RE: What is fair? Clicks or Conversions

From: Janet Attard <attard_at_businessknowhow.com>
Date: Fri 02 Nov 2001 16:03:17 -0500

>
> CPA-based fee elements are more suitable where the online
> property cannot demonstrate that track record, or where
> there's an element of the unknown due to an experiment
> by the online property.


The big problem with CPA for any site, is that it's
applying a direct mail model to a situation that isn't
direct mail. In direct mail, the mailer rents a list,
and then "owns" any customer who responds to the offer.
The real money is made, usually, from the follow-on sales.

With CPA, the people doing the equivalent of renting a
list (by running an ad in a newsletter or on the site),
are giving away use of their list, acting as publicists
sometimes, too, (if they want to maximize sales), but
then for all their efforts, they get only a tiny
percentage of the sale and don't get access to what's
really important in direct sales - the customer
information. So the publisher is doing all the work and
has no way to benefit.

Frankly, to me, this isn't really a matter of what is
"fair." It's a business matter. Why should online
publishers give everything away for a pittance?
Advertisers pay to rent traditional mailing lists, pay
for ads in print and on radio and TV. Why should they
expect publishers to give them what amounts to a nearly
free ride?

Click throughs and actual sales alone don't tell the
whole story, either. Call it branding or call it
anything else you want, but a single ad in a
publication (which is basically what a banner is that
runs for a month on niche publication sites) isn't
particularly productive. Repeat advertising is what
matters. Recency and frequency (repeat advertising)
is what counts, IMHO, just as in print publications.

If online publishers can't get decent fees for running
ads, or for licensing content, then the web will be
nothing but a library of product catalogs before long.


--Janet Attard
Business Know-How(r). Content, community, tools, and
web development services for small and home businesses.
http://www.businessknowhow.com
http://www.careerknowhow.com







Received on Fri Nov 02 2001 - 15:03:17 CST