How do you measure success in online advertising?

From: Michael Martinez <Michael_at_xenite.org>
Date: Thu 26 Apr 2001 10:58:34 -0500

MICHAEL EHLENBERGER <michael_at_premiumnetwork.com> WROTE:

>Mr. Martinez makes some good points, and I certainly
>appreciate him and others who create compelling content
>and don't charge on a pay-per-view, or subscription
>basis. Although, the fact still remains that the
>overwhelming majority of consumers would much rather
>view advertising than put out cash. Having said this,
>the happy medium will be determined by the audience
>through attrition. Consumers will be less likely
>to patronize sites with overly intrusive advertising.
>Publishers would be wise to closely monitor viewership
>and traffic statistics, especially when they add new
>ad units to their site.

All compliments are always appreciated, but I still
don't understand what the fascination is with click-
throughs. I mean, is the only reason why the online
ad industry is expected to produce immediate,
substantial activity the fact that it CAN produce
such activity?

Why is it necessary for a banner ad to produce a certain
amount of click-through traffic? I've often avoided
clicking on a banner ad or referral link and still
visited the site that is being promoted. Should I
admit that?


How do you traditional advertising folks measure the
success of a television advertising campaign? Does
some measure how many television sets are broken
by people attempting to jump into the store their set?

If you set up a Web site today, do nothing to promote
it but run banner ads, and get 50,000 visitors in the
first month, is the banner campaign a success even if
you only got 1,000 click-throughs, or is a dismal
failure because you only got .1% click-throughs?

Yes, I'd rather put up with the ads than have to pay
for content. But I've got a Web site to promote. I
have a book to sell. For what it's worth, I stopped
paying for advertising. Why? Because I couldn't
measure the success of the advertising.

Is that the problem with online advertising in general?

Michael Martinez
 Science Fiction and Fantasy info_at_xenite.org
  Visualizing Middle-earth, a book for all Tolkien fans
   http://www.xenite.org/



Received on Thu Apr 26 2001 - 10:58:34 CDT