WebRef Update: Featured Article: Banners are Blunted - Other Options for Buyers and Sellers

Banners are Blunted - Other Options for Buyers and Sellers

Mentioned briefly by the recent article on selling advertising, content sponsorships are fast becoming the staple on successful Web sites. In this arrangement, a company sponsors a specific section of your site in exchange for their name being all over the section. The advantage for the advertiser? They target not just your site, but the *exact* audience they want. The advantage for the publisher? They get a ridiculously high rate in exchange for this precise targeting. A perfect example of this is Clickz.com. They have sections, all with high quality content, which have sponsors all over them. For example, Commission Junction sponsors their Affiliate Marketing section. CJ get a detailed vertical banner, as well as countless other benefits including all valuable text promotion. For a content rich site, this strategy is perfect, bringing much needed revenue and great value for the advertiser.

Text Ads

On the front page of a site, a short text ad may well be appropriate and effective. This will generally consist of 2-5 lines of clickable text featuring a plug for a company. Text ads are effective and desirable because they flow easily into any page, increasing comprehension for the user with little-to-no formatting changes required of the Web master. Additionally, the drain on bandwidth is virtually nothing and users can download the page just as quickly. For an example of this, head to www.EchoDev.com.

Giveaways and Cross-Promotion

There are those of us that dislike banner ads - and then there are those that absolutely hate them. For those that want to get rid of any form of noticeable advertising on their pages, and have a reasonable level of traffic, then there may be a solution for you. This strategy involves giving away a product of an advertiser, or sponsor as a prize or a reward for several months' membership. This improves brand awareness of the target audience and is something that most users will value, as it is something they've worked towards. The product will be kept, and possibly bought again in the future. Even if the user does not buy the product again in the future, the free goodies will have created brand awareness, and alerted them to the advertisers product. A good example of a site that uses this very effectively is www.purple-moon.com. Purple Moon is an adventure-gaming site targeted towards 12 and under girls. Because of the sensitivity of this audience, they decided to create a separate section utilizing the techniques outlined above and make money that way. To date, they have succeeded.

The potential of online advertising is practically limitless. With a bit of creativity and originality you can find the perfect solution for your site.

About the author:

Adam Laitt runs the soon-to-launch AdsSuite.com, an online advertising resource site. Visit the site today to sign up for launch notification. In addition, he works as a full-time Web consultant, specializing in advertising strategies and techniques for internet startups at reasonable rates. Adam can be contacted at [email protected], or https://AdsSuite.com.

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This article originally appeared in the August 10, 2000 edition of the WebReference Update Newsletter.

Comments are welcome
Written by Adam Laitt and

Revised: August 11, 2000

URL: https://webreference.com/new/notbanners2.html