Yahoo says: Panama still closed to newbies

Just wanted to drop this in because I’m sure I’m not the only one….

My wife is a real estate agent. I’m no PPC guru, but I run a small AdWords campaign for her, mostly with geotargeted keywords. I was going to sign up for Yahoo PPC about 8 months ago, but heard there were some problems with it, and that Yahoo was working on a new PPC platform, anyway.

So, I decided to wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

I stopped by the Yahoo expo booth today and spoke with one of the friendly staffers there (after first speaking with the friendly Frank Watson, AKA “Aussie Webmaster”):

Me: “I’m using AdWords but have been waiting to sign up with you guys until Panama was ready. So, if I sign up today for a new account, will I be put into the Panama system or the old system?”

Yahoo gal: “You’ll be put into the old system*, not Panama. It’s not open yet for new advertisers.”

Me: “Any idea how much longer I have to wait?”

Yahoo gal: “We think it’ll only be another month or two.”

Me: “Okay, would you do me a favor, and when it’s ready for new accounts, please make a big deal out of the announcement so I don’t miss it?”

Yahoo gal: “Sure. In fact, if you give me your phone number I’ll make sure you get a call when it’s ready.”

Impressed, I gave her my number. Though I don’t really believe I’ll ever get a call. Could you imagine?

* I believe she actually said “current system”, but we all know Panama is the current system….

[tags]yahoo, panama, ppc[/tags]