We have recently launched our website and are looking for interim ad network. (We are planning to hire ad sales people, eventually, when we can afford it.) I am interested in hearing people’s experience with different banner ad networks. We would like to be picky about the quality and relevance of the ads, but we also need to start making money.
*Who has successfully found a balance between community-relevant ads, good service from the network and profit?*
I would suggest starting simply by using Google AdWords.}
Adbrite is a solid alternative to Google Adsense… Depending on your space, you also might consider affiliate marketing (something like http://www.popshops.com).}
It really is nice specific in my experience, can you give some more information on your startup?}
Jeff,
Not knowing much about your site, its content or the size of your audience, I can only offer shotgun-style advice. Feel free to email me for more help.
First, try to understand what kind of content you are creating. If you have a very broad type of content wher e you address many different types of things, you may find that looking for a behavioral targeting ad network like Tacoda will work better for you than a contextual type service. If your content is really, really focused — contextual will work wonders. AdSense is the undisputed king of text based contextual ads.
Next know your audience, will they be OK with graphical ads? Do they really just want text? How can you make sure the ads aren’t distracting and even better — can they ad to the experience? Again, if you want contextual and text: Google. Contextual and graphical there are TONS of options. I am a big fan of Tribal Fusion, but there are many to try.
If your audience is large and you have enough inventory, you may want to look for a rep network that covers your space. There are a lot and I really can’t recommend any with any credibility as I work for a company that is rep-network-ish.
Most of the ad networks like TF, Tacoda and AdSense are CPC focused but have some CPM elements. The Rep Networks tend to be more CPM driven and as your site grows its the way to go. For smaller sites that try CPM based ads, the results are usually disappointing but CPC/CPL/CPA can work wonders.
CPC – Cost per Click, L Lead, A Action.
CPM – Cost per 1000 displays (marketing folk feel sassy for using roman numerals.)
If you find some great ad representation you may never want your own sales force. If you can leverage your growth into a Facebook/MSFT style deal, why hire sales people and manage them. Let someone else deal with it (again, I am biased there due to my job choice.)
Anyways, hope this was helpful.}
What kind of site is it? Different ad networks are better for different types of content. For example, blogads and federated media work well for blog-style sites. Tell me about the site and I can make a better recommendation.}
Clickarang lets you trade qualified clicks with other relevant sites for free– a good choice for building traffic from the ground up. http://clickarang.com}