Microsoft AdCenter has introduced a new program for pay per click advertisers who want to become more proficient in the use of their pay per click tools. It’s called Microsoft adExcellence.
You can’t say they aren’t trying. MSN has taken all kinds of criticisms from every corner of the Web for its search technology, search engine marketing platform, and everything else under the sun. Now the search engine is offering education for pay per click advertisers. This is a good idea. One that Google and Yahoo! would do well to follow.
While Google AdWords offers free tools for advertisers to use, I don’t know of a Google AdWords training program. The tools at Webmaster Central are good tools, but there’s no training program. Yahoo! Search Marketing also fails to offer a free training program despite having some useful tools for advertisers to use. Not only can you get training in pay per click from MSN, you’ll also get a certificate at the end of the training to prove that you are certified. If you’re serious about pay per click advertising at MSNs adCenter then I highly recommend you take their training.
MSN may be offering a free training program, but the fee to take the exam at the end of the training to be “certified” is $50, just like Google and Yahoo. The big difference is that the certification only lasts one year and the next year you have to give them another $50 and take the test again to retain your certification status. Hardly worth it for the logo and to be listed in membership directory that no one will look at.
The Google AdWords learning center is free, complete with quizzes, text and multimedia versions. Yahoo offers free online learning modules as well. I would say that it is MSN that is catching up to Google and Yahoo, not the other way around.