Angie McKaig - E-Business Consultant and Entrepreneur
Here's why advertising online doesn't work2010.02.08
Everybody knows that one of the largest challenges facing ad-supported web sites and media online is that making money with advertising online is tough. Over the past year, it might, in some sectors, even be called brutal.
There are a lot of problems with online advertising, and lots of fingers pointing in lots of directions, but I'll tell you this: the fault lies also with the very sites scrambling to make dollars...
Cookie cutter advertising DOES. NOT. WORK.
Many of my very own friends block ads in their browsers (despite my explanations to them that the very ads they block help to pay for the dinner parties I throw them). Most of the people I know who don't block ads suffer from at least some form of banner blindness - heck, I'm not immune, either. And sure, some of the fault for such a tough row to hoe in the online ad world lies with the consumer - the "expectation of free", etc.
But the reality is that the biggest cause of banner blindness, ad blocking and other bypassing-the-ads mentality is because, frankly, most online ads suck. And whose fault is that? Yes. Ours: Content owners. Ad salespeople. The very people most hurt by said banner blindness, ad blockage, etc.
Relevance, people, relevance. I'm not even talking about pseudo-creepy cookie tracking give-us-your-underwear kind of relevance. I'm talking about the responsibility of the content creator to ensure that the ads they're showing with their content will actually be of interest to the viewer.
That means:
- Actually taking the time to vet ads rather than just slapping up any old ad network. Yes, ad networks are easier, but even topically-relevant networks are NEVER going to be as relevant as hand-selected advertisers and campaigns to match content.
- Caring more about the long term viability of your ability to make money from advertising than the immediate bottom line. Ad salesmen are in such a tizzy these days that if you come up with the cash, they'll sell you an ad - and to heck with whether the campaign will work, whether the readers will find it a value-add or will see fit to ignore it.
- Working with your advertisers to craft custom, relevant advertising content and imagery that will actually entice your own readership. Why does your editorial department craft its stories for your readership so carefully? Why isn't advertising for your site crafted, matched, and displayed with equal "editorial" care?
Thinking low-tech smart rather than high-tech smart will help; we don't need a better scripted widget. We don't need 3D advertising that will reach out and actually smack the person viewing the site. We don't need Smellivision. Most of what I'm suggesting here can be accomplished with more hands-on work with the advertisers.
What's more, I can tell you from my own corporate experience that IAB ad standards contribute to the suckage. And for two reasons:
1. If banner blindness is as rampant as we all believe it to be, why do you think that is? Because when we visually see an image that's a certain size, certain shape, certain placement, with very little relevance to what we're reading... our eye immediately identifies it as an ad, and passes over. (Some ad blockers work this way too.)
2. By creating the closest thing we can get online to the same established thinking about advertising that has always existed. The idea behind the standards is so that a company can create ONE set of banners and use them on a variety of web sites. (Just like they could in print. Ahem. Institutionalized thinking much?) But you know what? One company shouldn't be creating one set of ads to be used on a variety of web sites. It should be customized to the web site anyway - ideally, tied to content that is similar to what's being advertised - so what's the big deal about making new creative in a slightly different size?
(Switching away from IAB-sized content on my own web sites typically increases CTR by 25-50%. Not kidding.)
If you want your readers to stop using ad blockers, stop ignoring your ads and generally treating your advertisers better, you have to treat them better first. Make an investment in your advertising: help advertisers target the right content on your site. Seek out not the companies with the deepest pockets but the most relevant companies you can find for your content and convince them why this relevance will be so much more valuable than a front page ad on GenericSiteWithAMillionHitsADay.com.
Start courting your readers not just with your content, but with your advertising - because if you craft your advertising as carefully as your content, it becomes part of your service to them. People will want to see it, be more likely to look at it, be more likely to click on it. Advertisers will love you. People will want to know how you succeeded, and start copying you.
We could start a revolution. Think about it.
