I have read horror stories on the billing when it first started, and that it is cumbersome to use. I want to know if it's still this way today, a year later?
No. Adcenter has improved alot. You can check with their forums & blog. Now Adcenter is the only search engine providing greater ROI.
I have since returned, as I couldn't even log-in on the old one. Not sure how my campaigns will perform, but that is a whole separate issue.
AdCenter upgraded with new features 1) Campaign management – changes include: * Daily budget option * Default dynamic text * Campaign import – now compatible with AdWords Editor output 2) Reporting – changes include: * Access recent reports and report templates right on the Reporting tab * Drag and drop to re-order custom report columns * Totals and averages now shown For further info. Visit Adcenter Blog.
It may have improved but it's still a dog to use! Simple features like being able to set a custom date range when viewing a campaign & being able to drill down into adgroups & keywords and still be able to see your performance stats are totally missing. It's like it was designed by someone who's never managed a PPC campaign before, or even looked at a decent interface like adWords for that matter! It makes managing a decent sized campaign or two a complete nightmare! :-(
The reporting page takes AGES to load and use. For a company that's supposed to be good at software this really really sucks big time. Google - and Yahoo - paste Microsoft completely on this. Adwords interface 10/10 Overture interface 8/10 Adcenter interface 1/10 [all my humble opinion]
Whether one likes the interface or not depends on the person. However, why would you care about the interface so much? Isn't it performance that matters?
Seriously how difficult would it be for Microsoft to release an AdCenter Editor tool like there is for AdWords? It seems like common sense. AdCenter makes me want to cry anytime I have to do any serious campaign development.