This morning I came across a blog post which, although drawing some different conclusions from mine, reflected some of the concerns about the development of ad exchanges which have been floating around in my mind for many months.

Some may wonder what the owner of a very new exchange can yet have to say on this subject, but I comment less from the standpoint of an owner than from that of a user.  Given that these small exchanges have only existed in their present form for less than two years, and most have sprung up in the past six months, I reckon that as someone using them since late-2007 I can be classified as something of a veteran.

In the early text ad exchange sites it did not take long to use up a hundred views at a traffic link; now it can sometimes take months as very few people read them.  As the variety of advertising options on the sites increases (sometimes confusingly so) the attention given to any one specific component of the service will be lessened.  That is understandable, but from the point of view of both owners and advertisers it is important to have people coming back regularly both to place and to view ads.

The daily reinsertion of text/html ads is an important factor in that regularity, but it must be structured in such a way that members feel it to be a worthwile use of their time.  Also, while there on the site, these members need some encouragement to view the ads of other members.  After all, this is an “exchange”.

The points (credits) structure, both earning and spending, has a great deal to do with this; when referring to points one has to consider how many of these are needed to buy another advertisement.  In an “exchange” what matters is how many ads have to be clicked in order to earn the right to send another oneself.  The mental arithmetic has to be done site by site; a number of ‘points’ as such means nothing.

In launching the ad exchange at AdMastery.biz I decided to make little difference between points earned for clicking on solo emails and traffic links.  I didn’t go to full equality, but went a long way toward it.  Similarly, the points for clicking text and html ads are much higher than I’ve been accustomed to receiving as a user elsewhere over the past months.  Hopefully this will attract people to view ads on-site as well as at their email boxes.

Having the mix of traffic links which remain in place and text/html ads which require daily reinsertion is in my view a useful feature, provided there are sufficient other incentives to draw people back to the site both to carry out that renewal and while they’re there to view some other links.

The technology has developed during 2008, with a wide range of innovations appearing.  In many of the early exchanges, for example, there was no facility to save a text ad.  This was quickly corrected but still many exchanges do not have the ability to save html ads, making it necessary to enter the details in full every day.  Personally I don’t now use html ads on sites which lack this time-saving functionality.  There simply are not the hours available to spend re-entering everything day after day.  On the positive side the availablility of this efficiency aid does take me back repeatedly to many sites which have it.

Sadly, though, many sites seem to be becoming little more than solo email exchanges – or even solo give-aways – with little visiting of the site apart from entering new emails.  I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that in principle, but is that what the owners really visualise as the future of their sites?  I suspect not, and it could be dangerous for the future of this advertising niche as a whole; or it could lead to the emergence (I suspect fleetingly) of a separate sub-niche of solo-exchanges destined to go the way of the old ‘regular’ safelists.

I’m tempted to carry on and discuss the quality of advertising – both the quality of what is advertised and the quality of its presentation.  That, however, can wait for another day.  Meanwhile, thanks to the good people at the Ad Factory blog for triggering me to put pen to paper (sorry, fingers to keyboard!).

Here it is!  Our new advertising service is now live.

The first two modules are available for use, including:

• text ad exchange
• traffic links
• html ads
• solo emails
• banners
• link cloaker
• word cloud
• downline builder

The major component of this first stage is an advertising exchange in which members agree to view each other’s ads, and so is especially useful for people building businesses in the internet marketing niche.  In the very near future we plan to add a credit-based safelist, resources for article advertising, a wide variety of both carefully selected and specially prepared training materials, and even more to follow.

The second component is a “Word Cloud” – which actually you can use even without joining the ad exchange, and allows you to promote words and short phrases in return for clicking on other peoples’ words in the cloud and viewing their advertisments.  At very modest cost you can highlight your words using bold, italic, colour colour and other enhancements.

Join now while you can upgrade to “Pro” without charge. This will apply only to the first 250 members.  Promoting Text.AdMastery and building a downline brings many benefits including the ability to promote your own business to them by email.  There is also a variety of opportunities to earn both points and cash commissions.  Once we’ve reached 250 members you will earn a cash commission for each paid referral, and if your referrals become active users of the service you will earn points for having referred active members.

This is just the start.

Join us today at Text.AdMastery.biz.

Wishing you success,

-David Murray -

OK!!! It’s “Go!”

Apart from a very few minor tweaks the first two modules of AdMastery.biz advertising suite are ready. I’m planning to do that last-minute tidying tomorrow, and launch date is set for 23rd October.

Meanwhile anyone seeing this here before the 23rd is welcome to come over and sign up (for free, plus a free upgrade to “Pro”).

That’s it for now.  I’ll not clutter this with non-essentials.

Don’t miss it.

- David Murray -