Jeff, Scott and I had a lengthy, post-work discussion today about online advertising today. We discussed the usual issues:
- The more you use the web, the more immune you are to advertising
- AdSense (and YPN) prey on the naivete of users - savvy visitors don't click these
- It's very, very hard to find a good advertising model on the web
- CPM ads are, by and large, invisible and cause more annoyance and frustration than value.
- Even the relatively solid advice given two years ago by Boxes & Arrows about ad placement seems to ring hollow - I feel like the web surfing population develops ad blinders faster than UI designers can find ways to make them stand out.
We also spent a great deal of time talking about how relatively effective some offline forms of advertising have become, including:
- Magazine ads (which are basically CPM, only without the metrics) - they're generally well-targeted and well designed. I know Mystery Guest actually enjoys some of the ads in Bust magazine, and I enjoy a few ads in Wired and Business 2.0
- TV ads, though generally lackluster, are occassionally impressive enough to warrant viewing on Youtube or rewinding on the Tivo
- Billboard ads, which have evolved into a true art form in many instances (for example, check out some of these)
But, in the online world, there's a scarcity of good ads. We came up with only a few good examples:
- Services like ReviewMe and SponsoredReviews - real opinions from people you trust on products or services they wouldn't have found by themselves. I'm a huge fan - I actually read the entire "ad"/"review" when a blogger I read writes them.
- StumbleUpon's paid inclusion program - more sites need to start thinking about how they can do this.
- The occassional creative ad on a site like TechCrunch or Boing Boing - TLA's ad touting "easier than getting Arrington to link to your site" is pretty genius, and it actually stands out.
Are there other solid forms of advertising on the web that can truly function as the backbone of a business' income? Am I simply living in the bubble so much that I can't see how regular web users really do read ads, click them and buy from the sites they find?
I will start right from top, it is not about being one kind of advertising dead... it is about that you should use several types of advertisements together- therefore making cross-medial campaign, which will hit much wider comunity, than just those who are browsing the net, or listen radio, or watch TV...
I believe that if you spend the same amount of money in different channels, you can get much higher ROI than just using one type of advertising at once. Also by doing it, you avoid one-channel risk.
People who are our target, when we serve them with the advertisement, do not want to be fooled... You need to make them interested to make the interaction and therefore it is not about the very "BEST DEAL" (because when I see this, I am half way clicking away.... :) but it is about VALUE ADDED. So as a advertisers, we need to tell people why they should buy the product and what will they get as a bonus.
As a conclusion, I don`t really think that any of the advertisements discussed above are really dead- use the advertisement in right time in right place
Another great post rand! (also love the new seomoz). I would love to hear your comments on the
new advertising market that is Agloco.
(I hope you don't mind the the aff link).Looking forward to a writeup!
Your short list of :good: ad alternatives lies at the far edge of the mainstream web.
CPM advertising is far from dead, despite what the SEO community thinks. Lead gen or direct response focused firms like Nextag, LendingTree, Univeristy of Phoenix, Netflix are the top online advertising spenders because display can drive ROI when done correctly. Notice the lack of "brand" advertising here.
Advertising online is too easy to ignore. One way to combat this is to create advertisements that also entertain or inform, so users will want to watch them / click on them. A perfect example would be the online video mac advertisements. They are kinda funny and all similiar themed, so If happen to come a site that has one I haven't seen before, even I'll click on it, and I don't even have a mac. I haven't done a lot of research, but I imagine those ads do well online as well as the sexy video game viral videos.
Agree and disagree Rand. (Nice to meet you on yesterday's panel!) What's the clickthru on a mag ad or a billboard? The paradox for online marketers: display ads <b>are</b> strong for branding, though the more branding you project, the fewer clicks you'll get. The comi-tragedy, in my mind, is not that stupid people click on Adwords, but that most sites and advertisers haven't moved beyond the IAB units we were staring at in 1999, ad concepts which are themselves barely evolved versions of what publishers were pumping out 100 years ago. With the advent of social media and networked conversations, the web has taken an exponential leap forward in volume and complexity... but most buyers and sellers of ads are, as in 1999 (or 1899) still pushing monotonic/monlithic messages rather than interweaving multitonied conversations.
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Thanks.
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Online Marketing
Agreed, the nature of web advertising must change along with a more expansive view of web-based marketing assets. While some start-ups may be well capitilized, others are being run on a shoesting from a spare room.
The use of marketing assets that belong to others (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace) and an understanding that SEO, as a marketing device, has lost its utility (visitors are more likely to find a site via link or feed than through organic SERPs), the focus for these under-capitalized, e-businesses is guerilla tactics. Hit-and-run, highly focused campaigns that change frequently.
