I received an invitation today to apply for the new ADSDAQ ad exchange. I signed up for notification a couple months ago but had not heard anything until today.
The concept is very intriguing and I am excited -- hopefully we can get SuperMotors in on this. The premise is that you set your CPM, they guarantee they will display ads at the CPM you specify, if they can't, they will distribute impressions to the other ad networks on which you are already a member (i.e. Tribal Fusion, Google AdSense, etc.). I'll review the steps here that they outline on their site:
Step 1: Set your desired CPM
This will take a bit of strategy and testing, I'm sure, but setting the CPM at which you will display ads on your site is a very nice model. ADSDAQ will then match you up with advertisers matching your site's demographic and choose the best performing ads to display on your site. Of course, this also means advertisers will also be able to specify their desired CPM, so don't count on getting ridiculous with your CPMs, as it's ultimately the advertisers who will be driving the pricing.
Step 2: Define your existing ad networks
We already use Tribal Fusion, Google AdSense, and AuctionAds. The dilemma we face is Tribal Fusion is our primary ad network, yet they only fill 71% of our available inventory we supply them. The remaining inventory goes to Google AdSense, which as we all know, is a CPC (Cost-Per-Click) ad network, and not a CPM network. In other words, we only get paid if users click on ads, not if they simply see the ads. AuctionAds (AA) on the other hand requires custom keywords that we dynamically supply on pages, so we really don't run these in our standard ad rotations, which is fine -- AA performs very well in the locations we currently have it implemented.
Maximizing revenue on excess inventory
So, enter ADSDAQ. It can act as our primary ad network. We analyze the CPM at which Tribal Fusion is paying us, we bump it up by a small margin (or even set it equal to Tribal Fusion's CPM) and set this as our CPM for ADSDAQ. If ADSDAQ can't fulfill inventory at this rate, it'll distribute ads to the Tribal Fusion ad network. The key for us is filling the remaining 29% of our inventory with something more profitable than Google AdSense ads. This is difficult to do with other ad networks that are available because the Google ads perform fairly well.
The Big Assumption
This model of course assumes ADSDAQ can fulfill inventory at a higher price than Tribal Fusion. If it can't, we will most likely reverse the model and still utilize Tribal Fusion as our primary network, have it load ADSDAQ ads at a lower cost (when it can't fill our inventory), and have ADSDAQ display AdSense ads when all else fails. In any case, the ability to control ads based on CPMs we define is very desirable, and has the potential to be extremely effective for site owners who are strategic about it.
Tags:
banner advertising,
supermotors.net
The other day we started experimenting with AuctionAds.com's real-time, targeted eBay auction ads. What I didn't realize was that I could supply any keyword in the AuctionAds (AA) code so that the keyword would generate eBay ad links in real-time as the AA ads were served. So, I was setting up individual ads in their campaign manager for 1978 Ford Bronco, 1979 Ford Bronco, 1980 Ford Bronco, etc. I was testing the ranges of years that Ford Broncos, Ford Excursions, and Ford Crown Victorias were in production (70's, 80's, and early 90's). This mean for a lot of ads and a very time-consuming setup process.
Then I read about their WordPress plug-in. All this was was a way to allow WordPress users to dynamically insert keywords into the AA ad code. This provided even more relevant ads for bloggers because they could provide keywords that were relevant to the post/article they were writing.
So, we did something similar on SuperMotors. Instead, we dynamically insert targeted keywords based on the year/make/model or make/model of a registry entry, album section, or individual image or video posted by our user (you may need to scroll down on a couple of these links to see the AA ads). This eliminated my need to individually setup ads in our AA account, so I simply created a global campaign in our account that these targeted ads would run under. Targeted ads (on SuperMotors) have always outperformed generic ads by leaps and bounds with our visitors. Since the automotive crowd are generally heavy eBay'ers, we are hoping with this tighter, more strategic integration of ads throughout the site, that we see increased click-through rates and revenue.
High Click-through Rate (CTR)
We are pleased with the 1.55% CTR thus far during our test. Now that we have an expanded implementation of AA ads, we'll see more impressions (and presumably a slight drop in CTR). Regardless, due to the highly-relevant ads, the CTR of 1.55% is much higher than Google (which ranges from 0.10-0.15% CTR on a daily basis for us). Many of the automotive items are higher-ticket items, so we should also see a fairly decent revenue share on items sold.
