Covering stories from blog.ad-ition.com and other relevant classified media news.

This episode’s covered news bits include a discussion on Cox and its purchase of Adify, a few words on the Newsday sale, KBB’s to 10 coolest vehicle list, and of course updates on the Microsoft/Yahoo! bid.

 

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written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Adify, Cablevision, Cox, Microsoft, newspaper podcast, podcast, Rupert Murdoch, Yahoo

There is no need to rephrase, reposition or re - anything. This TechCrunch article on the Microsoft Yahoo saga is perfect. Furthermore, I really don’t want to spend all week blogging about this and TechCrunch, tonight anyway, has just made it easier.

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Microsoft, TechCrunch, Yahoo

We have been loosely following the Yahoo/Microsoft story, as we didn’t want to over saturate you with details of the saga. However, as we promised on our last podcast, and given the key date’s arrival and dismissal, we will keep you posted on our blog with hopes of keeping you current on what is going to happen next.

Well, as the Saturday April 26^th date marking the deadline for friendly negotiations between Yahoo and Microsoft has passed, today saw the stock of both companies fall. Shares of Yahoo closed at $26.43, off 1.38 percent from its Friday close. Microsoft shares closed at $28.99 per share, down about 3 percent from Friday’s close.

Our eMedia podcast laid out what Microsoft stated their next steps were going to be if Yahoo missed the friendly negations deadline; direct discussion with Yahoo shareholders or walk away from the deal completely.  No matter how you look at it, both options could have a negative effect for Jerry Yang and crew.

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Microsoft, Publishers, Yahoo

A lot of negative press has surfaced pertaining to Yahoo!’s failing revenue performance in 2007, but what must be said about what they are now doing well, is their gaining mind share through all of their recent press activity.

The most recent update from Yahoo is that they now are testing an ad program that will temporarily carry Web search advertising from Google. Although Yahoo swears up and down that this by no means is a hint to a longer lasting deep relationship with Google, you can’t help but wonder what this will do the current Microsoft – Yahoo negotiations. Is this a play by Yahoo to show Microsoft that they are a valued partner to other search heavy weights in the market place? Will this prompt Microsoft to up its bid?

The Web search-advertising test will be limited to no more than 3% of Yahoo’s search queries and the test is scheduled for an ‘undetermined’ temporary time frame. During the test period, you will be able to see Google ads displayed alongside Yahoo search results performed in the US only.

In a related statement, the Yahoo board said it “is exploring strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value, including exploration of potential commercial business arrangements.” What I think they were really trying to say is, this move should make Microsoft wake up and see that their proposed $31 per share is, as they have been saying all along, way too low.

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Google, Google Ads, Microsoft, Yahoo, Yahoo search

According to Hitwise, ‘Classified’ search share has increased by 7% in March 2008, compared to the year previous:

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Classified Search Share, Online Claslsifieds

There have been many speculative news articles and blog posts covering the Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google saga, each with their own take of how the Microsoft bid for Yahoo will change the world. Up until now, I didn’t think any of those worthy of blogging (you, I am sure, have already read a lot on this topic, on your own), but last night I came across a blog post written by Google’s chief legal officer and then a retort from Microsoft’s legal counsel. Google, it seems, is taking the stance that Microsoft is looking to employ the same monopolistic behaviors with the internet that it once did with the PC and Microsoft, from what I can gather from the legal counsel response, indicates that with Google’s large search share, they are the once trying to control the Internet.

Something tells me this will be a long and drawn out ordeal, but if I was Yahoo! I would be feeling a little like the bell of the ball – “everyone wants to dance with me”

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Google, Microsoft, Search Monopoly, Yahoo

I tried tirelessly to blog about something else besides the Microsoft Yahoo bid, but I can’t seem to get away from it.

So, as many of you may already know, Microsoft made a bid for Yahoo late yesterday. Offering a whopping 45 billion to acquire the search mogul. For some, on face value this may appear odd, as Microsoft is third in the search game, being beaten by the obvious Google and Yahoo!. So, why is the third ranked search giants bid so attractive to Yahoo!? Their Monday earnings report should be a clear give away.

