Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hey all, do you think online advertising is dead and/or dying?

Are there certain `types` of ads that you think might work better than others?

• Sponsoring videos
• Sponsoring particular subjects/topics

I ask this because about 6-months ago I started an online news site for our local town. We (along with many other locals) were getting frustrated at the lack of local news in our printed paper.

Knowing that newspapers are hurting more and more each day and that the online news audience was growing, we thought this was a perfect opportunity.

But now comes the revenue generating (or more of it) and the only way to do so for a site such as this is to sell advertising. Are businesses still buying into this sort communication?

Are they lacking a call to action in some of their ads`? At this very moment there is a Discover Card ad and it says "apply now". Why? What`s in it for me?

Online advertising, or selling virtual real estate, is definitely not going by the wayside. 
I am having a difficult time discerning from your post whether you are not making money from selling the ad space, or if the ads are just performing poorly.   But right now, the link you posted had all dummy ads that didn`t go anywhere.
You can monetize a site in many different ways, too, not just with advertising.  That`s one to Google.
Take a look at the demographics of your visitors.  Generally speaking, in this economy, people are not going to be applying for credit cards, because spending is down all around.  Put an ad in there for financial counseling, and I bet it gets hits.
Local sites like yours need local advertisers.   And don`t forget to donate some ad space to local hospitals, shelters, etc. once in a while. 
One suggestion:  you need more than just a long list of ad boxes down the right side.  You need a landscape banner at top, and possibly the bottom (the bottom being cheaper, of course.) Once you have your traffic analysis, you can justify setting a price for the space.  I am assuming you have code in place that will track the exposures and click-thrus, etc.?

I am having a difficult time discerning from your post whether you are not making money from selling the ad space, or if the ads are just performing poorly.
Well we`re not making a lot of money on the ad space because we haven`t sold a lot. But that`s an entirely different story and probably one I should keep within my business if you get my drift.

But right now, the link you posted had all dummy ads that didn`t go anywhere.
Want to know why that is? Because only one of those people actually have a website to link to and even they don`t think it (linking) is going to help at all. What!?!?!?

One suggestion:  you need more than just a long list of ad boxes down the right side.  You need a landscape banner at top, and possibly the bottom (the bottom being cheaper, of course.) Once you have your traffic analysis, you can justify setting a price for the space.
I don`t argue that one bit. But again, an internal `issue` is causing a problem there. But yes, ad`s up there should be implemented - totally agree.

I am assuming you have code in place that will track the exposures and click-thrus, etc.?
Well, not exactly. Considering this site is a Wordpress blog theme, I`m having a hard time finding a plug-in or widget that`s going to work properly. So far, two of the plug-ins have failed miserably when implemented.

You might want to check out Bidboxr.com. Its a unique startup that blends online advertising and online auctions. They use a web 2.0 interactive ad technology that helps sellers reach more bidders and provides online entrepreneurs with a profitable source of ad revenue. Their interactive ad banners are content responsive so they are related to the content on your web page. You can add a few lines of code to your websites and by doing so you can earn revenue when your readers bid on an auction.

gonink

 

http://www.buscovoice.com/ is a really nice setup site. Very community feel.

 

I think local businesses who appreciate your take on community news will indeed advertise ongoing regardless of how much money it brings them. I would sell from that perspective rather than ROI for the businesses. My question to you Chris is: Are you picking up the phone and calling? I do not see any ads on your site right now and that tells me you probably are sitting there behind your computer waiting for them to come to you. Like fish jumping out of the water and landing on your plate, rather than you picking up a rod and fishing. You have to pick the phone and call them.

 

I am certain you can find local businesses to support your local online news site regardless of their ROI, even in today’s economy. Perhaps you can include, “X% will go to a LOCAL cause to help with the current economic situation” so that businesses know you are giving back to the community during these times.

 

I saw you have a classified ad section but you do not promote how many ‘e-mails aka readers’ you send out each day/week/month to those who want to keep in touch with community news: a reminder ‘letter aka e-mail’ to readership. You only show how many come to you daily.

 

The other thing I noticed is you do not have a ‘JOB’ section. This is advertising that local businesses will pay for. Job Seekers in the local community may want to post their resumes. So, again another community service that you can provide at this time. FREE resume postings or FREE ways for those seeking jobs to contact current employers who are seeking to hire. So, call up the local community businesses and see whose hiring and have them pay to post their jobs in your local online news site. Make absolute certain that the Job Seekers can contact the business in question. In addition send out special e-mails with a special subject line addressing this to your subscribers: ‘GET HIRED! Local Community Jobs Available NOW!’ This should be a part of your advertising package for the JOB Postings.

 

Another thing you can do is have local businesses pay for special featured articles about certain community topics they are interested in that you are not currently covering, or certain people they want to recognize, certain events they want locals coming too. Again put out there that you are going to pay, “X% to a LOCAL cause to help the community during the current economic situation’.  You only need one business for one article.

 

You can also tap into local community members by finding a local community organization that needs funds and promoting that organization in an ‘ad form’ on your website with ‘X% of the money you receive from the ads going to that local charity.’ So…there are things you can do.

 

I would not waste my time and efforts on sponsoring videos. I would focus on things where I could keep costs down for local business and local members while helping the local community.

@SALESCONSULTANT

Thanks so much for the compliments on the site!

We had a meeting last night and have come up with a ridiculously low priced ad solution which now gives our advertisers 4 possible options. Ranging from the dirt cheap (not as many views) to the more expensive, but with a massive amount of views.

As for getting the ads, we`re "sort of" out there but there is an `issue` with the selling and I`ll leave it at that.

Thanks for all of the tips! I`m going to write these down and see if we can get this site to a monetary level before I have to bail on the idea.

-------------------------

~Norma
http://www.normasbathbody.bigcartel.com
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/normasbathandbody

Have you looked at running Google AdSense on your site? They have localized advertising. You could also tie in some affiliate programs that people who live in your area might be interested in. You could review the product then link to it using an affiliate link.