| LED Digest 2384: Banners Hit Bottom |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. April 6, 2007 Issue no. 2384 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== <Moderator Comment> --== Ad Tracking System ==-- ~ Dean Wright "Does anyone have any experience with the [Adtrackz] program good or bad?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Running an Affiliate Program ==-- ~ Mark J. Welch "...I detest both CJ and LS, and I will no longer do business with either company..." ~ Reg Charie "For open source try CRELoaded." --== Befuddled by Bad SEO Companies ==-- ~ Jill Whalen "...look into reputable SEO companies, but fix your PPC campaign in the meantime." ~ Adam Boettiger "...most PPC management agencies will look for a minimum budget of $20K /month..." ~ Peggy Deras "I think the best way to judge is by looking at web sites, similar to yours..." ========== NEW =================================== Greetings LEDer, Another interesting report by Marketing Experiments, this one on contextual advertising. I'll let you read the report, which is informative, but the punchline is that contextual ads improved conversions over 'traditional' placements by as much as 127%. Here's a qoute and the link: -------------------- "... contextual ads and offer links that appeared "native" to the page performed significantly better that those that stood out from the site's own native content. "One likely factor is a variation of banner blindness. We are so inundated with ads and offers on virtually every page we view that "non-native" elements are (almost subconsciously) assumed to be advertisements that are irrelevant to our primary objective for visiting the site. "To receive higher clickthrough rates for your contextual ads, you should test making the text in your ad match the size and colors of the host site's native content. Company logos and offer elements should be small enough not to shout "advertisement" so loudly as to be blocked by the subconscious "ad filters" of content site visitors." Source: http://www.marketingexperiments.com/improving-website-conversion... -------------------- I have a feeling these conclusions would be hard to apply to every market and niche, so factor that in, but it's good info to have. Have we reached a new low in banner performance? Maybe for clicks and conversions, but for branding I'd wager they can still be effective. Enjoy the weekend! Adam Comment? -------------------- From: Dean Wright Subject: AdtrackZ Tracking System I have purchased, but not yet installed an ad tracking program called AdtrackZ. Does anyone have any experience with the program good or bad? Dean Wright electricblanketupgrade.com Comment? ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Mark J. Welch Subject: Affiliate programs > I run a subscription based service and am > considering creating an affiliate program... - Jay Grossman, LED Digest 2383 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1786/55/ Jay Grossman asked about options for creating an affiliate program. He noted that firms like Commission Junction (CJ) and LinkShare (LS) have high setup fees, and asked about alternatives. Personally, I detest both CJ and LS, and I will no longer do business with either company (neither personally as an affiliate, nor professionally as a consultant to online retailers). The top alternative right now is ShareASale, which has a much lower setup fee ($250) plus a minimum-deposit (toward affiliate earnings and fees) of $100. There are some other "affiliate network" firms with lower startup fees (ShareResults, ClickBank, and others) but they all seem less professional and are not as respected by most affiliates. As you note, the "big mystery" right now is how Google's pay-per-action system will fit into the mix; I suspect it will be a very serious competitor to the other "affiliate networks" simply because of Google's stature in the industry. However, many merchants and affiliates are very hesitant, both because Google is a huge collector of transaction data already, and more specifically because for many months, Google Checkout had a serious bug which prevented third-party affiliate tracking from working properly -- and that bug was only fixed shortly before Google announced its own affiliate program soluton. An in-house program is always worthwhile to consider, whether you buy a commercial software package or "build your own." However, many experienced affiliates are reluctant to join "in-house" affiliate programs (including programs run through Kowabunga's MyAP system, which is pretty good but expensive) because they're worried that they might not get paid, and that there is no "trusted intermediary" with an interest in making sure the program is working properly. (Some networks, like ShareASale, require the merchant to keep funds on deposit to pay affiliate earnings and fees, and actually notify affiliates and disable links when the merchant's account is depleted; others do not.) It's absolutely crucial to understand that an affiliate program requires a substantial investment of time and effort to recruit effective affiliates; even if you join a large affiliate "network" you will almost certainly not get many meaningful affiliates just because you're "there." (In 1997, affiliate programs were definitely in the category of "if you build it, they will come," where a new affiliate program listed in directories could expect to see dozens of new affiliate enrollments per day; in 2007, that just doesn't happen any more.) If you can't allocate substantial in-house staff time and effort to managing your affiliate program, you should consider hiring an "outsourced program manager" to fill this role, though like anything else your mileage will vary substantially. FYI, there is a very active (and opinionated) discussion forum about affiliate marketing