Contextual Advertising The Good, Bad and Ugly
Contextual Advertising, The Good, Bad and Ugly
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Let me start off by saying that this is not about Google AdWords. Enough has been said about them, so nothing more needs saying. Everyone knows about AdWords. What I am going to write about are other contextual advertising programs; some you may have not heard of.
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Let me start off by saying that this is not about Google AdWords. Enough has been said about them, so nothing more needs saying. Everyone knows about AdWords. What I am going to write about are other contextual advertising programs; some you may have not heard of.
Everyone who has built a web site or blog wants to, or should want to , monetize their space on the web. Google invented AdWords, and the contextual advertising venue was launched; there was a new way to monetize space, expending minimal effort on the part of the web space holder. But, there are many more contextual advertisers than Google.
Let's start with the Good...
There is a newer contextual ad program called FairAdsNetwork; I've been associated with FAN since pre-launch, and I must say that I am mighty impressed. And it's not the advertising revenue that I'm talking about either. Remember, this is a newish company.
I am speaking about the relationship that the owner, Kevin Lam, has with his advertisers and publishers. I am both. He communicates with them regularly. I'm not talking about trying to sell something, but to actually get the opinions of the membership. He created a forum for this purpose, and posts there regularly. He keeps people informed of changes to policy, the system, new features, etc.. He responds to what others have to say, and he asks questions.
The service itself is terrific too. Publishers have total control over what ads are shown on their pages. For example: I don't need to worry about an ad for sexual enhancement pills showing up on my sites. Publishers can not only control the layout of the ads, but the content of them. Not all other contextual advertising programs don't allow that.
Now for the BAD...
Another program available is called CB Clicks. It is run through Click Bank, although it is not a Click Bank program. I know, that sounds confusing, so let me explain.
The way it is set up is this: members enter their Click Bank IDs into their profile in the back office. The Click Bank ID is inserted into the code to be placed on the web page, and when an ad is clicked, it is registered and payment is made through Click Bank, not by Click Bank.
CB Clicks allows the publisher to control the look of ads, and the content can be controlled by keywords, but the problem I have found is this: I've never been paid. I've been running their ads on my pages (50 pages) for years. I've never made enough for a Click Bank pay out threshold? The back office is minimal at best. There is no way for me to check my stats in detail.
I know that having had their code on so many of my pages, pages that get good traffic flow, should have yielded at least $25.00 in all this time. But Click Bank shows nothing. CB Clicks shows nothing. So, where is the money going?
Finally, the UGLY!
This may or may not be a surprise, but this is about a company that I am pretty sure most people have heard of and may even use. I am talking about AdBrite.
Throughout the months I was a member of AdBrite, I regularly would find ads on my pages that had absolutely no relevancy to my site at all; even though I had targeted keyword in my ad profile.
When I'd attempt to contact support, I'd get an auto response telling me that my message was received, and that someone would contact me shortly. I never got that promised contact.
My next issue was logging in. After awhile, my username and password wouldn't work, and I couldn't log in. Again, I tried to contact support; in fact, I made many attempts over the course of several months. I got no more response than I did the first time I tried to contact them.
Their customer service is non-existent.
Finally, I wrote to them and told them of how I feel about their treatment of me, and to cancel my account. They couldn't even respond to that!
So, I consider AdBrite to be the UGLY of contextual advertising programs. If you should find anything for AdBrite on any of my pages, please let me know where. I think I've removed them all.
They have never paid me either.
Copyright © 2008
Internet Marketing Mavens
internetmarketing-mavens.com
About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. Serving online professionals since 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276
http://www.ezines1.com/triizine
http://www.ads-on-q.com/intro
Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse http://stores.lulu.com/triizine
Internet Marketing Mavens
http://internetmarketing-mavens.com
Keywords: contextual advertising, adwords, google, cb clicks, adbrite, fairadsnetwork, FAN, customer service
Let's start with the Good...
There is a newer contextual ad program called FairAdsNetwork; I've been associated with FAN since pre-launch, and I must say that I am mighty impressed. And it's not the advertising revenue that I'm talking about either. Remember, this is a newish company.
I am speaking about the relationship that the owner, Kevin Lam, has with his advertisers and publishers. I am both. He communicates with them regularly. I'm not talking about trying to sell something, but to actually get the opinions of the membership. He created a forum for this purpose, and posts there regularly. He keeps people informed of changes to policy, the system, new features, etc.. He responds to what others have to say, and he asks questions.
The service itself is terrific too. Publishers have total control over what ads are shown on their pages. For example: I don't need to worry about an ad for sexual enhancement pills showing up on my sites. Publishers can not only control the layout of the ads, but the content of them. Not all other contextual advertising programs don't allow that.
Now for the BAD...
Another program available is called CB Clicks. It is run through Click Bank, although it is not a Click Bank program. I know, that sounds confusing, so let me explain.
The way it is set up is this: members enter their Click Bank IDs into their profile in the back office. The Click Bank ID is inserted into the code to be placed on the web page, and when an ad is clicked, it is registered and payment is made through Click Bank, not by Click Bank.
CB Clicks allows the publisher to control the look of ads, and the content can be controlled by keywords, but the problem I have found is this: I've never been paid. I've been running their ads on my pages (50 pages) for years. I've never made enough for a Click Bank pay out threshold? The back office is minimal at best. There is no way for me to check my stats in detail.
I know that having had their code on so many of my pages, pages that get good traffic flow, should have yielded at least $25.00 in all this time. But Click Bank shows nothing. CB Clicks shows nothing. So, where is the money going?
Finally, the UGLY!
This may or may not be a surprise, but this is about a company that I am pretty sure most people have heard of and may even use. I am talking about AdBrite.
Throughout the months I was a member of AdBrite, I regularly would find ads on my pages that had absolutely no relevancy to my site at all; even though I had targeted keyword in my ad profile.
When I'd attempt to contact support, I'd get an auto response telling me that my message was received, and that someone would contact me shortly. I never got that promised contact.
My next issue was logging in. After awhile, my username and password wouldn't work, and I couldn't log in. Again, I tried to contact support; in fact, I made many attempts over the course of several months. I got no more response than I did the first time I tried to contact them.
Their customer service is non-existent.
Finally, I wrote to them and told them of how I feel about their treatment of me, and to cancel my account. They couldn't even respond to that!
So, I consider AdBrite to be the UGLY of contextual advertising programs. If you should find anything for AdBrite on any of my pages, please let me know where. I think I've removed them all.
They have never paid me either.
Copyright © 2008
Internet Marketing Mavens
internetmarketing-mavens.com
About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. Serving online professionals since 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276
http://www.ezines1.com/triizine
http://www.ads-on-q.com/intro
Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse http://stores.lulu.com/triizine
Internet Marketing Mavens
http://internetmarketing-mavens.com
Keywords: contextual advertising, adwords, google, cb clicks, adbrite, fairadsnetwork, FAN, customer service
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