Yahoo announced it is extending the Yahoo Publisher Network in the U.S. to small- and medium-sized web sites. Initially available in the U.S. through an invitation-only beta, the Yahoo Publisher Network self-serve platform will allow webmasters to sign up online for Yahoo advertising products and receive fast, easy access to other syndicated Yahoo content and products.

The first advertising product Yahoo will be offering through the beta is its Content Match contextual listings, a product similar to Google Adwords. Content Match enables publishers to place Yahoo's contextually relevant listings on their sites and receive a share of the revenue generated by them. Already on Yahoo's large distribution sites, Content Match can help small- and medium-sized publishers monetize valuable site inventory and provide additional qualified leads to Yahoo advertisers.

The Yahoo Publisher Network self-serve beta will also provide easy access to other Yahoo products that can enhance their visitor experience, such as "Add to My Yahoo" and YQ Beta. The "Add to My Yahoo" feature allows publishers to promote and distribute their content on Yahoo via RSS.

The YQ Beta is a contextual search product that can help webmasters increase the "stickiness" of their sites by providing visitors with related search results overlaid directly on their website. Yahoo plans to offer additional features in the near future to enable publishers to enhance their visitor experience, including "Save to My Web" and Web search.

The "Save to My Web" feature enables readers to easily save and share pages from a publisher's site to My Web, Yahoo's personal search engine service - increasing return visits and improving loyalty, according to Yahoo. In addition, Yahoo is conducting tests to evaluate the advertising capabilities of YQ and RSS feeds.

AskJeeves also announced a paid listings service on Monday (http://sponsoredlistings.ask.com). Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings is replacing the company's Premier Listings product with an open-auction system. Sponsored Listings advertisers will continue to receive premier placement on Ask Jeeves above Google AdWords, which will also continue to be distributed on Ask Jeeves.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft will announce plans next week to begin testing MSN Keywords, a system for placing ads on its MSN search site.

http://publisher.yahoo.com