Web-based consumers use the web for comparison shopping made easy. Access to product and services information should be highlighted in all aspects of the business - from domain name to integration of web advertising with real world marketing channels.
A web site, of and by itself, should focus on the business behind the presentation layer and avoid site monetization through selling ad space.
Advertising on your site may put some "walking around" money in your pocket but (1) each of those ads is a link off your site and (2) these ads may turn a warm lead into a stone cold prospect.
Perception is reality when your business is web-based. Excellent insight, randfish. Thanks for the post.
Paul Lalley
[email protected]
I think you're right about experienced users ignoring PPC ads. They're really ignoring most ads, but it's most clear to publishers when traffic spikes from Digg referrals with no spike in PPC ad revenue.
Nice post Rand! Love the blog :)
This now depends on how Relevant the SERPs are for a term - sometimes it is easier to give the Adwords a try - if the SERPs are not relevant - than it would be to do the search all over again with new terms.
It appears that with Google's latest competative query algos, INFORMATIONAL sites are dominating up on page one - if one needs shopping sites, one can assume that those advertisers willing to pay big bucks for a reviews Adwords campaign and a visible position - are worthy of exploring/
And many times they are right on the mark
Even though I would still say I'm immune, I find myself using ads as an "authority check" when using a search engine. If I am looking for "laptop cases" then I check the ad publishers because I know if someone is serious about selling or making laptop cases they would be running an aggressive campaign.
You forgot radio advertising, which has one of the strongest branding impacts of any advertising.
Rand, whats up with the nudity? You have to warn the sensitive readers or at least put a link condom on ...
yeah...I'm gonna hate having to explain that in my logs if it ever comes up...
Although, it is kind of lame that corporate america can't handle (pun intended) some boobies once in a while...
There's several others that our agency (after some poking from me) are moving towards: co-registration/opt in email marketing, email marketing in a more general sense, press releases (online, through places like PRWeb etc...), marketing through articles on niche subjects...
Basically, anything that offline marketers have been doing for the last fifty years, but taking it online. The trick is to take the adverts from being adverts, and turning them into other things; endorsements/testimonials, information delivery (the articles and press releases), incentives... Give the person a reason for them to engage with your advert, being in clicking or reading, and then give them a positive feeling afterwards, by giving them something useful (standard sales pitch doesn't count. You might know what you're selling is useful, but they don't).
That's my two cents anyway...
Am I missing something? Paid Searchl (if done well) is the greatest form of DM that has ever existed when you measure it from a CPA/CPL basis...and its aggregate volume can rival DRTV in some instances.
I would not make the deliniation b/w text ads and display so if that's the line you're drawing then I will step over it. :)
In addition targeting is getting better and better, especially geo and demo which will improve the relevancy of ads. The evolution is all about relevancy and it's evolving swiftly.
Jonathan - You're right; I forgot to mention how amazingly effective paid search ads can be. Sadly, for those of us not running search engines, they're not quite so useful. :)
Hey Guys--you might like to take a look at a new form of advertising I've come up with and have a patent pending on...
Called Match Engine Marketing, or paid match, it's a PPC system where advertisers will be able to select and bid on the actual traits and characteristics (keytraits) of their most desired customers; instead of settling for trying to reach them by the words they enter into search boxes...
Though not in operation yet as I'm pursuing a licensing/ partnership path to market, the white paper I've posted at MatchTo.com provides a good overview...while the patent app has complete structural and operational details.
Paid match should be available from one or more of the "big boys" sometime this year...and should prove to be an excellent platform for the industry (though Google may not be too happy about it).
Thanks for pointing out that StumbleUpon paid inclusion. I might give that a shot and see what happens.
It is not so much the ad model as how it is enhanced that determine conversion levels.
AdSense and clones are abused by most domains as Amazon was: simply tacked on as some 'magic' default. Poor conversion is a surprise?
ReviewMe et al combine ye olde text-link ad with ye olde review and, if positive, with ye olde testimonial. This combination is not new: what is new is the explicit exterior service.
CPM can be used very effectively, even discretely, for branding. Forget I said that: nothing to see here, CPM is dead like dodo.
Various advertising models and affiliate marketing can be intertwined such that each boosts the effective ROI of the other yet most discussions treat them separately.
Quite frankly, many domains do not have a business model and fewer a business plan. 'Hey, I built my site, how can I monetise it?'
Because it is easy most domain owners are simple 'fast food' vendors relying on pure SE driven volume traffic to counter miniscule conversion rates. It can still be very profitable but increasingly, as ad blindness grows and site ad presentation stagnates, requires PPC or deceptive practices to maintain revenue levels.
That few do online advertising well is 'a good thing'. Those few can pitch analytics that open wallets fast and wide.
I am wondering whether online advertising display is useful.