NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Interactive Ad Banners
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Interactive Ad Banners
Ken Jenks (MindsEye_at_ghgcorp.com)
Tue, 29 Oct 1996 22:40:24 -0600
I wrote:
>> Instead of "banner ads," though, we're offering advertisers full-page ads --
>> or even multi-page ads.
>>
>> This system only works if you give the consumer an incentive to interact
>> with the ad and make sure he doesn't zip past it.
Donna replied:
>How do you define a full-page (since pages on the web can be of various sizes?
I let each advertiser define it. If an ad is too long, the customer will go
back and choose another ad or just go away. Obviously, the advertiser
doesn't want this, so we all have an incentive to keep the ads short and
succinct. (Besides, I proof the ads before accepting them and I'll prevent
the advertiser from being too obnoxious.)
>And how do you set it up so that coming across an ad page in the middle to
>browsing a site isn't a total interruption? After all, you can't really
>"zip right past" a web page in the same quick sense that you can turn the
>page of a magazine -- it's going to take time to load. And I personsonally
>would tend to be irritated by ads like this, unless they were tightly
>integrated with site content, or I;d know what i was getting into before i
>followed a link.
>
>donna
I find a good break point in the middle of each story -- a point of maximum
dramatic tension, where the reader is left wondering, "That was really good,
but WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?" Then I force the user to fork over electronic cash
or read an ad in order to read the ending of the story. (Ain't I evil?)
The reader has several payment options -- advertising is just one of the
options. It IS irritating -- most advertising is -- but the user chooses to
participate in the ad as opposed to spending money. This free will factor
cuts down on the irritation.
As for "zipping right past" the ad, I also allow advertisers to ask
questions of the user about the ad (for example, "What's the name of our
company?"). The customer must answer the question(s) to the advertiser's
satisfaction before the customer receives his reward. This means the
customer MUST read and understand the ad -- no zipping allowed.
In fact, if the customer doesn't answer the questions correctly, I don't
charge the advertiser anything, since that customer must not have received
the advertiser's message. That's what the advertiser is paying me for: to
deliver a message to the customers. Why should the advertiser pay if I don't
deliver?
Here's a free demonstration story that illistrates the point:
http://tale.com/poe/tel-free.htm The Tell-Tale Heart
-- Ken Jenks, Editor-in-chief, Mind's Eye Fiction
http://tale.com/
mindseye_at_tale.com
