The Home Page Syndrome
You put most of your design resources on the home page and treat product pages as mere information pages—not marketing opportunities.

Why is this? How many people do you actually think find you by typing in www.yoursite.com?

Or How Many People find you by typing in a keyword phrase into google?

Answer: Majority will find you via the search engines. so why not treat the pages that they find as home Pages!

Make them sell!

There is an old moto we use in online advertising it is called the “3 click rule“. Your potential customer should be able to click on your advertisment or listing on the search engine (click 1) see what you have for sale and click a BUY NOW button (click 2), put in their information and hit the payment button (click 3).

This is how you sell. Dont treat those pages past your classic homepage as just an informational page!
Treat with as much respect as your actual index page.

Just some food for thought
Thanks for reading.

Technorati Tags: advertisement, advertisment, classic homepage, design resources, food for thought, information pages, payment button

In my view, “impression” based internet advertising is riddled with problems.  That said, if you just want to get your message out there without a concern for response rates, you can negociate a good deal.  On the other hand, pay for performance (click, lead, acquisition, subscription) campaigns don’t always do online “rich media” advertising justice–what I mean is maybe you intended to drive an online response, but the ad actually gave you a foot in the door that isn’t tracked.

Due to these issues and others we chose to partner with a company called RealVu Technologies, www.realvu.net.  RealVu technology tracks when our ads actually come into view on a person’s screen, and is then tracked as a “view“.  You can see this in action on www.exchangemyad.com, or by going to the RealVu site linked above.  Look above the upper right hand corner of the ad and watch for when the red checkmark appears in the RealVu logo.  This gives us a few advantages when it comes to exchanging ads. 

1.  Whether or not someone places exchange ads on the bottom of a page or buried on some obscure page in their website, credits on ads will only be earned when they are “viewed” by someone for a full second.  By the way, this is great for someone that hasn’t been able to sell the remnant space on their site.  Let me restate that, you can now monetize remnant space on a website with this technology–or at least use it for earning exchange ads.

2.  You will get the reporting to show when and where on the network an ad was “viewed”, and the ability to compare impressions to views as well as click rates.

3.  Since you can see the response rates of your ads on the sites it showed up on, you can stop your ad from showing on sites with lower response rates–making your campaign more effective.

The list of benefits for the RealVu technology goes on and on, but that list will provide subjects for future blog entries.

Suffice it to say, you can rest assured that your ads are fairly exchanged.  That is the bird’s eye “view” of the Ad Exchange Program.

Technorati Tags: ad exchange program, exchange ads, impressions, internet advertising, RealVu Technology, view

Big Money. Come on, Big Money!

Many business owners that I have spoken with view advertising is often looked at as a necessary evil…something they know that they have to do, but there is inherent risk…sometimes the ad campaign works (or they think it does)…sometimes it doesn’t (or at least it seems that it didn’t).  Either way it is often hard to quantify the returns–sometimes other factors cause business to go up or down regardless of the ad campaign, and the business owner has no clue. 

Even amongst advertising professionals, there are differing opinions as to what gets results–ROI. I have found it to be tricky to get the right medium, the right message, the right promotion, in a way that hits the right audience in the right way.  I have been wrong, more than I have been right with ad campaigns, just like anyone else who has done a lot of advertising.  In traditional advertising they have all of their standardized methods of calculating the “value” that has been delivered, but it is all rediculous.

In online advertising and marketing, it is different.  Everthing can be tracked–impressions, “views” (we’ll talk about this more later), clicks, leads, sales, registrations, subscriptions–they all can be tied back to the campaign, the website that the ad was on, and much more.  With all of the measurements out there, I just have to find the best measurement for a specific campaign and business.  I pay per lead on some campaigns with certain businesses, pay per acquisition on others, and views on still others.  With things tightening, I tend to go more with the per lead and per acquisition more often than not.

The other beautiful thing about online advertisements is that if something isn’t working, I can change it.  I can make changes quickly at little to no cost.  That cannot be said for a billboard, tv commercial, or other traditional media.

With the Ad Exchange Program, I use my exchanged “views” to try out new concepts, sometimes I roll out a few at a time.  Then after I can see the performance, I make adjustments or drop the campaign.  When I have a winner, I buy more ads than the ones I earned through the exchange, and sometimes use the campaign in traditional media.

The most exciting part of it all is that I am able to know my ROI before I invest advertising dollars.

Technorati Tags: ad campaigns, business owner, business owners, campaign works, Online Advertising, roi, traditional advertising, view advertising

The Ad Exchange Program at ExchangeMyAd.com is set up so that business owners around the world can help to provide relevant advertising space to each other and keep businesses running in a difficult and uncertain time.  I am a business owner and understand how difficult it can be to adapt to a changing environment.  Advertising, in particular, is a sore spot.  Try as I might to watch the ROI on various campaigns for different businesses and make prudent decisions in good times, I am extra careful, cautious, and analytical during difficult times.  Advertising mistakes just seem extra costly when the margins are thinner; on the other hand, I know that to keep the business going I have to keep in front of my customers!

Some conversations with friends and associates led me to help create ExchangeMyAd.com where we can do our part to help the business community.  There are some challenges in making an exchange of advertising fair and effective.  First, online advertising that is based on “impressions” is begging to be wrought with fraud (especially in tough times).  Second, “clicks” aren’t a fair way to exchange–one “click” to one company may be worth a lot more, and the percentage of clicks varies on so many factors.  Third, you have to be able reach your target audience.

The first and second issues were dealt with through an arrangement with RealVu Technologies, www.realvu.net.  They have a patented technology that tracks when an ad comes into view on a person’s browser.  Tracking “views” facilitates a fair method to allow an exchange of advertising.  In addition, the reporting tool allows you to to actually compare impressions, views, clicks, videos watched, along with a whole host of other information that is useful for honing in your campaigns.

The third issue will be dealt with in time, which is why we are currently in beta.  The more websites that are exchanging ads, the better for everyone.  Even tiny sites are great, ones that wouldn’t normally be able to get advertisers, because when they are all aggregated it creates volume in even very niche markets.  Additionally, there are plans for local businesses to be able to target local customers (geotargeting). 

The greatest thing about the Ad Exchange Program is that I test out new messages, promotions, graphics, and videos until I find something that works.  I know the ROI, before I spend any money on additional advertising!  Crazy.  I will spend money on advertising all day long under those circumstances!

I am excited to have launched this platform for exchanging advertising, and for the future planned developments.  I am sure that there will be bumps along the way, and I thank you for your patience as we deal with them.  I appreciate your participation in the Ad Exchange Program and welcome feedback.

Technorati Tags: ad exchange program, business community, exchangemyad.com, impressions, patented technology