Re: Contextual Ads, Overture, and Quigo

From: Steve Werby <steve-lists_at_befriend.com>
Date: Thu 06 Nov 2003 09:19:34 -0600

"James Johnson" <james_at_forcehigh.com> wrote:
> I wanted to display Google AdSense ads on my site, as a little more income
> would have been delightful. But after reading the terms (Yes I do take
time
> to read the terms & conditions), I found that I was not allowed to display
> any AdSense Ad's with any other ad's on my site

James, if you mean that you cannot display other text-based or
content-targeted ads on the same page as a page displaying AdSense ads you
are correct, with some expections (for example Google has told advertisers
that text-based affiliate ads are allowed so long as they don't have a
similar appearance to the AdSense ads). You can also display AdSense ads on
page A and other ads on page B or rotate between AdSense ads and other ads
on page A so long as they don't appear during the same page view. The
reasons they chose to implement this policy have been discussed in depth on
the WebmasterWorld's AdSense forum at
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum89/.

For reference for others reading this email, see
https://www.google.com/adsense/terms, in particular section 2 for ad
placement restrictions.

> this is a big problem for
> me as ForceHigh web site is built on offering ad space.

It's a concern, but it shouldn't be a deal breaker. I took a look at your
site and as an AdSense publisher and Adwords advertiser I think AdSense can
definitely work well for you on your site if you use it effectively. It's
like any other advertising though - you need to know when to use it, how to
use it, where to place the ads (which pages, where on the page), how to
present it (which ad formats, what color scheme), monitor it and re-evaluate
and optimize as necessary.

> There seems to be a fine line between the sites which are accepted to
> display these ad's, as most of the site accepted, seem to be site's which
> offer advertising space. Google for example, soon to have some heavy
> competition, do you think that the terms would be slackened slightly to
> enable more distribution of these ad's to sites which were previously
> refused.

The terms have been modified several times since inception thanks at least
in part to feedback from me and others and to address concerns both from
publishers and advertisers. So I think Google will do what they think makes
the most business sense, including continuing to modify the terms and the
technology.

> I don't think Google has the Ad Market wrapped up as yet, better
> can be offered for your web space.

Right, it's a new market. There are a number of players in the game or
preparing for it and I expect there to be a mix of players duking it out and
testing different models - pay per click, pay per sale, CPM and hybrids.

> I am interested in looking at Contextual Ad's offered by other companies
who
> offer money for clicks, does anyone know were I can find more of these web
> sites with these offers.

Overture announced a future plan a few months ago. There are plenty of
contextual ad matching services, but most are either not targeted or simply
allow the publisher and advertiser to select their category. You may want
to look at http://www.marketbanker.com/. For more options and to learn more
about AdSense from actual publishers and advertisers consider visitng the
WebmasterWorld forum I mentioned above. Also, Google tends to do a good job
of answering questions appropriately and quickly so consider contacting them
to ask about the advertising you currently have on your site or have planned
or whatever else you are concerned about by using the form at
https://www.google.com/adsense/contact.

--
Steve Werby
President, Befriend Internet Services LLC
http://www.befriend.com/






Received on Thu Nov 06 2003 - 09:19:34 CST