In an industry first, Microsoft Office Live* is allowing customers the ability to conduct keyword advertising on Ask.com as well as they are currently able across Microsoft's Live services.

How cool is that?

One thing most small businesses do not have is a full time droid dedicated to optimizing ad campaigns, especially as it relates to search engine marketing.

Using adManager, a business can link to Ask Sponsored Listings** to purchase, manage, and optimize ad campaigns.

I think this is a harbinger of future interop scenarios between Office Live customers and the search community as a whole, with the customer winning out.

Props to the Live team and to Ask.com for taking the plunge.

*Office Live: Microsoft Office Live is a complete, affordable set of easy-to-use Internet-based software and services that helps small businesses attract new customers, keep in touch with existing customers and easily manage their business from virtually any location.

By combining the power of software plus services, Microsoft Office Live helps small businesses establish a professional Web presence, stay in touch with their customers, and easily access company information from one complete online location. More information is available at http://www.officelive.com.

**Ask Sponsored Listings: Ask Sponsored Listings (ASL), introduced in the Fall of 2005, is an automated open-auction system allowing marketers to purchase, manage and optimize campaigns on the ASL publisher network, including Ask.com.