Advertising

Customers indicate that they appreciate it when brands take a side on controversial social and political issues, but doing so can alienate part of your audience. Advertisers are also showing extreme reluctance to promote themselves on content pages that address these controversies. What’s a publisher to do? Try doing what’s right, morally, instead of trying to turn every tragedy and controversy in to another opportunity to maximize revenues.

Consumer spending has collapsed in virtually every sector measured by Bank of America, and advertising budgets have fallen proportionately. While webmasters may notice increased traffic, this isn’t turning in to increased sales or ad revenues.

There are no guarantees when it comes to promoting advertisers on the web. A favorite program may decide to shut down shop for all sorts of reasons, and some political & business developments can even wipe out an entire niche – practically overnight. The first step to protecting your online income from uncertainty is to be aware of the potential dangers you will eventually face.

One of the web’s oldest and most stable affiliate programs has vanished overnight. Find out how government, rather than a bad economy, just reduced the income of many web based publishers in the field of higher education.

Google has recently enabled interest based ads designed to compile surfer history into more focused marketing – but does it actually improve click through rates and earnings per click or is it as bad for business as critics claim it is for privacy?

Americans are often afraid to advertise with controversy – and with good reason, considering the Puritanical roots of its nation. But this is the internet, and that means advertising to a more global audience… Sometimes the best way to be remembered is to create a controversy.

Marketing works, and that might be exactly why it annoys me from time to time.

What is the intent of your advertising campaign? Do your ads make the sale, or bring in questions from potential customers, or does the point of the message just get lost in the delivery?

Can a tiny moment of lag drastically reduce click through rates? It seems so at the moment.

Does Google hate affiliate marketing, as some search writers claim? It may look that way, but it seems like what Google really dislikes are websites that act as middle-men without adding any value to the transactions they profit from.

Has online advertising gone too far in the quest to match the perfect ad to every unique and individual audience? One poster on Reddit seems to think so and the capture of his experience is creating a bit of a buzz.