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I have been fortunate enough to have been selected as one of the beta testers for the soon-to-be-released AdSonar text ads by Quigo.
Quigo is getting very close to launching AdSonar and has given me the green light to share my experiences as a tester to fellow webmasters, so here goes:
First off, some background information:
1) Quigo's ads are currently fed by Ah-Ha and FindWhat ads and will be fed by Overture in the future (for publishers Overture specifically approves). Quigo is not owned by Overture/Yahoo. Additionally Quigo has their own ad index in development which is tailored to contextual advertising.
2) They are being very selective during the beta period over which sites they allow to test their ads simply because they don't want their product released to all sites until it's completely functional. The fact that some of you didn't hear back from them doesn't mean you won't hear back when they go live, so don't be put off.
3) If you run Google ads on your site, you are *still* allowed to have AdSonar ads on your site under Google's Terms of Service. The only restriction is that they cannot be on the same page at the same time. If you write a rotation script, as we plan to do, you can have the best of both worlds in accordance with the Terms of Service of both companies. Additionally that would probably mean less PSA's on your site from both sides.
Here are my impressions on the service itself, understanding that it's still in beta:
INTERFACE
Quigo's interface is extremely user-friendly and works as a wizard, taking you through all the steps quickly and easily. You can create different presets of ads (unlimited) to then place in your code. One amazing thing about the interface is that it allows you to customize almost every single element of the ad layout. In other words, if you want to make an ad table with 5 columns and 300 rows, you can do just that. It can make any shape and size table, with any number of ads.
THE ADS
Their ads will work on 2 layers of relevancy. First is a keyword matching element (which works similar to competitor's programs) gleaning keywords from the page and matching them to ads. Second is a layer of relevancy that you as a publisher can input - specific keywords for the page that will automatically affect the ads. Quigo says an algorithm will still checks the relevancy of these keywords in order to prevent publishers from manipulating this option.
There are no size restrictions either, so you aren't limited by conventional ad sizes.
Quigo plans on allowing the ads to open in a new window.
The ads say "Powered by Quigo" on them and are located under the ads on the right hand side, similar to AdSense ads. Quigo has mentioned that they are considering taking that part out. I'd be perfectly happy if it stayed in, but was just placed in a different location to distinguish it from Google.
The ad relevancy is pretty close as well. How well it will ultimately work for each site remains to be seen, but Quigo has smartly given you a way to improve the accuracy by allowing you to enter keywords in your meta tags. On my site the accuracy has been pretty good so far.
The only criticism I have of the ads (and I believe this only stems from their being in beta) is that they are slow to load. I have experienced 3-12 seconds delays in the ads' appearance after the rest of the site has fully loaded on a broadband connection.
EDIT: Quigo confirmed this was a beta-only issue.
the speed you are experiencing is due to the beta servers which
are in Tel Aviv... We'll migrate the system to our production data
centers (one in Virginia and one in Seattle) within 10-14 days. But your
comment on this point is certainly on spot.
FEEDBACK
First of all they have been open to all ideas I have suggested to them from the beginning. I don't know others' experiences, but I would imagine them to share the same. To give you a taste of just some of the ideas they have implemented or will implement at the behest of beta testers and some of the great ideas they have put in place on their own:
1) Reporting by ad - as mentioned before you can make different ad presets. If you have multiple sites, just place a different ad on each. You can then get full reports for each ad (site) individually!
2) Default house ads / fallback ads - When no inventory appears, instead of running PSA's that don't profit or benefit anyone, you can run and define your own ads (point them to pages on your site, or even sell the inventory to your advertisers - there won't be an AdSonar way to track revenue from those though).
3) The ads can be manipulated either via preset in the AdSonar admin, or in the javascript itself (which allows dynamically generated sites to edit the page look on the fly). I don't believe all aspects of the javascript can be edited dynamically, but relevant ones like color can.
4) The ads can be placed on separate ad pages (interstitials, pop-unders and pop-ups) for those of you who have those on your site. They will still draw their relevancy from the original page and best of all will comply with Google's terms because they aren't located on the same page.
jaxomlotus how relevant are the ads in your opinion?
Hmm, I'd have to say "Very, very good" whereas Google would be "Excellent."
They are constantly improving this though and it's still in beta. Additionally I most likely haven't optimized my site for their program as well as I could.
By the time it launches I'd imagine that it's caught up.
[edited by: jaxomlotus at 3:35 pm (utc) on Oct. 16, 2003]
BZ
It will be interesting to see if they can match Google's CPC/CPM. If so, they are in business. If not... well, I am not going to give up money.
