MSN Adcenter tips

Today I am going to share a few tips about Microsoft adCenter (formerly MSN adCenter). I believe that all the information written in this article is true, correct and complete.

I. Microsoft adCenter (formerly MSN adCenter) is Microsoft’s online advertising platform after forming an alliance with Yahoo! have an estimated audience of 164 million potential US customers. That’s 30% of US Search Market.

II. According to Microsoft website MSN/Live Search is converting users into buyers at a higher rate than Google or Yahoo and it’s correct too as from my own experience I have found that Microsoft adCenter offers a better conversion rates than Google AdWords. There were times when my conversions were over 25%.

III. The traffic quality of Bing is the best when compared to Google or AOL. It means you get more Return On your Investment (ROI).

IV. The whole Sign Up process is pretty easy with simple and powerful user interface. But I must say that Google AdWords’ interface is the best of all as it’s very simple and easy to use.

V. For customer support I give 5 star rating to Microsoft adCenter. And Google sucks when it comes to customer support. They were sending automated replies instead of responding to my emails.

VI. Pay less for quality traffic. It’s one of the biggest advantages of MSN adCenter over Google AdWords. adCenter’s bid rates are much lower than that of Google. The Minimum bid required per click is 0.05$. However the number of clicks are significantly lower than that of Google, it’s because of Google’s 60% market share in search market.

VII. Unlike Google AdWords there is no activation fee for Microsoft adCenter.



VIII. At this point of time Microsoft adCenter accepts only payments via Credit Card. Microsoft adCenter don’t accept PayPal but they do accept some Virtual Credit Cards and Gift Cards. I have recently tried to create an account using a Virtual Credit Card. The Sign Up process went smoothly but after a couple of hours I got an email message from adCenter team that they were unable to process my credit card. But I have used that same virtual card when I first used adCenter. Now they are not accepting the same I guess they improved their credit card verification process.

IX. I have read in some forum/blog that we can create up to 3 Microsoft adCenter accounts using the same credit card and earn coupon credits. Unfortunately it’s wrong you can’t Sign Up for multiple accounts to get the Promotional Credits. However it may work for you but it’s against Microsoft’s terms. Microsoft’s clearly says that “Promotional credit is valid only for new advertisers opening a new account with Microsoft adCenter”.

X. The Microsoft adCenter Promotional Credits is valid only to the residents of the US, Canada, UK, France & India.

BONUS Tip: Microsoft adCenter Promotion is different for each countries. adCenter Coupon for United States and Canada is $25, for UK it’s £30, for India it’s Rs. 500, and for France it’s €30. And so, your address and currency should match (e.g. UK address, UK currency; US address, US currency). You cannot change the currency once the account is created so make sure that the coupon is for the same currency and country you are located, otherwise it will not work properly since the adCenter promo codes are considered as type of currency.