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Contextual Advertising: Is it Right for You?
By Merle (http://WebSiteTrafficPlan.com)


If online advertising had fads, contextual ads would be the 
latest "in thing." Also known as "content targeting," they seem 
to be "popping up" (no pun intended) all over the Web. From news 
sites to privately owned websites, everyone and his brother 
seems to be dipping his "toe in the water."

So what is contextual advertising and why should you care? I 
thought you'd never ask. You know how when you read a magazine, 
the pages are littered with ads? Context ads do the same thing, 
but with a twist. It's a way of distributing Pay-Per-Click 
search results across the Net.

Here's how it works: the text of a web page is scanned for 
"keywords" or a theme, then ads are shown that are related to 
the page's content. A website's content is matched up with the 
advertisers' keywords. For example, if I were reading a page 
about dogs, there would be pet related ads, usually contained 
in the right hand side or sometimes the top and bottom of the 
pages.

Unlike ads that are shown on Search Engine results pages, these 
ads are dynamic and allow you to reach people in a different 
mode other then search. Some call this more of a "shopping 
mode." Whatever you want to call it, context ads are distributed 
through millions of partner sites across the Internet.

Some advertisers claim that click-thru rates are lower for this 
type of ad, compared to standard PPC search results ads. You 
might want to do your own testing to validate that claim for 
yourself.

There are two ways to approach contextual advertising: as a 
publisher, and as an advertiser.

Website publishers can earn extra money by displaying ads and 
enhancing their content. This is not a bad way to earn extra 
income that might just pay for your web hosting bills, and then 
some.

Advertisers may find that context ads provide yet another means 
of attracting targeted traffic. You only pay for click-thrus, 
not exposure. Make sure your ads are narrowly focused, i.e., 
they should only deal with one topic. You can also "pre qualify" 
prospects by using what's called "negative qualifiers" in your 
ad's description. Some examples are "For men over 35," or "For 
Career Women." This helps to insure that only your target market
will click and not those for whom your product or service may 
not be suitable.

If you've been doing Pay-Per-Click advertising with Google and 
Overture, make sure you haven't been participating already in 
context ads. Many times your ads will be shown on their context
networks as the default when registering, and it's up to you to 
opt out. You should always manage your context ads separately 
from your search to see which is working best.

Google and Overture are the "Kings of PPC" and both offer 
contextual advertising, but there are many other smaller 
companies to take a look at. Whether you're a publisher with 
web pages to fill or an advertiser looking for more exposure, 
there's something for everyone here.

1) Kanoodle: Calling their contextual ad program "BrightAds," 
small to medium sized publishers may display Kanoodle ads on 
their sites.

BrightAds are more relevant to your site's content due to the 
fact that they map ads by topics instead of keywords. It's easy 
to sign up and Kanoodle offers a variety of ad formats to choose 
from and also offers PayPal as an option for your monthly 
commission checks.

To join go to: http://www.Kanoodle.com/about/brightads.cool

Their program for advertisers is called "ContextTarget." Your 
ads are placed adjacent to editorial content of sites such as 
MSNBC, CBS, Market Watch, USA Today, and AutoBytel.com. You 
select the topics that best describe the products and services 
you sell, set up your ads, and set bid amounts. The minimum 
bid price is $.20 but runs up to $2.10, depending on market
demand for the types of pages you wish to be displayed on.

For more, see: http://tinyurl.com/4c8ff

2) Overture: Their advertiser program is called "Content Match." 
Your ads will appear on pages of their partner sites, such as 
Yahoo, MSN.com, CNN.com and ESPN.com. Overture makes it easy to 
keep your context bids separated from your PPC Search Engine 
ads. This makes it easy to track your return on investment from 
both types.

$20.00 minimum monthly spend and $.10 per-click is the minimum 
bid. Find out more at: http://www.overture.com/d/USm/ays/cm.jhtml

3) Google: The program for advertisers is called AdWords, while 
the one for publishers is called AdSense.

Publishers must first get accepted and approved into the program 
and are paid when they reach $100.00 in click-thrus. You may 
choose to display only text ads or image ads as well. For more,
see http://tinyurl.com/6e3uh

With Adwords, your ads will appear on their network of high 
quality partner sites which are all Adsense users, including 
N.Y Times Digital, Village, Weather.com, Primedia,, CNET and 
others. Text ads are also shown inside emails of Google's new
Gmail account users. Google allows you to opt into contextual 
ads and keep them separated from your search results so you can 
view reports for each individually.

Context ads are displayed two to four on a page. You can set 
the daily amount you want to spend and your credit card will 
be charged monthly according to your wishes. If you're using 
Adwords now but don't know if you're being displayed in the 
"context ads," you'll need to log into your control panel to 
see if you have that option selected. See:

https://www.adwords.google.com/select/

4) BannerBoxes: Sign up as an advertiser or a publisher. 
Publishers must be accepted into the program to display ads 
and are paid 75% of the click-thru price from the ads. Choose 
keywords that match your website's content, then copy and paste 
some JavaScript code onto your page.