I agree with you about that. Before I agreed to join their beta program that was one of my questions too. The effective CPM they said they could deliver was almost double what I was doing with Google. I'd imagine it's not quite that high in reality, but I'd also imagine that it's extremely competitive.
Sheeeeeesh, I'll be ordering the Ferrari if that is true.
Have you actually been paid on the Beta?
The effective CPM they said they could deliver was almost double what I was doing with Google.
Not a chance until Overture is added into the mix, IMO. Have they set a timeline for when Overture will be added? I can't see them being able to compete with the publisher revenue with AdSense while just running Ah-Ha and FindWhat.
Is the TOS similar to AdSense?
Have they set a timeline for when Overture will be added?
No. It's listed as "in the future." They have signed a contract though so it is a definite thing.
Is the TOS similar to AdSense?
There is no written ToS yet. From what I gather, they are trying to be very publisher-friendly and I'll imagine their ToS will reflect that.
Have you actually been paid on the Beta?
No. I have only run the ads for testing purposes among my staff though, not in front of a live audience.
If this question is really "how do I know I'll really be paid - they are relatively new and don't have the same reputation that Google has?" I'll answer - you don't. But the partnership deals Quigo has signed (namely with Overture - a very discerning company when it comes to partnerships) should give you an idea that they are trusted amongst the big companies. At least more than the TCLAs or Mr.WordSmiths that have been popping up.
How big is their advertiser inventory?
It works off Ah-Ha and FindWhat's inventory, so at least as big as those. Then once Overture is added to the mix it's the biggest inventory behind Google.
Very slow. Go to sleep slow. Vistor leaves before the ad shows slow.
This issue is suppose to be resolved by the beginning of November, so will have to wait until then for the real review.
the speed you are experiencing is due to the beta servers which
are in Tel Aviv... We'll migrate the system to our production data
centers (one in Virginia and one in Seattle) within 10-14 days.
[edited by: jaxomlotus at 7:32 pm (utc) on Oct. 16, 2003]
>>Not a chance until Overture is added into the mix, IMO.
Even if Overture is added, I would be sceptical that they could pay double Google.
It could only be done with the advertisers paying a lot more per bid (Overture have said in the past that their average bid is 37 cents) on Overture than Google (why should they, if they could get the traffic for half the price on Google)
And also Overture paying a bigger percentage of the bid to the publisher.
So, as I say sceptical on the claim. Maybe I won't order the Ferrari for a while.
That said, I think that competition for AdSense is a good thing. Using a 50/50 rotation it won't take long to sort out which is better. Also, hopefully google will see that some of the features on AdSonar are what AdSense publishers have been asking for, and will add them to the mix.
I don't think it will happen as all the proposed partners for Adsonar are already in the market and this has not affected Adwords yet, but it could happen if more inventory is added.
I'm a bit sceptical of the 'beta test' for 2 reasons; It wasn't on a live site from what you said, and you didn't get paid.
It was a live site, I just didn't display the ads to nonstaff. The slow displaytime of the ads made any display of them on my part to the general public impossible.
My report was on it's features and functionality, not on the user reaction to the ads or how much revenue it brought in so I don't know what part of my report you're skeptical about.
Also, Quigo offered to pay me 100% of revenue during the beta period. So the offer at least was there...
So far Google has worked very well for me. But it is a bit of a worry that Adsense can pull the plug for no reason, on no notice, not pay you for what you already earned and you are always owed from 1-2 months in payments. As a publisher, you are investing a lot of "opportunity cost money" into Adsense, so it is good to know there is a backup in the event of trouble. I do understand why Google needs to cover themselves in the event of fraud issues and whatnot, but as a publisher it is unsettling and a bit one sided....
Do they say anything about what their policies will be about payment and fraud issues?
Do they say anything about what their policies will be about payment and fraud issues?
Nope. As far as I know, none of the legalities of the program have been settled yet.
Now that AdSense has introduced the 'Alternative Ads' option, it ought to be possible to use AdSonar as a backup for AdSense, no?
Sort of. You can link to an adserver that manages that for you. If anyone has an easy way to do that please post it
If anyone has an easy way to do that please post it
SSI?
Google does have something going for it, in my opinion, that this new service does not... and that is a certain degree of integrity. Overture and Findwhat are practically in bed with parasitic publishers, including Gator, WhenU, and other drive-by downloadable toolbar "publishers." For this one reason, as long as Google continues to pay, I will not contribute to adsonar's bottom line. These companies are deplorable.
Atleast small publishers now can get to serve overture ads, which otherwise would have been not possible.
Okay, other than the contextual concept, what other similarities does adsonar have with adsense?
Cheers
What other characteristics does adsonar have with adsense?
The look and feel of the ads, and the ease of use of their admin sections.
