By Robert Lockard

It looks like two Davids are joining forces to take on Goliath. After years of public wrangling over the details, Microsoft and Yahoo finally announced a proposed 10-year partnership between their search-engine and online-advertising departments on Wednesday, July 29, 2009.

“In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo search while Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers,” the official Microsoft news release said.

The way I read that sentence, it means they will pool their resources so that Yahoo’s search engine will have the same tools as the Bing “decision engine.” It also means Bing will have access to Yahoo’s superior online advertising services and it can give advertisers better results and a bigger audience.

Right now, Google controls about 70 percent of the online-search market, while Microsoft and Yahoo, combined, only account for nearly 30 percent of all Internet searches. They’ll need a lot more stones in their sling if they hope to take down the giant.

What does this new relationship mean for pay-per-click advertisers? According to the news release,

Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.

Advertisers will be able to take advantage of Microsoft’s online-advertising tools while also receiving Yahoo’s expert service. This new service will hopefully offer the best of both worlds.

“Through this agreement with Yahoo, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said, referring to Google.

Of course, companies and their CEOs want to promote their services as much as possible. Google probably has a completely different take on these events. So what are your thoughts? Is this development good or bad for ecommerce and Internet marketing? This is a complete version of the blog post on the eHarbor Blog: “What the Microsoft-Yahoo merger means for ecommerce.”

The Microsoft-Yahoo logo is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of JVManna.

By Robert Lockard

The Bing decision engine is the most-visible sign of competition between Microsoft and Google, but the two technology giants are competing in many ways besides their search engines. And online companies and users are benefiting from their rivalry.

According to a Wired magazine article, “Google vs. Microsoft: What you need to know,” there are several ways Microsoft and Google are trying take market share from each other. I’ll discuss how some of those ways could be good for us who work in ecommerce and Internet marketing.

For instance, Google’s online advertising services, through Adsense, have taken pay-per-click campaigns to a new level. This service allows many websites to post paid-search ads from Google and earn money when someone clicks on one of them. This allows these sites to translate visitors into revenue, and it also helps Google earn money on its advertising campaigns. Web marketers benefit from the added exposure, allowing them to reach more online users than ever before.

Microsoft is trying to get into this market with Bing cashback. It has yet to become profitable, like Google, in the arena of online advertising, but the additional competition could mean lower advertising rates and better service for Internet marketers. I discussed Bing at length in an eHarbor Blog entry, “Bing decision engine good for online marketing.”

Although Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has already had plenty of competition from Mozilla Firefox, Google’s new Chrome browser is sure to push them to innovate even more.

By the way, as I read this article, I noticed a glaring grammatical error that called out for me to comment on. Here’s the sentence:

It is, however, not a death match — it’s more of an fight to see who will be the King of Technology…

So close. By the way, this is a complete version of the blog entry on the eHarbor Blog: “Google-Microsoft face-off benefits ecommerce.” The Google vs. Microsoft photo is from Flickr, and it is courtesy of michperu.

By Robert Lockard

Have you heard all about how useful Twitter is in building your business, but you have no idea how to get started “tweeting”? You’re not alone, and Twitter is trying to help you learn the ropes with a new Twitter user guide.

I found out about this new guide in a Houston Business Journal article, entitled “Twitter launches business guide, search widget.” Social Media Marketing apparently Twitter noticed many people and businesses would open Twitter accounts, post for a while and then abandon them because they either weren’t seeing results or they didn’t know what they’re supposed to do to with them. This new guide should hopefully reverse that trend.

If you go to Twitter’s guide you’ll find information on how to get started, new vocabulary terms, best practices and case studies on companies that have successfully used Twitter to increase their revenue.

Twitter also launched a new Twitter search widget to allow people to see who is talking about them right now. As I’ve discussed before, major search engine optimization like Bing and Google can’t keep up with Twitter and Facebook’s fast-updating service. It appears Twitter is trying to remedy this situation, but this tool is still limited in its uses. We’ll have to wait and see what permanent fix they or other entrepreneurs come up with. You can read my discussion of Twitter and search engines in my blog entry, “Google can’t keep up with Twitter.”

Twitter can be an excellent tool for businesses to keep in touch with customers, build new relationships and generate new sales opportunities. But it must be used wisely. I’ve talked a lot in the eHarbor Blog about how Twitter doesn’t directly help your site’s search engine optimization, but it does have many strengths. It should be an important part of your Internet marketing strategies if you’re an ecommerce company.

This blog entry is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post, “Twitter tutors tweeters.” The photo of the squirrel reaching is from Flickr, and it is courtesy of snappybex.