While racing for the number 2 position on the online advertising market, in the next three to five years - according to Kevin Johnson, President of Platforms & Services - Microsoft has already debuted pumping steroids into its underlying infrastructure. Starting today, Microsoft adCenter and Live Search will have extra resources to offer advertisers, search marketers and webmasters, namely two new tools and an accreditation program. Microsoft adExcellence, together with the Microsoft adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007 and the Webmaster Center are the new offerings headed for adCenter customers and Live Search users.

"The adExcellence program, adCenter Add-in and Webmaster Center are three great examples of Microsoft delivering on its commitment to provide customers with the tools, transparency and programs they need to maximize their success with our products and services," said Aaron Easterly, general manager, Advertiser and Publisher Solutions at Microsoft. "We believe that providing unfettered access to data and best-in-class training is simply the best way to do business and to help ensure the success of the advertisers and marketers that choose to do business with Microsoft."

adExcellence is, as Microsoft explained, a training and accreditation program for adCenter users in the United States. The resources delivered via adExcellence are available free of charge and designed to certify a high degree of expertise into the inner working of adCenter. The adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007 is set up to integrate seamlessly with Office Excel. Essentially, the tool will permit the correlation between user search patterns and keywords in order to attract the target audience. And, on top of it all, following the launch of Live Search 2.0, Microsoft is now offering the means to optimize websites for its search engine under the Windows Live brand umbrella via the Webmaster Center.