More updates on AuctionAds.com as we get further into the month.
Tags:
banner advertising,
supermotors.net
As a result of reading the hype around AuctionAds on this post, we've added AuctionAds to the SuperMotors ad system. Our experience with programs like Commission Junction have yielded no revenue, which is surprising considering our ability to specifically target our site visitors with ads that are highly relevant to the vehicle information they are viewing on SuperMotors.
However, I'm hoping for better results with AuctionAds because we have the ability to create very targeted ads that are relevant to what our visitors are looking at on SuperMotors. For example, I created a campaign for "Ford Bronco" and am able to setup individual, targeted ads in AuctionAds for each keyword I want. So, to start off, we are have ads running that target "1978 Ford Bronco," "1979 Ford Bronco," ...all the way up to 1996 Ford Bronco.
Highly Targeted eBay Ads with AuctionAds
With the ad system we've built on SuperMotors, we can serve up ads targeted to the year, make, and model of content being viewed on the site. So, if you link to a page like this (a picture of a 1988 Ford Bronco), you'll be able to see the relevant eBay ads served up by AuctionAds for 1988 Ford Bronco items (You may need to refresh the page depending on the rotation of ads -- we're only serving up 160x600 AuctionAds at this time).
Our fingers are crossed that these highly-relevant ads translate to clicks and sales. We'll run this test for 2-3 months and slowly expand the selection of AuctionAds and year/make/model targeting we do. My favorite feature is the ability to specifically select the keywords in AuctionAds, so you know you will get relevant results based on where you're running your ads on your own site. This makes it an incredibly powerful tool for us -- provided that it produces revenue, of course. 
Tags:
banner advertising,
supermotors.net
And just like that, Google buys DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion. There are many naysayers about this deal but as an advertiser, I love it. If Google can integrate the DoubleClick ad network into their existing ad management tool, this will be huge. Last week I attended an executive dinner hosted by WebTrends which had a few prospective clients as well as existing clients (like myself). During our discussion, we got on the topic of managing banner advertisements alongside SEM campaigns.
Tying SEM to Banner Advertising (and vice versa)
For someone like me who wants to show banner ads to people who have previously searched for terms, this is huge. Tying search to banner campaigns has been the missing link. As web marketers, we know that banner ads have an impact on search. We also know that people who search are checking out multiple sites, comparing prices, comparing features, and trying to get as much information as possible about a topic. As a brand advertiser, we can now start to merge our online strategies for banner ads and search marketing into one comprehensive, intelligent campaign. This benefits us from a budget standpoint, but will also help us target consumers to give them the most relevant advertising as possible.
Privacy advocates of the world unite in horror
The privacy advocates will certainly be opposed to this, but that's fine -- I trust Google enough to Do The Right Thing. That said, this now opens the door for companies like WebTrends and their Dynamic Search product to fully integrate banner advertising into their product since it will be part of a search engine. Of course, it will probably be a while before there is a central management interface for DoubleClick and Google AdWords, but a guy can dream, can't he? I really look forward to the day I can tie banner advertising and search engine marketing to actual data, to see how one effects the other. Then we can start getting a true understanding of how our entire online advertising strategies are performing -- from e-mail, to banner ads, to search ads.
Banner Advertising will become accessibile for small businesses on a limited budget
Let's also not forget the network of sites Google has now "purchased" to run ads on. This may be an extension of banners available to AdSense customers, too. Sprinkle in video ads and the YouTube aquisition and Google has one powerful empire of online advertising. If they do it correctly, they'll even make it accessible to the Common Man so small businesses can compete with the big guys. For online publishers, it will hopefully become easier to focus on producing a quality website without having to play the balancing act with several ad servers, Google AdSense, in-house ad sales, etc. to generate the most revenue. This is the quandary we're (SuperMotors) in right now. Who has the time to constantly adjust pricing floors on various ad networks each month depending on the inventories of the various ad networks? Not us, but we have to do it anyway. It's a never-ending battle.
It'll be an interesting year for online advertising.
Tags:
banner advertising,
contextual advertising
While Friday still remains at SES NY '07, it feels like today (Thursday) was the last day. I sat in on several sessions all of which were focused around retail, search, advertising, and social media. The underlying theme of the day was looking at advertising from multiple angles and how it can help build/elevate your brand. My notes from the day are very scattered so I'll do a recap with my own thoughts as well.
