NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Hypermart and DoubleClick/Flycast...
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Hypermart and DoubleClick/Flycast...
Mark J. Welch (markwelch_at_ca-probate.com)
Thu, 09 Apr 1998 12:11:14 -0700
Allen Graber of Hypermart asked two important questions about how to
enhance ad revenue from his site. He mentioned that he runs network
ads from DoubleClick, FlyCast, AdAuction, and Burst.
(1) Allen wants to know if, instead of running a "house" ad (self-promotion)
on DoubleClick and FlyCast when no paid ads are available, could he run
some other ad that might generate revenue? I certainly think he could.
For example, instead of running the "house" ad (or in rotation with it), he
might add some commission-based ads (books, music, art/posters, etc.)
and monitor the results over time. Or he could run some pay-per-click
ads (possibly including more networks like ValueClick or SAFE Audit).
Of course, this must be cleared with each network where these "default"
banners will run.
(2) Allen also notes that on FlyCast (and I assume on DoubleClick), he
simply doesn't know whether a paid ad is available at any given moment,
and so he's not sure how to rotate FlyCast's ads with other content.
He asked whether there is some way to "know" or be informed when a
paid ad is available. I think not: FlyCast's dynamic ad placement makes
it impossible to know for sure whether a paid ad is available. However,
depending on the "minimum bid" price you set for FlyCast "blind buys,"
you can often predict a range of sequences of paid ads: for example, you
may be able to determine that the first 5 ads are usually paid and then
the remaining ads will be house ads or PSAs. This will vary over time,
but overall you should be able to use a number and stick with it. Note that
if you cannot rotate content based on adviews-per-visitor, you should get
software that can do this, rather than rotating ads randomly.
Note also that if your FlyCast "blind buy" price is set above $1, then you
are missing some paid advertising opportunities. I have been running
a number of $1 to $3 "blind buy" campaigns over the past few weeks
(with generally poor results, since other advertisers are outbidding me),
and I don't think I have seen any clickthroughs from HyperMart.
Third, I would like to make a very direct (negative) observation about
HyperMart's ad system: HyperMart is a "free web page" system like
GeoCities and Tripod, and all three of these systems (like many adult
web sites) use pop-up ads that I consider to be irritating and obnoxious.
Indeed, the level of irritation, plus my experience with the average
quality of sites hosted at these "free servers," has led me to conclude
that as a general rule, any site hosted at GeoCities, Tripod, or Hypermart
is NOT worth visiting, period. In short, pop-up ads DRIVE ME AWAY,
rather than attracting my clicks.
I have heard varied reports about the performance of these ads, which
go against my expectations (e.g. they reportedly perform better and
generate fewer complaints than I expect), but I would urge Allen to
provide some very detailed numbers to reassure advertisers like me
that these ads will, in fact, perform comparably or better than other
ad formats.
-- Mark J. Welch, Web Site Banner Advertising
-- http://www.markwelch.com/bannerad/
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