Contextual Advertising: Is it Right for You?

If online advertising had fads, contextual ads would be the latest "in thing." Also known as "content targeting," they seem to be "popping up" (no pun intended) all over the Web. From news sites to privately owned websites, everyone and his brother seems to be dipping his "toe in the water." So what is contextual advertising and why should you care? I thought you'd never ask. You know how when you read a magazine, the pages are littered with ads? Context ads do the same thing, but with a twist. It's a way of distributing Pay Per Click search results across the Net. Here's how it works: the text of a web page is scanned for "keywords" or a theme, then ads are shown that are related to the page's content. A website's content is matched up with the advertisers' keywords. For example,if I were reading a page about dogs. there would be pet related ads, usually contained in the right hand side or sometimes the top and bottom of the pages. Unlike ads that are shown on Search Engine results pages, these ads are dynamic and allow you to reach people in a different mode other then search. Some call this more of a "shopping mode." Whatever you want to call it, context ads are distributed through millions of partner sites across the Internet. Some advertisers claim that click thru rates are lower for this type of ad, compared to standard PPC search results ads. You might want to do your own testing to validate that claim for yourself. There are two ways to approach contextual advertising: as a publisher, and as an advertiser. Website publishers can earn extra money by displaying ads and enhancing their content. This is not a bad way to earn extra income that might just pay for your web hosting bills, and then some. Advertisers may find that context ads provide yet another means of attracting targeted traffic. You only pay for click thrus, not exposure. Make sure your ads are narrowly focused, i.e., they should only deal with one topic. You can also "pre qualify" prospects by using what's called "negative qualifiers" in your ad's description. Some examples are "For men over 35," or "For Career Women." This helps to insure that only your target market will click and not those for whom your product or service may not be suitable. If you've been doing Pay Per Click advertising with Google and Overture, make sure you haven't been participating already in context ads. Many times your ads will be shown on their context networks as the default when registering, and it's up to you to opt out. You should always manage your context ads separately from your search to see which is working best. Google and Overture are the "Kings of PPC" and both offer contextual advertising, but there are many other smaller companies to take a look at. Whether you're a publisher with web pages to fill or an advertiser looking for more exposure, there's something for everyone here. 1) Kanoodle:Calling their contextual ad program "BrightAds," small to medium sized publishers may display Kanoodle ads on their sites. BrightAds are more relevant to your site's content due to the fact that they map ads by topics instead of keywords. It's easy to sign up and Kanoodle offers a variety of ad formats to choose from and also offers PayPal as an option for your monthly commission checks. To join go to http://tinyurl.com/6e3uh With Adwords, your ads will appear on their network of high quality partner sites which are all Adsense users, including N.Y Times Digital, Village, Weather.com, Primedia,, CNET and others. Text ads are also shown inside emails of Google's new Gmail account users. Google allows you to opt into contextual ads and keep them separated from your search results so you can view reports for each individually. Context ads are displayed two to four on a page. You can set the daily amount you want to spend and your credit card will be charged monthly according to your wishes. If you're using Adwords now but don't know if you're being displayed in the "context ads," you'll need to log into your control panel to see if you have that option selected. See http://www.bannerboxes.com/common/partners.cfm For Advertisers info, see: http://tinyurl.com/4yflt For publishers, Clicksor pays you 60% of the advertisers' clicks that your site generates. You must earn over $50.00 to be paid for the month or your earnings will rollover to the next. Free to join: http://tinyurl.com/4g23d Advertisers can choose the sites to run their ads on and only pay for click thrus. You set a cap on how much you'd like to spend daily, weekly, or monthly. Your bids are automatically adjusted so you only pay 1 cent more than your competition. No minimum monthly spend at this time. Advertisers find out more by visiting: https://secure.revenuepilot.com/signup.jsp Advertisers must apply to have their ads displayed across the network. Go to: http://www.bidclix.com/PubTop.html With over 30 million ads served per day, advertisers are sure to find targeted websites to run their ads. Advertisers can open an account for only $25.00 You select the "channels," such as entertainment, news, health, etc., that you want to bid on and pay as little as five cents per click. For more, see: http://FindWhat.com 10) SearchFeed: This is a private label feed program. Webmasters can display relevant information and earn extra cash at the same time. Real time reports, publishers earn from 35 to 50% of all click revenue. For more, see http://tinyurl.com/664ly 11) ContextAd: Serving up contextual ads with high precision. Publishers can choose from a variety of ad units and also have access to their very own dedicated account manager. Publishers need to be approved before they can display their ads on their sites. Then it's a simple matter of adding some cut and paste code onto your website pages. You can also review and ban ads that you don't want shown on your pages. Advertisers and publishers can find out more at