On Tuesday of this week, Yahoo! saw their stock price drop to a four year low. This was the cause of their Monday release, when they posted a lower than expected quarterly profit and announced the realignment of 1,000 jobs. To be exact, Yahoo! posted a 23% drop in revenue for Q4′ of 2007. With this, the timing appeared to be right for Microsoft to approach with the talk of acquisition. Note that this isn’t the first time this type of talk has spurred, but it definitely is the first time that the timing seemed right for both. As expected, since the announcement of Microsoft’s bid, Yahoo! shares have jumped by 48%.

Now the speculative part – what does this mean for publishers?

Many publishers have relationships with Yahoo! for either their automotive, employment or real estate categories. I suspect that these fronts will continue, but the possibility of adding on functionality will enhance - like Microsoft Live Expo.

If you are a publisher already facilitating an AdCenter (Microsoft) or Ad Network (Yahoo!) arrangement for your advertisers, you will probably soon be able to offer them the partnering network. Moreover, with the forces being joined, your advertisers may start to see better results than what they are accustom to with their Google AdWords program.

Not many of our publishers have delved into Social Networking to improve their products, but I guarantee you that if Microsoft and Yahoo! should join forces, it will be difficult to decline to dabble on the social front. Think Facebook!

It will be interesting to see how Google responds to this. I do find it funny that I haven’t heard anything from them. If anyone has a Google update pertaining to Microsoft’s bid to acquire Yahoo!, please post it here.

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Microsoft, Publishers, Yahoo

Yesterday, comScore released its 2007 U.S. Internet Year in Review report and the findings, well, they were not awakening by any means because the leaders in 2007 were clearly marked, very early on in the game.

Search: Search in 2007 increased by 15% to 9.6 billion searches. The search engine rank order, in terms of market share, was of course Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft sites, Time Warner Network and then Ask. Google was on top with a reported 56% market share.

Classifieds: The comScore report also pegs Craigslist as the fastest growing classified site, as it grew by 74% in 2007 to 24.5 million visitors. Online classifieds as a whole, they reported, had a strong 2007, as this vertical grew by 31%.

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: 2007 online, comScore, craigslist, online classifieds, search market share

I think it has been said and everyone now gets it that traditional sources of news have got to e-enable themselves in order to stand a chance at competing. Newspapers get that - The issue newspapers are faced with now is what to do once with the site once it has been built? In essence – ‘How do we drive traffic to our site?’ It should first be said that there aren’t too many publishers asking this question, as many of them rely on organic search terms to get by – and of course - focusing organically does not foster growth. However, there are few who understand e-sales and the value of creating a massive marketplace online for the benefits of buyers, sellers and information gatherers.

I performed random searches for things that newspapers generally target as their big verticals. The results confirmed that newspapers have not been doing all that they can to optimize their sites and as a result, are missing the opportunity to expand their marketplace.

• Apartments for Rent in NY – Kijiji appeared five times in the first two pages, but no New York Times.
• Used Cars LA – Kijiji again had dominant listings, but no LA Times or even Auto Trader
• Used Cars Toronto – A newspaper site (Wheels – Toronto Star) appeared on the second page of my search results.

The test could go on and on, but the point is the ‘build it and they will come’ mentality has the potential to cripple even the most web savvy publisher, very quickly.

From what we can see today, search engines are looking at ways to better the search experience through personalization. To a publisher or site owner, this means there should be less reliance on someone Googling your business name as opposed to your products. In order for search results to work for you, you need to start thinking like the customer and include Meta Tags that are relevant in likeness to the terms a customer would use, while performing a search. You should also be thinking about your site architecture and decide on the pages or content you want measured, read and trafficked - You should optimize those pages as well.

If this seems daunting, there are services that can help you. You can reference the service of a search-marketing agency and they will not only consult on SEO (search engine optimization), but also SEM (search engine marketing). If you think you can handle it yourself, use a robust reporting source like Hitwise to keep current on how people in your marketplace are searching for the items or services you offer, as well as see how your competitors are stacking up in regards to search.

The findings from a study performed by Penn State’s Dr. Jim Jansen and Amanda Spink, earlier this year, summarizes it best:

• Half of all users entered only one search query.
• 54 percent viewed just one page of search results per visit to the search engine.
• Searchers typically visit only the top three search results.
• About 55 percent of users checked out one result only.
• Only 19 percent went on to the second page.
• Fewer than 10 percent bothered with the third page of results.
• More than 80 percent stopped after looking at three results

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Newspapers, search engine optimization