Looking for new (and exciting) opportunities for your paid search campaign? Trying to go beyond the same ol’ boring text ads? If so, this post is for you.

Both Google and Yahoo are constantly enhancing their paid search offerings, and this time, they are turning to images, although in two completely different ways. Google’s feature is called Promote Your Image (PYI), and will be used to test run an image with a text ad in its Global image search section results. Yahoo will focus more on the main search engine results and will also offer videos, quick links, etc (Yahoo Image Search).

Sounds complicated? It’s actually pretty simple.

Here is a brief overview of the two features:
 
What Is It?:
 
PYI – First image in an image results page that includes a text ad; however, only one spot is available to advertisers.

Yahoo Rich Ads in Search – Incorporated into regular paid search ads that appear on top of a results page, and can have an image, video, and/or a link deeper in the site.

Text Ad Availability:
 
PYI – Availability has been delayed to early 2010.

Yahoo Rich Ads – Currently available on a limited basis but should be expanded in Q1 of 2010.
 
Budget Needed:

Google Image Search – Currently still going through testing, but doesn’t appear to start off with a minimum spend.

Yahoo Rich Ads – A minimum threshold of $15,000/mo per campaign does exist, so unless you are working for eBay or Amazon, you can most likely only opt in with the highest volume keywords.
 
Competition Level:

PYI – Since this is a brand new program, competition is low, however, only the top left image is available; once more advertisers opt in, CPC could potentially rise due to the limited space.

Yahoo Rich Ads – Competition is average since this is simply an addition to the existing paid search platform. Given that, at this point, only brand terms can be used for the program, competition should be somewhat low, however, once Yahoo opens this up to all keywords (without minimum spend), more advertisers may opt in.
 
Types of Campaigns to Use this for:

PYI – Since this is a static image, it may be best for a specific product or model, bidding on category keywords such as “netbooks.”

Yahoo Rich Ads – Can be used for a variety of things. The picture option can showcase anything from a brand logo to a specific product or model. The video option may be used for TV spots. Also, the zip code search feature is perfect for advertisers in the retail or service industries, which brings a user a step closer to converting.

Take a step back and consider the options. As of now, only Yahoo image ads are available to advertisers, so this is the obvious option to try out first. It’s worth to give each initiative a try once they become available, especially if you have some room for testing in your budget. Chances are though, either one will improve overall performance since they enhance the search experience.

Go out there, give each a shot and voice your opinion in the comments.