Forum Moderators: not2easy
One difference I've noticed on the Internet is that advertisement is never considered content. In newspapers and magazines this is not true.
When a woman picks up a Bridal magazine it is FOR the ads. Hunting and Fishing magazines are not as clear cut but the ads make the magazines a wish book. For years, Sunday dinner was decided on from the Thursday ads in the newspaper. Who was selling what roast for how much or how cheap the chickens were decided the meal.
You needed 40% non-advertisement content to get dis**** postal priviledges. Hmmmm, think what the Internet would look like if 60% of a content site was given over to advetisements.
More time, energy and thought seemed to go into the daily newspaper ads. Editorial content was mostly off the wire but local and national ad agencies worked hard to produce attractive, effective ads.
Are we going in the wrong direction with pop-ups and pop-unders and those ads that take over the middle of the screen? Is it time to split the pages fifty-fifty down the middle and give over the left side to content and the right side to ads?
Are we ready to shamelessly sell ads just as newspapers do? It might make for an interesting site.
Advertisers might produce a new standard ad of 400x800 or 400x1000 to use this space. Given this much landscape, they could have creative ads, couldn't they?
I don't agree with splitting the a page 50-50 between ads. and content, as people visit web sites for the content, not the advertising - which is the opposite to what you say about many magazines.
However, I would agree that it's time for a new think on web advertising.
"Everything clever has been thought of before. We must try to think again" - Goethe
>Is it time to split the pages fifty-fifty down the middle and give over the left side to content and the right side to ads?
For some categories, the answer is 'yes.' I'm currently wrestling with how to best allow my high-content site evolve into even more of a paid directory/webzine. I know the traffic is there and I know the advertisers are there, the trick is in the balancing act -made all the more difficult by the needs of SEO.
When a woman picks up a Bridal magazine it is FOR the ads.
On the internet most people are not looking for ads, but there are specific niches that are exceptions. Local Real Estate, Used Car listings, Personals, and Biz Ops, are four popular and highly competitive areas that immediately come to mind.
If you are building sites where ad revenue is the basis of your business model, it makes sense to search out other niches where ads are not only welcome, but integral to the site's value to the end user.
People pick up the bridal magazines because they want to see the fashions, not necessarily the ads. It just so happens that the ads have become the best vehicle for presenting the fashions.
The web is not the same.
When someone wants to find bridal gowns, they don't go to BridalMagazine.com. Instead, they go to Google, and search for "bridal gowns". They end up going to whatever website shows up at the top.
People want to see photos of bridal gowns, see the prices, the fabrics, or whatever. If web ads and pop-ups can accomplish this, then so be it. Otherwise, people want content.
[edited by: Woz at 7:10 am (utc) on Nov. 14, 2002]
[edit reason] spliced onto thread as per member request. [/edit]
Now if a wish book site existed that ran large ads like a bridal magazine, I feel it would be closer to what the woman being married really wants. She wants to browse through a bunch of ads. For the ones that she likes, she'll click through to those sites and bypass the others. The search engines are a poor substitute for doing this. Much of the joy of Christmas gifts has to do with the shopping, the anticipation, the discussing with others and the planning. A wedding is much the same.
I could think of a hundred niche examples besides bridals.
Some important "content sites" already are devoting a significant amount of space to advertising. I was just looking at the Web site of a leading upscale travel magazine, and at least half of the home page consisted of ads or partner links. (And that was without counting the three popup/popunder ads.)
I don't think ad clutter (or a page that's split 50-50 between text and a big newspaper-style ad) is the most effective use of the Web as an advertising and marketing medium, though. (For one thing, it shouldn't be necessary, since readers who are intrigued by an ad's message can click on the ad for more information--something they can't do with newspaper, magazine, or TV ads.)
IMHO, it makes more sense to take a page from direct marketers and find targeted advertising opportunities that don't exist in the print world. Instead of relying on column inches to sell your product or service, rely on the inherent appeal of your product or service to the right audience.
Take travel:
If you're trying to promote a chain of Far Eastern hotels to English-speaking leisure travelers in offline media, your options are limited. General-interest travel magazines and newspaper travel sections have too much waste circulation, and there are no publications about Asian travel that reach the typical first-time leisure traveler to destinations like Thailand, Japan, and Hong Kong.
On the Web, however, you may find half a dozen professionally produced editorial sites that target such leisure travelers. So, instead of wasting money on a big ad in the PODUNK TIMES-PRESS or HOLIDAY & LEISURE, why not run banners or AdWords-style text ads on sites that can reach your specific audience? You can be certain that a high percentage of readers will be interested in knowing more about Far Eastern hotels, so your ads are less likely to be ignored than they'd be in mainstream media. If you can incorporate a timely offer--"Book now, and we'll buy dinner"--so much the better.
"The fact that ads are content is massively misunderstood in the online newspaper industry." And on SFGate's (the Chron's web site) record revenues, Cauthorn said, "The split is not unlike normal print, 65-70% is classifieds and the rest various forms of display."
