According to Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft adCenter will be an integral part of Microsoft's plan to evolve "from a software company into the world's largest, most attractive provider of online media."

The idea behind the new service is to provide online advertisers with a set of powerful tools that allow them to maximize their return on investment. One of the most important features is the ability to specifically target the audience for your ads by geographical location, day of the week, time of day (morning, afternoon, or night), age and gender. This targeting feature will undoubtedly improve the effectiveness of any ad campaign that you run.

Other useful features of the adCenter include a new keyword generation tool, and campaign reporting tools. The adCenter also provides tools to control the budget of your ad campaign, and has mechanisms in place to prevent invalid clicks.

Overall, the new Microsoft adCenter appears to be an excellent advertising medium for search engine marketers. One effective way to track sponsored search results on MSN is to use WebPosition 4 Professional. In addition, WebPosition's useful Page Critic feature will help to optimize your web site content so that it conforms with the optimization tips Microsoft provides in their adCenter FAQs.

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