MSN Constellation service

Anyone heard of this?

[mida68]

I've been asked to find out about the MSN Constellation service but can not find any thing on this subject. I'm wondering if this was something recently announced (or maybe just rumored) and thus, not easy to locate. I'm guessing it's a paid inclusion or link exchange type of service.

Any links to the site or information would be greatly appreciated.

[Mike12345]

Hi, I have no idea what you mean by "constellation service"? Could you explain what it is you are looking for, if its inclusion into MSN then you need to look at Looksmart and Inktomi, both PFI afaik.

If you explain further someone maybe able to help more. :)

All the best

[mida68]

Hi, I wish I could! It was a request from my employer (I telecommute) through her project manager. I think she may have made a mistake alltogether. They are not keen on me asking a lot of questions, they like to throw a few things over the fence and be done with it. (Very annoying at times but I do learn a lot by doing my own research!)

I did finally ask the PM if she could get more details and the owner just said that she wanted the "other" service besides Google Ad Words and Overture. I did suggest Inktomi and Looksmart.

A follow on question: I've only used Inktomi previously with good success. Do you know why anyone would use Looksmart in addition to or instead of Inktomi?

Thanks!
Shelley

[Mike12345]

Do you know why anyone would use Looksmart in addition to or instead of Inktomi?

I think im right when i say that in MSN.co.uk the LS listings are placed higher on the page than your Ink results. So theres a reason.

Also LS and Ink supply their info to different SE's/Directories/Portals or whatever. So being listed in different places is a good thing, submit to both and you will have a wider reach, albeit a bigger dint in your budget, but depending on your audience and conversions you could make that back in sales.

<added>If i had a choice betwen the two, and i could choose one it would be Ink, mostly because of the possible future with Y! SERPS if they do switch then referrals through thte Ink database could be Huge.</added>

[martinibuster]

I've only used Inktomi previously with good success.

Make sure you don't duplicate pages between LS and any good performing INK pages as the LS pages will trump them, and you'll end up paying for traffic that used to be free.

[mida68]

Excellent advice thanks so much! Another follow up: Has anyone had experience with "conversion rate" software? We're based on San Diego and were approached by "EngineReady" (you can figure out the URL)

They claim "Track ecommerce sales and revenue, store forms, lead generation forms, special offers and much, much more."

It seems like valuable inforamtion, I'll have to check into exactly how this works, it almost seems impossible to track automatically!

Just curious, while I have your attention ;-)

Thanks!
Shelley

[Mike12345]

I wouldnt spend any money on conversion tracking software. You can just take a copy of your access logs, from your host, and analyse all the data yourself. It seems like lengthy job, but if you break your logs down into digestable sizes its easy to trawl throught the info. But thats my opinion.

The problems ive had in the past with thes types of progs. is that they dont give you enough information, or everything but what you want. It depends which information is most important to you. But as a general rule, if they offer a FREE trial take it and see if it works for you.

Im sure there will be many others here, who can suggest a reputable company, or share with you their experiences with "EngineReady" :)