Microsoft's desire for a larger chunk of the growing online advertising market is driving the software giant's takeover bid for Yahoo. Online advertising in the United States could more than double from last year to 2011, according to the Yankee Group.

Acquiring Yahoo would vault Microsoft into second in the search engine business, behind only Google. A combined Microsoft-Yahoo would deliver far more search queries sprinkled with lucrative pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements, a major component of online advertising. It's no wonder Google is concerned about the threat that Microsoft's bid poses to its business, which is built on online advertising.

A service called Cartfly turns the electronic shopping-cart concept on its head.

Typically, a business begins by setting up a storefront on a Web site, and then develops a strategy for driving visitors to that site. Successful tactics may include pay-per-click advertising, search-engine optimization, and links on specialized Web directories.

Virtually any e-commerce site can benefit from a FAQ section, which consists of frequently asked questions, plus answers. A comprehensive, well-written FAQ can allay common concerns of prospective customers and reduce the time required to respond to e-mailed questions. However, developing and maintaining a comprehensive FAQ can be time-consuming if you use straight HTML.

FAQMasterFlex, from Lethal Penguin, is a free, open-source Web app that simplifies the creation and maintenance of FAQs, storing them in a database.

Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format) is one of the most popular ways to distribute printed information electronically. But until now, there hasn't been an easy way for a business to earn money from the content it publishes in PDF form.

The recently announced Ads for Adobe PDF powered by Yahoo service lets you add pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements to your PDFs at the touch of a button. You earn money when readers click on an ad. You may not make big bucks using this beta service, but it costs nothing for you to sign up and try it out.

The 2008 version of Microsoft Office Accounting blurs the line between traditional packaged accounting software running on a Windows PC and Web-based software (or SaaS--Software as a Service--as it's known in industry speak). Both are integrated in the Office Accounting menu, which can be customized so an accounting firm may offer enhanced services to its clients.

Office Accounting 2008 is also better for neophytes than its predecessor was. Getting started with the accounting app is easier--especially if you currently use an Excel spreadsheet to track your business finances. New business templates are available to set up accounts for particular types of businesses, from retail to construction.