Few days back I was contacted by Seattle Times report Kim Peterson regarding my views on Microsoft adCenter and how adCenter is doing after nearly a year. This monday I was quoted in his story Microsoft's sophisticated ad system has some catching up to do:

As a result, advertisers say, working with adCenter is like selling wares at an upscale boutique while customers swarm the big mall down the street. "It's the volume of traffic which is a major concern with adCenter," said Navneet Kaushal, chief executive of search-engine marketing firm Page Traffic. "Lack of popularity of [Microsoft's] Live Search has affected adCenter adversely. This is something that adCenter has to grow out of, sooner than later."

Live Search receives very low level of traffic as compared to Google and Yahoo! Though the quality of traffic might be fairly good, advertisers look for quality as well as quantity. Then there are issues of usability and lack of good helpful guidelines. Those who are not aware of how adCenter works, find it hard to get keywords accepted. It is also very difficult to rate their customer service. Some marketers are very happy with their customer response whereas some can't stop complaining.

I feel adCenter should comprehensively review its help sections to explain the intricacies of adCenter. Microsoft should make their adCenter help section more comprehensive. The way Google backs up its advertising services with extensive and helpful resource section is impressive. It has heightened advertisers confidence and their trust in Google. Secondly, there has always been a communication gaps between the adCenter and the advertisers on a regular basis. Sometimes, changes are not communicated very well and that creates dissatisfaction amongst advertisers. User interface has not really received positive feedbacks from advertisers and this is one area they should be working on more proactively.

I would suggest that users should keep their eyes open. The chances of adCenter’s growth in coming years are high. In near future, with the planned new release, we can expect to see a lot more out of adCenter in terms of refined content and extensive advertising networks.

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