Marketing Pilgrim

Most site owners aren’t adept or don’t have the experience to find ads for their sites. Perhaps you don’t have the staff to manage ad campaigns. If you would rather let someone else handle that, joining an ad network is the way to go. You will split the ad revenue based on how many clicks or how many times the ad is views.

MarketingSherpa just published another part in their series about ad networks about what works best. The article is only accessible for a week.

As you probably know, people often don’t click on banner ads, text ads usually perform better. But there is still a place for them and the more targeted they are to the site, the better.

Initial research you need to do.

• MarketingSherpa suggests evaluating things like, if you’re trying to build your brand or trying to sell something.

• Review terms and guidelines before you design an ad. Networks may restrict where ads can go and sizes of the ads.

• Know what actions you want someone to take and map out the path to get them there.

Calls to action
If you’re trying to promote something calls to action are usually: ‘buy now,’ ‘act now,’ ‘get free info,’ or ‘get more info.’ I know graphic designers cringe at this, but buttons in eye-catching colors are normally more effective. In test after test I’ve seen the ugly orange or redish buttons outperform ones that match the site or the rest of the ad.

Ad Placement
The best place to put an ad is “above the fold” or in the top half of the page.

List of ad networks (I also found another list of ad networks that has ratings and more info about each)
To wrap up, I wanted to list ad networks from MarketingSherpa, and I added a few to the list. Please comment if you have any information about any of them or want to add your own ad network.

24/7 Real Media:
http://www.247realmedia.com/EN-US/you/advertiser-solutions.html
Adtegrity:
http://www.adtegrity.com
Advertising.com:
http://www.advertising.com/index.php
Affiliate Fuel:
http://www.affiliatefuel.com
Aptimus:
http://www.aptimus.com
Audience Marketplace:
http://www.audiencemp.com
Azoogle Ads:
https://www.azoogleads.com/corp/index.php?
BannerSpace.com:
http://bannerspace.com
BlueLithium:
http://bluelithium.com
BurstMedia:
http://www.burstmedia.com
Casale Media:
http://www.casalemedia.com
ClickXchange.com:
http://www.clickxchange.com
Collective Media:
http://www.collective-media.com
ContextWeb:
http://www.contextweb.com
CPX Interactive:
http://www.cpxinteractive.com
enCircle Media:
http://www.encirclemedia.com
FeedBurner:
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home
Google:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/ads
LinkShare:
http://www.linkshare.com
Martha’s Circle (geared to the Martha Stewart brand):
http://www.marthastewart.com/marthas-circle
Premium Network Inc.:
http://www.premiumnetwork.com
Pulse 360:
http://www.pulse360.com
Quigo:
http://www.quigo.com
RealTechNetwork:
http://www.realtechnetwork.com
Remix Media:
http://www.remixmedia.com
Real Girls Network (upper income, educated women):
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30237
Specfic Media:
http://www.specificmedia.com
Tacoda:
http://www.tacoda.com
Traffic Marketplace:
http://www.trafficmp.com
Travel Ad Network:
http://www.traveladnetwork.com
Tribal Fusion:
http://www.tribalfusion.com
Undertone Networks:
http://www.undertone-inc.com
ValueClick:
http://www.valueclick.com
Yahoo!:
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/as

International ad Networks:
ad pepper media:
http://www.adpepper.com/en
Hispanoclick:
http://www.hispanoclick.com
Mooter Media:
http://www.mootermedia.com
Rydium:
http://www.rydium.com
SinoTech Media Ltd.:
http://www.sinotechmedia.com.cn/sinotech/index.shtml