at ABestWeb.com -- you should definitely do some research there (and at some of the major affiliate directories, like AssociatePrograms.com) before making a decision. Mark J. Welch http://www.markwelch.com/ Comment? -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Reg Charie Subject: Affiliate programs Hi Jay, CJ and LinkShare are very expensive to join. If you "Google" affiliate programs you will find quite a selection to choose from if you want to go that route. For open source try CRELoaded. It is a full store-front content management program with a built in affiliate management program. I have a demo up on my site with login info for the admin at http://dotcom-productions.com/cms/index.php?cPath=71 CRELoaded affiliate program allows multiple levels of affiliate payment also, should you wish to offer your agents a chance to build a downline. Thank You, Reg Charie www.dotcom-productions.com Comment? ============ Sponsor Message =========== GetWebContent.com has a few words just for you. Relevant words, search-engine optimized words. Words that will impress both your customers and visiting search engine bots. Exclusive words custom written to meet your specs. Many other writing services recycle web content, at http://GetWebContent.com/LED we create it. ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Jill Whalen Subject: SEO befuddled > What I do know is that our annual output for PPC's is > extremely and ridiculously high, and I'd like to lessen > that by focusing on obtaining natural search results. - Lorien Carrillo, LED Digest 2382 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1785/55/ Lorien, Although I specialize in organic SEO, you are looking at this the wrong way. Yes, you always want to optimize your site for organic search listings; however, there's no reason to stop doing PPC. You should be looking at PPC companies who can help you fine tune your PPC ads. You shouldn't be spending "ridiculously high" amounts on PPC unless you're getting many more times back in conversions and sales. PPC tune-ups by qualified companies or individuals are one of the most costs-effective ways for you to make more money. Yeah, look into reputable SEO companies, but fix your PPC campaign in the meantime. It will take many months of research and planning once you find a good SEO company, but PC tune-ups can be done fairly quickly and the data you glean from it can be put to good use on your organic campaign. Hope this helps! Jill Whalen High RankingsR Helping Sites to Be the Best They Can Be! www.highrankings.com Comment? -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Adam Boettiger Subject: SEO Companies... befuddled Hi Lorien, Your frustrations are shared by many, many people and you're right to do your homework by posting here and asking friends. We do vendor procurement for the marketing services sector - both online and traditional marketing - and SEO/SEM is a category that we cover. Your post had elements of both SEO and PPC needs in it but it was difficult for me to tell which you're seeking. Perhaps you can clarify to me off-list. You mention you feel you're paying too much for PPC bids and you want to drop that down. Keep in mind that most PPC management agencies will look for a minimum budget of $20K /month or so in spend from you. In general most vendors in this space charge a monthly management fee of 15% of media spend, so while farming the management of your campaign(s) out to a professional may decrease your Cost Per Click, understand that they don't work for free and their fee may nullify what they may be able to save you by way of reduced pricing on click bids. So you end up paying the same CPC that you are now, but at least it frees up your time to work on other things than managing your PPC campaign. On budgets less than $20K /month for PPC generally the margin charged for management is higher, 20% or so, as a monthly fee for services rendered. When you get down to $5K or less in spend, most agencies will not talk to you and you're often better off trying to get an independent contractor to help you on either an hourly basis ($70 /hr is currently what I'm seeing in the vendors in our network) or perhaps a higher margin to make it worth their time. I have no idea where you are budget-wise in terms of your monthly spend but hopefully the above information will be useful to you. On the SEO side, there are many, many variables that will determine which vendors might be interested in working with you. If you can find a good firm, SEO is perhaps a better investment than PPC search is, long term. While results do not generally appear for 3 to 6 months, if you engage a firm in a long-term program, results can be tremendous. Cheers, Adam Boettiger, President http://www.marketingseeker.com Marketing Services Vendor Procurement Comment? -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Peggy Deras Subject: SEO befuddled I think the best way to judge is by looking at web sites, similar to yours, that have been optimized by the firm you are checking up on. Then contact some site owners to ask how the firm was to work with and whether they got positive results. The SEO firm should be willing to provide sites and contact information. Realize you will only be referred to satisfied clients with this method. But at least you can question the site owners independently. Peggy Deras, CKD, CID Kitchen Artworks www.kitchenartworks.com Comment? ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/120/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/77/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/86/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "But fame is theirs - and future days On pillar'd brass shall tell their praise; Shall tell - when cold neglect is dead - These for their country fought and bled." - Philip Freneau |
