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As high-tech marketers, many of you have
been trendsetters, adopting new technologies to enable your marketing
efforts. With the further development of web sites to secure leads
and sell products, many high-tech marketers are realizing that their
sites can also generate ancillary revenue via the acceptance of
paid ads.
In this article, we'll look at the terminology, technology and
procedures involved with hosting and managing banner ads on the
World Wide Web.
The term "ad management" is an encompassing term and an integral
part of the relationship between the site owner and the paying advertiser.
Proper ad management enhances banner performance, monitors ad
status, reports response rates and delivers exactly what the advertiser
has purchased. Let's take a look at several key ad-management components:
Inventory Management. This is one of the most important
components relating to ad management, since the available inventory
is ultimately what you're selling to advertisers. In cyberspace,
"inventory" specifically relates to the total amount of impressions
that an individual page generates. For those unfamiliar with the
term, an "impression" is the unit of measure which quantifies the
number of times a banner is viewed by visitors, typically on a monthly
basis. The related term "click-through" indicates the number of
actual responses to a banner.
Different pages on a web site have unique impression levels, based
on position and content (i.e., the home page of a site will have
more impressions than a "glossary of terms" page nested deep into
the site). Inventory management includes the tracking of the monthly
impression levels on each page, logging the number of impressions
available, the number of impressions actually sold and the click-through
levels generated.
Alarm System. This is a software-based "intelligent agent"
that monitors the impression rates on paid banners, alerting the
site owner of critical conditions relating to the banner. This includes
an alert if the banner is receiving its purchased impression level
too quickly, which means that there is more inventory than projected
to sell and, perhaps, there should be an adjustment or further negotiations
on pricing. Another alarm would occur if the banner isn't meeting
its guaranteed monthly impression rate, or if it's getting ready
to be taken down (contract period is expired). Obtaining these alerts
and addressing them early will help a site owner maintain an advertiser's
continuity on its site.
Scheduling. This aspect of ad management allows the precise
scheduling of when and where an advertising banner will be served
on the site. Automated scheduling allows the site owner to offer
advertisers banner placement and removal on exact days and times,
which gives them another variable to test for enhancing response
rates to their offer.
Positioning. Where a banner is placed is also an integral
part of the ad sale. As a site owner, you might make slots available
at the top of a page, in view when the page is loaded and at the
bottom of a page, which requires scrolling. Positioning can affect
both price and click-through rates while also representing another
variable for testing by the advertiser.
Real-Time Placement. This is immediate, automated placement
of the banner by the server software, controlled by the positioning
and scheduling systems. Since the web is an instantaneous direct
response medium, seamless, real-time placement is important, since
it's typically expected by web advertisers.
Rotation. It isn't uncommon for a site owner to offer slots
that are shared by multiple advertisers. Referred to as "banner
rotation," algorithms in the server software based on impressions
received for a particular page will rotate the banner in real time
to give multiple advertisers access to a particular slot. Weighting
provides the ability to slow down or speed up an ad's rotation.
Tracking. Like any other direct response medium, the web
is measurable. The actual performance of banner ads can be tracked
by capturing and measuring the impression rate (universe of views),
the click-through rate (response) and the ratio of the two.
Assuming that a banner is hosted on a properly targeted site,
let's look at three banner vs. click-through (response) ratios and
their interpretation:
- 10,000 impression vs. 50 click-throughs: The banner's creative
and/or the actual offer needs improvement to increase the response
rate.
- 10,000 impression vs. 400 click-throughs: Excellent performance
at a 4% response rate.
- 50 impression vs. 25 click-throughs: The banner is performing,
but the site isn't bringing in a sufficient volume of impressions.
Switch to another site with similar characteristics that has a
higher monthly impression rate.
Alternating Ads. Whereas banner rotation allows multiple advertisers
to share a common slot, alternate ads allows an advertiser to test
the effectiveness of different banner creative and different offers.
Ad Family Management is the localized management, tracking, and reporting
of a series of different banner ads for a particular advertiser.
Key-Word Targeting. Some sites may allow a user to search
by text strings or select into pre-selected subject categories.
The process of key-word targeting allows a banner to be dynamically
served in conjunction with the word searched or subject selected.
For example, selection of the subject "automotive" might bring up
a banner relating to an automotive magazine in conjunction with
entry into the specified category.
Site Management. This term encompasses all of the items
above, and refers to the handling of multiple ads per site. An entire
industry has been created around the sales, placement and management
of banner advertising on the Internet. Though some of the terms
referenced in this article may seem a bit technical, you should
get comfortable with them since the web-based advertising model
is here to stay.
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