All posts tagged Monetization

Twitter’s New Advertising Platform: Promoted Tweets

By | April 17, 2010 | Advertising, CPM, Monetization | No comments
Twitter Logo

If you follow Twitter or online advertising at all you probably know by now that Twitter has officially revealed it’s source of monetization: “promoted tweets.” People have been debating for the last few years how Twitter is ever going to make money, promoted tweets was one of the common ideas.

If you’re unfamiliar with the all new promoted tweets here’s a quick recap:

  • Promoted tweets are essentially ads placed at the top of search results for given keywords or keyphrases
  • There is only a small handful of advertisers being let in at the moment
  • Promoted tweets must receive a certain ratio of clicks/replies and positive feedback to stay up making quality important
  • Promoted tweets are based on a cost-per-thousand pricing model

I’ve had a few days to digest all of the information Twitter has released about it and have started to compile some thoughts on it.

I’m a little upset the platform isn’t self-serve and open everyone, I was really looking forward to mastering Twitter’s advertising platform as soon as it came out. On the other hand, I can fully understand why Twitter is making smaller steps and approaching it this way for a few reasons:

  • Most ad platforms begin this way to both work out bugs and test the waters so the experience isn’t ruined.
  • This is all new to Twitter, they need to keep a close eye on it for awhile. Striking a balance that doesn’t alienate the spoiled ad-free user base is going to be tricky.
  • Big budget advertisers are going to be willing to drop A LOT more cash on this. Most of them have no idea what they’re doing and know they need to “get on this Twitter thing” which will result in them paying ridicously high cpm rates. (can’t say I blame them for taking advantage)

A lot of Twitter users are outraged because they don’t understand how much it takes to run a website like Twitter. They’re used to Twitter being ad free and want it to stay that way – how dare you Twitter? That brings up what I feel will be the main challenge for Twitter; keeping the promoted tweets aligned with the users best interest. If the promoted tweets further the Twitter experience instead of harm it then Twitter will have NO problem killing it with this. TechCrunch posted a sample promoted tweet that made me see how powerful this can really be. Here’s the promoted tweet:

starbucks promoted tweet Twitters New Advertising Platform: Promoted Tweets

I think Twitter can really make this work. This promoted tweet gave me an idea of the possibilities here for these type of ads to give the user MORE value as opposed to taking it away by an onslaught of useless promoted tweets. As you can see, Starbucks is offering a free cup of brewed coffee if you bring in a reuseable tumbler. If I was searching for Starbucks on Twitter and saw this I’d be pretty damn happy as opposed to seeing a random advertisement that isn’t applicable to anything within my interests.

All in all, I must say that I’m glad Twitter decided to do something. They have missed out on literally millions of dollars in revenue taking so long. I hope that this ad platform will eventually become self-serve and open to everyone because I’d really like to try running some promoted tweets and getting a feel of what the Twitter crowd can do for marketers.

Adsense Blindness and 3 Monetization Alternatives

By | February 19, 2010 | Make Money Online, Monetization | No comments
adsense

It shocks me that people still use Adsense as a main form of monetization on their websites. The odds of Adsense creating more revenue than alternative strategies are about as high as the odds of looking cool wearing a fanny pack. Why is that you ask? Two simple words: Adsense blindness. Google acquired the Adsense brand in 2003  and since then the amount of aesthetic change in advertisements look and feel is little to none. Internet users have been given the last 7 years to train their eye to what Adsense advertisements looks like and completely become blind to them.

I ran Adsense on a network of websites I own from 2007- 2009 and the change in the clicks:impressions ratio over the course of that time was consistently worse. I didn’t change anything on the websites or the number of sites I used it on and after switching to alternative methods of monetization my earnings/visitor amount tripled.

My click through rate from January 2007 – January 2008 was 1.23% and from January 2008 – January 2009 it dropped to 0.64%.

So what can you do to make more money on your site? Here’s a few ideas:

1.) CPA Advertisements

Instead of using Adsense advertisements try running some cost per action banners in place of them that are relevant to the content of your site. The problem with Adsense banner/text advertisements is that you have little control over what exactly shows up. By using your own banner advertisements for CPA offers you will most likely make more and choose which to display so you can split test them and find what works best.

2.) In text CPA offers

You can also generate revenue by putting CPA offers in your websites content. This has become increasingly popular in the last year or so because it’s much less obtrusive and makes your site look cleaner overall. One example of how you can do this is by reviewing your hosting on your website. You can do this by putting your affiliate URL into the review post so you get paid for the sign ups if your users like what you write. This also gives the visitors extra value because you’re making money by telling them about a great service you like which benefits both parties if your reviews are honest.

3.) Turn Your Site Into a Membership Site

If your website provides valuable content that you think people might be willing to pay for you can turn it into a membership site. With the technology available today turning a standard website into a membership site couldn’t be easier. Amember Pro is a very common tool used for turning standard websites into membership sites extremely easily.

These are just a few of literally endless possibilities for making more money with your websites. What ideas do you have for monetization outside of the traditional, old, and outdated advertisements used on many sites today?