google is willing to perform a limited investigation of reasonable complaints.
If you are the trademark owner of your product, you should consider using registered ® or trademarks ™ in your ad text. This will distinguish your ad from other resellers. This also shows searchers credibility and reliability. After implementing these changes to your ad text, your click-thru rates should be favorably impacted.

Brand awareness can be underestimated, but if you are the registered or trademark owner of a brand or company, include this symbols in your branding ad copy. As a shortcut for these symbols use the following keyboard short cuts:

Registered- Alt ctrl+r= ®
Trademark- Alt ctrl+t= â„¢

On June 22, 2009 Yahoo announced its first version of their new self service display ad builder called My Display Ads. Yahoo didn’t jump into the display ad match when others like Google, Facebook, and Myspace did.

According to Yahoo’s press release, the intention with My Display Ads is to be of service to specific types of advertisers. The first is small and mid-size local marketers. What better way for Yahoo to showcase its enthusiasm to the local market than by doing a case study on a real local advertiser. The local targeted mid-size advertiser had never used display ads prior and was a part of Yahoo’s Spring pilot. The advertiser used display ads targeted to the Greensboro, NC marketplace for its Memorial Day sale as well as its regular television, print, and radio efforts. The traffic was so compelling and converted well enough for them to pull out of other marketing efforts to spend more online using My Display Builder and target other geographies.

Ad networks see Yahoo’s quality inventory as niche and well targeted. The ad inventory fed into their display ad system includes both Yahoo-owned and network properties through Yahoo’s Right Media exchange. This allows other small networks to opt into Yahoo’s display network. Thus, advertiser’s ads can be seen on other small search engines, news articles and so forth.

Those who aren’t running paid efforts in other engines and use Yahoo search marketing solely, now have another performance tool to help increase spend and revenue. Yahoo added new targeting options including geographic and demographic targeting late last year. Now with the release of the display ad platform, the advertising targeting options will open up a new playing field for advertisers.

 Yahoo display ads can help national advertisers target specific local markets. Serving display ads to specific locations gives the ability to create detailed ad messages for regional markets and gives an opportunity to national advertisers to grab hold of their targeted audience.

The best time to jump on board to Yahoo’s display advertising program is now. Competition is relatively low and bids are as well. Once word gets out that the feature is available and marketers start using it, the bidding war for ad space begins.