Is Yahoo quietly trying to get bought out by Microsoft?

“But the story didn’t quite end there. Since then, Microsoft and Yahoo have gone back to the table twice. First, Microsoft entertained the possibility of acquiring Yahoo’s search for $1 billion and a buyback of Yahoo stock for $8 billion. After that deal fell through, we once again thought it was over. But now, they’re back to talking about a full buyout and Jerry Yang, not Ballmer, is starting to look like the CEO who really wants to get the deal done.”

“Sources close to the deal told TechCrunch that Yahoo “offered to sell to Microsoft for the low $30s per share, and below Microsoft’s original offer immediately before they signed the Google search deal.” And although that smacks of desperation, there’s even more trouble afoot for Yang and company. “

Jerry Yang is in quite a predicament. Shareholders want him to sell, yet due to their pressure he has little negotiation leverage thus forcing him to sell much cheaper than he would have wanted. But if he sells at a low price, stockholders would be even more discontent that he let the original deal get away. If he doesn’t sell, the next August 1 shareholder meeting is going to be a battle he won’t want to deal with. Lose-Lose situation. What is it going to be Jerry?

Paul
Sr. Manager of Web Marketing
LeadQual

My last blog discussed why a Yahoo/MSN merger would be bad for our clients.  Well, the glass just became less full.  The proposed partnership with Google poses even greater problems for our clients.  Here is what is happening:  Yahoo will reserve the right to display a Google bidder on their search engine at their sole discretion.  So, if you search Chicago Real Estate on Yahoo, the ads served may be from someone who bid on Google.  Whom will Yahoo serve?  Well, obviously the advertiser who pays the most.  Since Google has deeper penetration, more competition and higher prices (see my last blog), then you guessed it, the price per click will go up, for the same traffic.  Yuck!  So, LeadQual has to manage Yahoo’s back-end, Google’s back-end and MSN’s back-end.  But, Yahoo can display whoever pays the most, even if they bid on Google’s engine.  But because it is at Yahoo’s discretion, it’s not like you can rely on your ads being displayed on Yahoo unless you bid on Yahoo.  Remember, the bid price on Google has to be high enough to cover the revenue share Google is going to take, so if you bid the same on Google as Yahoo, your Yahoo bid should trump.

So, where is the silver lining?  I quite honestly don’t see one.  My only hope is that the regulators recognize that this is a clear use of monopolistic pricing power.

Andrew Coleman

Co-Founder – LeadQual.com

Integrating Google Analytics with Google Doc Spreadsheets

If you are looking for a way to integrate Google Analytics with Google Doc Spreadsheet look no further. With the help of Firefox Greasemonkey plugin and some honest hard work by Michael Freeman, you now have the ability to quickly integrate and download analytics data into a Google Spreadsheet. Instructions and Downloads are available here.

Google Keyword Trends in Google Analytics

Another great script for pulling keyword volume trends in Google Analytics. See which keywords or referral sites are causing the jumps and declines in your data.

Social Media

There has been a lot of articles being published in regards to the recent crowning of facebook as the #1 social site in terms of monthly visitor. It isn’t surprising as facebook continues to grow and become mainstream while myspace continues to become outdated in its ad plastered pages. So how do the social media sites stack up against one another in terms of value?

Webmaster & Online Marketing Training Videos

Trying to learn some SEM, SEO, Social Media, Usability, Web Design or any other internet related field? You can read books, blogs or take online classes, but another option is to watch youtube videos. Check out this list of webmaster & online marketing videos!

LeadQual News

For those who may be interested in our Lead Qualification Services, here is a forum discussion in regards to our product.

Paul Lee
Sr. Manager of Web Marketing
 LeadQual

Search Engine Marketing 

Are you running SEM in house or perhaps thinking about what it would entail? Probably a good idea to get familiar with some of the common mistakes SEM PPC mistakes small business users make. You should also be aware that any sudden spikes in impression levels, click levels or anything else for that matter should be thoroughly investigated.Is Google’s Pay Per Action in Flux? Will it Survive or become of the hundreds of Google “beta” products that slowly disappears into obscurity. Cross Tracking is also long gone.Have you been in the Google & Yahoo SEM forums? I am sure you’ve seen people talk about their Google & Yahoo reps and how they said this and that and how they will do this and that for you. Well how does one obtain a Google or Yahoo rep? Good Question. Find some tidbits here on what it takes!

Social Media & Search Engine Optimization

How about all you’ve heard about search media and the potential to use them for SEO benefits? There are so many sites out there and many will allow you to post up a naked link right on your profile!

Industry News

What is going on in Yahoo? Ever since the MSN/Yahoo debacle, many seem to be discontent with the leadership, particular shareholders (i.e. Icahn) tried to forcibly try to appoint a new board and is nearing releasing some more info on his proxy fight, and there has been mass exodus and corporate reshuffling. Now comes the partnership with Google. It will be very interesting to see how Yahoo showing Google Ads will impact the Search Engine Marketing Industry. Will the bids rise or fall? Will the click volume change in both Google & Yahoo. How will Yahoo go about sorting through what gets shown? We will see in due time. Wishing them the best in getting through this difficult time.The latest execs to leave are Stewart Butterfield & Caterina Fake the founders of Flickr which is owned by Yahoo. A creative resignation letter?

Paul Lee
Sr. Manager of Web Marketing
LeadQual

So you come in to work ready to pull some reports and do some analysis. You login into you’re My Client Center (MCC) Adwords account and proceed to use the drop down to get to your Google Adwords account. But then… it’s not there. Your rub your eyes and take a deep breath. Maybe you are just tired from rushing into work after you hit snooze too many times. You look again. It’s not there. Now your heart starts to thump as panic starts to set in. What in the world happen to my accounts? You double check to see if somehow it got renamed. That’s not it. You start asking everyone in the office if they know what could have happened. No one knows. You try to call your Google rep and leave a message hoping that the account didn’t somehow disappear or get lost somewhere. What do I do if I lose that account? You start searching all over the web to see if this has happened to anyone else. You find nothing.

What happened?

Apparently this is not as uncommon as you may think because as we would find out later there is some known glitch that causes this to happen. There is nothing we could do at this point to help you avoid this problem, however in this post we could at least share with you the quick solution to the problem so you could avoid some of the trauma. (Yes we hold our client’s accounts dear to us).

To Google’s Credit – they said they have engineers working to devise a fix.

Workaround Solution

It’s pretty simple.

1. Log in to the child Google account via the My Account tab.
2. Unlink the account from the MCC.
3. Re-link the account to the MCC.

You should now see your child account back in the MCC. Hassle Yes, but the workaround is fairly simple.

Hope this helps prevent a little less trauma for someone.

Paul LeeSr. Manager of Web MarketingLeadQual