Several ad formats are available, such as 468x60, 728x90 and 
others. Very similar to Adsense in formats that are available. 
Advertisers pay $25.00 to open an account and pay a flat cost- 
per-click, which means no bullying for position, as with some 
of the other Pay-Per-Clicks out there. You select the sites you 
want your ads to be displayed upon.

For Publisher info, see:
http://www.bannerboxes.com/common/partners.cfm

For Advertisers info, see:
http://www.bannerboxes.com/common/advertisers.cfm

5) Clicksor: Serving over 200 million impressions every month 
and partnering with over 10,000 specialized websites. As an 
advertiser you can run text or graphic ads that only appear on 
sites that best match your keyphrases. The higher you bid, the 
higher placement your ad receives.

For more, see: http://tinyurl.com/4yflt

For publishers, Clicksor pays you 60% of the advertisers' clicks 
that your site generates. You must earn over $50.00 to be paid 
for the month or your earnings will rollover to the  next. Free 
to join:

http://www.clicksor.com/PPC_affiliate_program.php

6) Bidvertiser: Publishers can join free to display text ads on 
their websites. You can customize the look of all ads you 
display and block any unwanted ones. You must earn a minimum of 
$10.00 in a month to be paid by PayPal or $25.00 minimum to be 
cut a check. For more information, see: http://tinyurl.com/4g23d

Advertisers can choose the sites to run their ads on and only 
pay for click-thrus. You set a cap on how much you'd like to 
spend daily, weekly, or monthly. Your bids are automatically 
adjusted so you only pay 1 cent more than your competition. No 
minimum monthly spend at this time. Advertisers find out more 
by visiting:

http://tinyurl.com/6w46m

7) RevenuePilot: Publishers can fill out an online application 
to be approved to display RevenuePilot's ads. They do favor 
original content type of sites. Advertisers are paid 60% of each 
search terms bidded value. To be paid for the month, you'll have 
to have earned a minimum of $25.00. You can sign up here:
https://secure.revenuepilot.com/signup.jsp

Advertisers must apply to have their ads displayed across the 
network. Go to: http://www.revenuepilot.com/advertising.html

8) BidClix: If you're a publisher, you'll find BidClix has strict 
guidelines for joining their network. Your website needs to be 
approved first, then you'll be sent some HTML code to add to your 
pages. The types of ads served are skyscrapers, banners or pop
unders. For more, see:

http://www.bidclix.com/PubTop.html

With over 30 million ads served per day, advertisers are sure to 
find targeted websites to run their ads. Advertisers can open an 
account for only $25.00. You select the "channels," such as 
entertainment, news, health, etc., that you want to bid on and 
pay as little as five cents per click. For more, see:
http://www.bidclix.com/AdvTop.html

9) FindWhat: Targeting small to mid-sized businesses, Findwhat 
calls their program "AdRevenue Xpress," and uses category or 
keyword targeting for distributing their ads. At this time, this 
program is only available to existing FindWhat advertisers. Go 
to: http://www.findwhat.com/content/advertiser/index.asp

Publishers who want to display ads on their pages can choose 
between a search box that returns ads from Findwhat, or display 
text ads directly on their sites. You earn a portion of all 
click-thrus and Findwhat offers a 10% reward bonus to publishers
who also reinvest their share of what they earn back into their 
own Findwhat Advertising Account. For more, see their site: 
http://FindWhat.com

10) SearchFeed: This is a private label feed program. Webmasters 
can display relevant information and earn extra cash at the same 
time. Real time reports, publishers earn from 35 to 50% of all 
click revenue. For more, see: 

http://tinyurl.com/62g95

Advertisers can open an account for only $25.00. Find out more 
at:http://tinyurl.com/664ly

11) ContextAd: Serving up contextual ads with high precision. 
Publishers can choose from a variety of ad units and also have 
access to their very own dedicated account manager.

Publishers need to be approved before they can display their ads 
on their sites. Then it's a simple matter of adding some cut and 
paste code onto your website pages. You can also review and ban 
ads that you don't want shown on your pages. Advertisers and 
publishers can find out more at: http://www.contextad.com/

12) Quigo: Calling their program "The AdSonar Exchange," at this 
time they only accept publishers and advertisers that cater to 
the Health, Beauty & Fitness, Travel and Educational Fields. 
This ad network includes over 200 sites, including USAToday
and NYPost.com

For advertisers, Adsonar reads your ad's landing page and offers 
choices for placement. You bid on topics, and keyword discovery 
is handled by Quigo.com. Then you set the price you want to
pay-per-click. Advertisers and Publishers can find out more or 
apply at:

http://www.quigo.com/adsonarexchange.htm

Whether you're a publisher who wants to add content to your 
pages and earn some extra income at the same time, or an 
advertiser looking to get more exposure for your website, you're 
sure to find it here. So take some time and select one or even 
two programs that will work best for your site and increase your 
bottom line as well.

================================================================
By Merle of WebSiteTrafficPlan.com offering a F-R-E-E ebook and 
an e-course that will teach you how to promote and market your 
website. Grab your copy now by going to http://WebSiteTrafficPlan.com
================================================================

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