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The Days of Old
Several years ago it was common practice to pick up a 468x60 advertising banner and to slot it at the top fold of a page.
That was considered prime real estate. Studies today show that consumers are not as responsive to such placements and click-through
rates are often less then 0.5 percent. Savvy performance marketers understand that it is important to maximize every visitor
that comes into the site and that they must use a number of bold tactics to convert clicks to sales.
Let Your Data Speak
It is important to look at the banners and text links you have used or are using - taking note of their accompanying CTR
(click-through rate), EPC (earnings per hundred clicks), and CPM (cost per thousand impressions) metrics. Try experimenting
for a month with different offers and advertisers to determine what delivers results.
If CTR remains low then you may need to make radical changes- up to and including eliminating that banner position and
replacing it with a more productive ad format, changing a site's structure or building a relevant shopping section into your
property.
Branding Takes a Back Seat
Recently, publishers have become more accepting of performance-based deals yet they are missing the boat by mixing in pure
performance banners that possess no call to action above the fold. It is important to remember that such strategies do not
pay off, even if they build brand awareness. This form of advertising only delivers revenue to a publisher when visitors convert
to buyers; therefore, creative media should be centered on direct response and not brand awareness elevation.
With that in mind, publishers should assign less value to eye-catching banners and more to those that offer something special
to the visitor, feature desirable merchandise, or elicit direct response. Good offers to push include hurdle deals (e.g. buy
$50 and get $10 off), free shipping offers, free gift wrap, cash back / rebate incentives, free gift or a limited inventory
offer. "Trick-banners" or annoying flashing banners usually do not do well in performance advertising. While they may elicit
high click-through rates, the ROI usually does not justify the risk of insulting a visitor.
Experiment with Banner Types
Many sites utilize "sky-scraper" or over-sized banners. For example, email publishers might find that using 720x400, 720x300
or 600x400 formats are excellent for stand-alone email - providing that the banner is compelling, colorful, has a call to
action and is optimized for speed. Publishers might also use this when building a specialized Web page for an advertiser.
As an example, the visitor clicks from a mall format into a page featuring a splash page that contains a large banner, a description
of the advertiser, specials, sale items and other unique value propositions that the publisher is able to offer the prospective
buyer.
Publishers may also wish to adopt large formats in the form of 120x60 banners along the right hand side of the page. The
primary advantage to this format is that even when a user scrolls vertically the banner is still in the user's field of vision.
This is superior to top-of-fold banners that are missed the moment a user has to scroll down. The same effect can also be
achieved by stacking smaller banner sizes in the 120 pixel size formats. A publisher might use two 120x240 size banners or
three 120x90 size banners spaced along the right hand column.
Because the majority of users read left to right, it can sometimes be advantageous to try a smaller banner at the bottom
right-hand side of the page. The user has completed reading the content and this is a good place to grab their attention with
a relevant advertisement. An even more powerful tactic for this space is the use of contextually relevant text links.
Text Links - Flexible Performers
Performance-based advertising tends to work the best with text links. The CJ Marketplace metrics prove this time and again.
The use of text links is contingent on two primary elements: the text link must be contextually relevant to the consumer and
it should offer something unique in the way of a value proposition from the publisher to the consumer on behalf of the advertiser.
Because of their high degree of flexibility, text links can be used in a wide variety of places- places that traditional
banners are unable to touch. Common deployment areas can include spaces between paragraphs of an article, a box in the right
hand side of a Web site, right below or near primary navigation controls, or a series of text links at the bottom of a page.
Because most users read left to right and top to bottom, text links at the bottom of a page often produce great results
for content publishers. The user has finished reading information and they are now ready to move on to something new.
Among the most successful performance marketers, text links generate a majority of their performance advertising revenue.
This is especially true for shopping sites, thematic sites, incentive/loyalty sites, directories and search engine marketers.
Interactive Links - Getting Users Involved
Interactive links are one of the most powerful permutations of performance-based advertising because they actually get
the user involved in the action. Interactive links include search boxes, qualification forms or dynamic pricing agents.
