Angie McKaig - E-Business Consultant and Entrepreneur

Fabulous results from this study - really worth your time visiting. Unsurprisingly, the most effective ads were ones related to the content on the publisher's web site. Really? Is this still news? WHY is it so difficult for the industry/publishers to figure this out? If ads are relevant to the content on the web site, the ads can be seen as a value-add. If not, they're at best irrelevant (would you ever put any OTHER kind of irrelevant content on your web site? No? Then why devote so much ad space to it?) and at worst detracting from the content you've spent so much time creating. Hello? Common sense.

Social media expert Rob takes Facebook to task for asking users for feedback then putting that feedback in a black box. I just want to know why they would EVER show you an ad again that you've actually taken the time to dislike. Do their advertisers know this? Because that's, er, rather relevant... wouldn't you think?

The main content for this is unsurprising to me, having teenagers in the house - web ads viewed for "branding" purposes have limited to no value or impact on the under-40 set (and I'd bet even lower value for those who grew up with the Web). The point I found heartening was the bit directly from Yahoo itself: that 78% of the effect in sales comes from those who view ads but don't click them. This certainly follows what I have anecdotally noticed with ads I've both sold and run.

Quote: "That big publishers can't manage to sell enough print ads, in a post-print media economy shadowed by a larger economic meltdown, is not exactly shocking. What is shocking, though, is that they're essentially saying to scrappier, upstart online competitors: Take our business, please! We're throwing in the towel! If we can't play by the old rules of publishing -- the profit-soaked, imperial model with endless layers of coddled management ensconced in luxe trophy offices -- then we don't want to play at all! "

These are just brilliant. What a great set of ads! The still shots are superb, and the video - well, yeah, okay, it made me tear up, but that's just because I'm a girl. I cry at Bell ads at Christmastime, too. Shush.

Google's planning on penalizing advertisers using their AdWords system if they have a slow-loading web page. Quick-loading web pages will go to the front of the AdWords line. True, this might help customers - making them more likely to click ads - but paid advertising is supposed to be a little more democratic than that, yes? Not everyone can afford incredible, load-savvy web designers and dedicated hosts. I can't see how this won't backlash on them from the small businesses who make up such a huge chunk of their customer base.

Interesting change - most I'd spoken to (I haven't used Yahoo's PPC myself) had said the same as the folks in the comments - they used Yahoo because of the fixed minimum bid price. Will be interesting to see how this shakes out not just for advertisers but for the future of Yahoo's PPC in general.