Online SEM Channel Strategy - What to do?
As I evaluate our online channel and the fact that it is like the Wild West right now, I am presented with the following dilemma:
- As a manufacturer, we want to protect our brand name. In fact, leveraging our brand is a corporate initiative, and it should be a differentiator when people shop for blinds and shades online or offline.
- Our products are sold in different channels: Big Box, Independent, and Online. Online presents the biggest challenge because our brand name is used to drive traffic to competitor websites. This is an easy problem to fix thanks to our legal department. However, the more interesting and complex issue is how to work with our online retail partners to get a win-win situation: we want to "own" our brand name, yet our retail partners need to advertise our brand name. What's a consumer to do?
I don't have all of the answers yet, but have some ideas (which I will not discuss here). The more important point is that we have retail partners who are advertising our brand name, essentially free of charge. In the blind and shade industry, brand names are either very well known, or completely nonexistent. It's really a hit-or-miss vertical. With that said, once you start rolling in banner advertising, offline advertising, PR, social media marketing, etc. to create that brand awareness, then the online retailer SEM takes a whole different role.
Where does SEM live in the sales/conversion funnel?
There are essentially two types of searchers:
- Consumer searches for a specific product name (sometimes including a brand name)
- Consumer searches for generic product name
Consumers who fall into bucket #1 are further along in the sales funnel. They have been pre-disposed to your product and are more or less "in the market" now and ready to spend their money. I would argue that these consumers represent an "easier" conversion to a sale and that your SEM budget should focus heavily in this area.
Is SEM a marketing tool or a sales tool?
Consumers who fall into bucket #2 are the people who blur the lines of SEM. Is SEM a marketing tool or a sales tool? Or is it both? People using generic search terms may not have a brand top-of-mind, but if they see advertisements relating to their search that mention a brand name, they may be more likely to resonate with those ads. This is particularly true if you have other advertising and marketing in place such as banners, offline ads, PR, good social media penetration, etc. Now, combine the power of the "stickiness" of brand advertising with the online retailers who also sell our products and we've got an interesting situation.
Generic terms may not immediately convert, but they may be attributed to future conversions
The problem is that it's hard to tie sales to generic search terms. They may not immediately convert, simply because the consumer falls a little higher in the sales conversion funnel and may not be ready to purchase right then and there. Unfortunately for us, too, the sales cycle is much longer for custom blinds and shades (due to ordering samples online, waiting for them to arrive, and also because of the higher price point of custom products).
Who's to say, though, that a generic term didn't ultimately drive the consumer towards purchasing your product at a later date. What if they came back to the search engine, looked for another term or even used your brand name this time in their search phrase, and ended up purchasing on your site (or retail partner site)? It's certainly doable to keep track of the initial click or keyword/phrase that drove the consumer to your website for the first time. But it's also very hard to measure the effectiveness of SEM with other "outside' influencers such as more traditional advertising.
Fortunately, I will be able to run a baseline test of SEM for 1 to 2 quarters without any other external advertising (other than normal monthly promotions, etc. that we would normally run). I anticipate a lift when SEM begins to clicks to our website (and hopefully sales through retail partners), but even more so do I expect this when we start advertising via more traditional means. I will really be interested to see if it drives a higher conversion rate on the same SEM campaigns I had been running.
It's hard to say, but fortunately I have tools like Omniture SiteCatalyst and WebTrends Dynamic Search to help me manage it all.
Creating the right blend of advertising - avoiding advertising silos
The ultimate goal is to create the right blend of advertising so SEM is converting at its highest possible rate when balanced with the correct amount of banner advertising, offline advertising, PR, social media, etc. I think the main problem with advertisers today is that they are looking at everything in silos. PR is measured in impressions -- but how is it correlated with sales? Banner ads are measured in impressions, click-throughs, and conversions -- but how do banners influence search? How does leverage social media influence customer satisfaction and repeat business?
There are so many variables that go into the marketing, management, and maintenance of a brand. Pile this responsibility on top of having to actually creating, produce, and maintain new product development and you've got your hands full. Do it well and you've got a well-oiled machine with new product development and marketing playing off each other. Do it poorly, and you'll find yourself in a very disconnected business with poorly performing sales funnels and weak innovation and new product development.
Tags:
banner advertising,
blog monitoring,
channel strategy,
contextual advertising,
levolor.com,
SEM/SEO,
social media
