Yahoo! Search Marketing Import Campaign Feature

Does Yahoo! have any sense? Competing with Google.com Adwords and MSN AdCenter must be a real challenge.

Google Adwords offline editing tool makes life so much easier and you are able to perform bulk changes to any campaign, advertisement, keyword and ad group. Additionally, in Adwords offline editor you can export your account in several different file types. This makes life easier when managing keywords that can often number in the thousands.

MSN Adcenter allows you to easily import from 3rd party applications and even names Adwords as an example. Importing thousands of keywords, hundreds of advertisements and dozens of campaigns can be done with just a few clicks. Adding multiple keywords and ads to Adcenter also proves to be very easy, even without the use of the import feature.

My experience with Yahoo! Search Marketing has been simply horrendous. I learned their mundane and very unforgiving software only to have it changed and upgraded. After the change I notice that I do not have the ability to import ad campaigns from 3rd parties. I checked the help section and found references to this feature and how to access it (see: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/ysm/sps/screenref/16507.html).

The feature should be included and promoted within your account. Instead it is not - it is hidden from advertisers who spend less than $500.oo with Yahoo! Search Marketing. In their help section there is one reference that says something to the effect "*The Import subtab will only appear if the Import Campaign feature is supported by your account." (see: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/ysm/sps/start/overview_importcampaigns.html) making this feature somewhat of a ghost-like option.

How do you get access to something that helps you to spend more money in advertising? First you have to spend more money in advertising. This is the most convoluted and insane reasoning that I have ever heard. That is like saying to my customers - "You can buy products from me - BUT - to have the option to have them shipped to your front door - you must first spend $500.00." How many people would buy from me? Would they go to the next guy who is offering FREE SHIPPING with NO MINIMUM PURCHASE? Yes.

Yahoo! was polite enough to answer my email about the lack of this feature.

"Hello,
Thank you for your inquiry; we would be happy to assist you. The Import feature is available for our Gold Advertisers and above. Gold Advertisers spend $500.00 per month or $6000.00 per year with us. We review your average spending every quarter and will contact you automatically if you qualify for a new service tier.
As a courtesy, we have extended you a one time exception for a bulk upload of up to 1500 keywords. Attached is the formatted template you may use to add new campaigns, ad groups, keywords and ads to your account and the instructions on how to complete the spreadsheet. Simply fill it in and e-mail it back to us and we will upload it for you. Please specify in your message if the upload is meant to be added to your existing campaigns or to replace them.
For an example of what the spreadsheet should look like when completed, you also may download your current campaigns from the Campaigns tab in your account. This download will be in the same format your new submission should be in.
If you would like to send us your Google campaigns to upload, simply download them and attach them to your message. Be sure to specify if the upload is to be added to the account or to replace existing campaigns.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further assistance.Sincerely,
Sarah Sanchez
Customer Solutions
Yahoo! Search Marketing"

Thanks Yahoo! for the offer to allow me to spend more money on advertising with you. I really appreciate it.