For Sale by Publisher Blog

Self Serve Advertising.com

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:18:55

Typically when you join an ad network you have little control over what appears on your website. With Pubaccess from Advertising.com (an AOL company) that is about to change.

Release:

Platform-A�s Advertising.com Launches a Self-Service Solution for Publishers

New York, NY � April 9, 2008 � AOL today announced that Advertising.com is launching PubAccess, a Web-based, self-serve interface for publishers to join the Advertising.com network. PubAccess is designed for small publishers to easily manage the advertisements displayed on their sites (http://www.pubaccess.com). The solution combines the control and simplicity of a self-service interface with the quality and technology advantages of the Advertising.com network.

With network approval, PubAccess provides publishers with more control over the inventory they place within the Advertising.com display network by allowing them to block advertisers and categories, pull tags and view activity reports. In addition, by using PubAccess, publishers� inventory will be optimized by Advertising.com�s AdLearn technology, providing greater revenue and payouts. Publishers will also benefit from Platform-A�s premium advertiser base and experienced sales force.

�Until now, smaller publishers didn�t have a lot of options to receive CPM pricing for their display inventory,� says Lynda Clarizio, President of Platform-A. �PubAccess provides a scalable solution for the tens of thousands of quality publishers who want to join Advertising.com�s leading display ad network. Advertising.com continues to work hard to develop new products and monetization opportunities for the publisher community, and we are excited by the initial positive response we have received for PubAccess.�

�Quality and service is the key to PubAccess� value,� says David Jacobs, Senior Vice President of Publisher Services at Advertising.com. �Without access to a network like ours, smaller publishers were limited in the types of advertisers they could attract. Now, with this tool, we can easily work with and service thousands of publishers, and they will have access to the same advertiser quality that our current publishers enjoy.�

PubAccess extends Platform-A�s efforts to help Web publishers more effectively monetize their ad inventory. In February, AOL acquired buy.at, a leading affiliate network that provides a platform for performance-based e-commerce marketing programs to advertisers and publishers. In addition, Advertising.com recently launched WidgNet, a service that monetizes and supports widget developers and their inventory.

PubAccess and PubAccess.com will debut next week at the ad:tech conference, Booth #6266, in San Francisco. Publishers will be able to join the network at the show from a dozen computers at the Advertising.com Cyber Caf� Exhibit.

About AOL
AOL� is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S., and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC and its subsidiaries have operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.

About Platform-A
Platform-A, AOL�s advertising business, offers advertisers best-in-class solutions that leverage AOL's premier consumer brands like AIM, Moviefone, MapQuest, TMZ, AOL.com and more; TACODA's audience insights and behavioral targeting; and Advertising.com's industry-leading reach across multiple networks, including display, mobile, video, search and affiliate. Platform-A also includes Quigo, a leading site and content- targeted advertising business and ADTECH, a leading international online ad-serving business based in Frankfurt, Germany.

Contact:
AOL/Platform-A
Eric Chandler
212-206-4434

Source: Release

Are ad networks for loser/weak publishers?

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:59:49

Jason Calacanis discuses the recent move by ESPN to drop its ad network and sell ads directly.

Whilst its makes obvious sense for larger publishers to do this, for us smaller operators, the decision is not always so easy.

If you're under $250,000 a year in advertising? Sure, go for it. Break $250,000 a year, you should go for it with an ad sales person.

I don't know if it necessary to wait that long. If you're in a good niche it might be much easier to find advertisers to work with.

How Much Should I Charge for my Advertising Space?

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:40:17

Great read over at Problogger (a guest post by Daniel Scocoo).

You are free to charge whatever you like, but this bit of the post is very important to remember:

Like it or not, the Internet behaves like a giant market place, and all websites are subject to the laws of supply and demand. In other words, if you set a price that is significantly higher than the one used by other blogs on your niche, the advertisers will go somewhere else.

Google Admanager

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:54:27

Google is working on a Ad serving solution that allows you serve up your own ad inventory and serve up default ads from networks. They clearly hope you'll use Adsense.

There have been a few writeups about the new service..

How do You Find Private Advertisers for Your Blog?

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:59:21

Problogger discusses how to find advertisers for your blog, but the advice easily applies for any website.

"Direct advertising deals represent one of the most efficient ways to monetize a blog or website. They enable you to cut out the middleman, to determine your own rates, and to have more control regarding where and how the ads will be displayed."

The Economics Behind Selling Blog Advertising

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:40:33

Great post over at Blogtrepreneur explaining the economic theory that determines the prices that people are able to charge for advertising.

6 Reasons Why You Should Sell Ads Directly

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:55:52

For some selling ads directly to advertisers is a no-brainer, others require a little persuasion.

We've collected our reasons for selling directly (in no particular order):

Control What Appears on your Website
You decide what ads appear on your website, not an ad network employee, or computer algorithm. You're free to work with advertisers to mold the advertising that they would like to appear on your website.
No Commissions
Keep all your money, your earned it. No giving up large commissions to someone for finding advertisers. You may incur a few other costs (depending on how you accept payment), but that likely to be far smaller than the upto 50% commission rates that some ad networks charge.
Set your Own Pricing
You decide how much to charge for ads on your site. Whatever type of campaign you advertisers decide to run on your site, you decide how much they are required to pay. With most ad networks this is out of your control, some networks will allow you to exclude certain ads, but others do not.
Build Relationships
Being just another cog in a large ad network means you can be replaced easily and without much thought. Work hand in hand with your advertisers, and forge longer term relationships.
Control Payment Schedules
Most ad networks will hold onto your payments for a certain amount of time, anything from 15 to 90 days is fairly normal, as they collect payments from advertisers. Since you'll be working with advertisers you'll be able to specify your own payment terms. It's not uncommon to have advertisers request payment before ads are placed on your website.
You Select the Ad Formats you want to Use
You are not limited to the ad formats and display techniques you want to use. Most networks will only use certain industry standard formats, that may not fit well with your site. Whilst you may want to stick with these formats for most advertising, you still have the flexibility to use any format you wish.

ProBlogger drops Adsense

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:05:45

Interesting video post from Darren Rowse discussing his reasons for dropping Adsense and selling ads directly to advertisers for his ProBlogger Blog.

A lot of reasons we've mentioned else where, but also a few that were new to me, worth a watch.

How much screen space for your ads?

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:32:07

Serverdome provides an interesting look at how much screen space (above the fold) some popular blogs are dedicating to advertising.

Should provide for some interesting pointers for your own site.

Success Stories?

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:11:45

I've seen a couple of blog posts where people mention they've gained some advertising as a result of being listed on For Sale by Publisher.

I'd love hear about any success stories, please feel free to post a response here, or send me an email.

Thanks!