Interactive links have the distinct advantage of allowing the user to perform a task on the publisher's Web site. These
types of links offer good returns and users only interact with them if there is a strong desire for a product or a service.
Product Links - Impulses Attract
Another form of contextual advertising is the product link. Publishers may think of product links as hybrids between banners
and text links since they include both components. Product links usually boast a picture of the product as well as a text
capsule describing the product and often a "Buy Now" button. Product links make it easier for publishers to provide a shopping
experience that is seamless with their brand. They are perfect for highly targeted content or content that specifically describes
the product like a review or a comparison.
Some of the best performing product links are impulse buy items. These items tend to have broad appeal, are popular among
consumers and have moderate ticket prices.
Before integrating product links, publishers should have a feel for the average ticket consumers are willing to spend.
This will partly be based on practical experience and on a site's demographics. For an example, putting up product links for
a $900 stereo system is not going to elicit a strong response if the audience is in a low-income and/or over sixty-five demographic.
Publishers should communicate directly with advertisers to get an idea for the average ticket and use this data to assist
in the deployment of product links.
Separating Buyers from Browsers
For a pure content publisher the task of using performance-based advertising is more challenging. Although it has become
common, content publishers should avoid using generic performance-based banners in their prime advertising real estate. This
can cause erosions of a CPM rate card and it is often not as effective as good contextual selling. The reason for this is
that at these properties, most users absorb information and take in content - they are not necessarily interested in buying
merchandise.
Savvy content publishers are creating a shopping destination on their site and filling it with top-performing advertisers
and relevant offers. Rather than use prime real estate to showcase performance relationships, a content publisher may use
that real estate to drive traffic to their shopping section and the highly lucrative relationships contained in that section.
Individuals who are interested in shopping or a particular vendor will click-through to the relevant section of the site.
Ideas for a good shopping section include a dedicated sports section for a sporting publisher, a discount or savings area
for a consumer publication, and a gift area for a news site. It is critical that the shopping sections "make sense" and are
not just an over-loaded array of advertisers. Publishers may wish to go the extra mile and build loyalty, incentive or charity
shopping mechanisms into the site as well.
In order for this strategy to be successful, pure content publishers must integrate the presence of this shopping section
directly into their site navigation and reinforce its use with their user base. It must become a robust and useful part of
the property. Ultimately it should deliver value to the visitor in the form of time savings, money savings, or a special incentive.
Advertising Tactics Recap
When working with online ads keep these strategies in mind to maximize effectiveness:
1. Eliminate media types or positions that are not producing revenue- if they have never produced revenue after a number
of different advertisers have been slotted, they probably never will.
2. Don't be afraid to experiment with slotting different size and type ads, even banners that are much larger then the
traditional 468x60. Also don't be afraid to experiment with banner advertising placement, even if this can mean changing some
elements of a site.
3. Analyze and take notes about how different media perform - using the correct set of metrics. With good historical data
publishers will know if the changes they are making are worthwhile.
4. Look for ads that make a call to action and/or elicit a direct response from users in the forms of special deals, merchandise
or treatment. Avoid ads that are focused solely on elevating brand awareness.
5. When using product, text, interactive, or content links publishers should be sure they match up the product with the
correct demographic, deliver value and maintain contextual relevance. Product links often perform best with impulse buy items.
6. Pure content publishers are often better served by putting performance-based advertising deals into a specialized section
and using in-house inventory to showcase these relationships on their own property.
By using these tactics, publishers can truly maximize the value of each visitor and generate better returns on their inventory.
Savvy publishers will continually experiment and try new media; advertising integration and most importantly monitor and learn
from their successes and failures.
About the Author
Wayne Porter is the vice president of product development at the performance analytics firm
AffTrack (www.afftrack.com). He is also a senior editor for the revenue sharing news and education site ReveNews.com and reports extensively on the
online performance marketing industry.
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