Targeted advertising, or advertising directly to the people you want to reach is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to reach potential customers. A great place to buy targeted advertising is from websites which already have the audience you’re trying to reach. Sites such as industry publications, blogs, associations, forums and groups may offer advertising that you should consider. If you’re looking at advertising on one of these sites, here are some things to consider:
The People That Count
The site in question says that they have the audience you’re trying to reach. How do they know? Do they have registered users? Do they have job titles for the people who login to their site? Is the site’s content targeted entirely to your audience? Ask for some hard numbers.
Content Counts
Even sites that don’t have registered users may effectively target your audience because all the content on the site is geared towards them. Take a good look at the content on the site and decide if your audience would read it.
Traffic
Obviously it’s the number of people you’re trying to reach that really count, but it’s also a good idea to get a feel for the overall traffic the site gets. Ask for numbers in terms of pageviews, visits, and unique visits, usually per month. Don’t forget to ask about anywhere else they send their content, such as RSS feeds and social networks. You don’t need a site with millions of visits to be effective. Usually more targeted sites will have less traffic than more general sites. Traffic in the thousands will probably be fine for your needs (and cost less)
Engagement
How engaged is the audience with the site? Are there comments and activity on the social networks? Or are people just reading the content and leaving.
Reputation
What is the overall reputation of the site, company and brand? When you advertise on a site, your brand and reputation will be affected. Make sure you want your brand associated with the site.
Cost
What is the cost to advertise? How is it measured? Is it reasonable for what you’re getting? What are the average click-through rates on the site (for ads)? How many impressions or clicks does the site expect you’ll receive? Is there any guarantee?
Measurement
How will your advertising be measured? Can you use your own ad serving software?
Types of Ads & Placement
What types of ads and placements does the site offer? Can you have rich media or animated ads? Do they allow video? What are their ad guidelines? Can you buy ads on specific pages?
Hopefully this has given you some guidelines to help you make decisions regarding targeted advertising.
What else should be considered?
(photo by viZZZual.com @ FlickrCC)
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