Many people running online publishing platforms are using contextual advertising platforms to deliver relevant ad content to their users to generate income which supports the site (and for some, even the livelihood of the operator). The fact remains, that for many bloggers, online ads are just a fun way to make a little extra money for doing something they love. Check out Darren Rowse’s post over at ProBlogger for a good breakdown of how much bloggers are actually making online. Here’s Darren’s poll results:
It is cool to see a few people really profiting in this space. I’m happy for them. Learning all you can about the way ads online work and affiliate programs benefit is important to turning your hobby into a viable income.
Social Network Ads
Here’s an interesting article focusing on who exactly is clicking your ads and what this might mean. Something he speculates on is who exactly is clicking ads on social networks:
-More representative of lower income households than the average user.
-Less educated than the average user (or from less-educated environments in the case of minors).
-More likely to live outside of the major metro regions.
-More likely to be using SNSs to meet new people than the average user (who is more likely to be using SNSs to maintain connections).
If his speculation is correct, designing a social network to be monetized and have the highest click-through-rates should take into consideration what type of users its going to attract. A place like Digg, which probably has a slightly higher economic background for their user may not monetize in this manner as well as a MySpace. The influence these pages yield, however, is highly different.
Designing ads which are tailored to the background of your user is key to success in terms of both monetization and not annoying your users. There is a reason MySpace attracts the users it does, has the content it has, and has the ads it has. The same thing wouldn’t have worked on Facebook last year, but as Facebook morphs into a cleaner MySpace, it may.
The Future Of Online Advertising
Clearly, the online advertising world is growing at an incredible rate with no signs of slowing down. Internet ad expert Paul Kedrosky notes that “We have now crossed over and are doing more in Internet advertising per quarter than we did in all of 1999, the tail end of the prior boom.” That’s an amazing fact.
As the Internet continues to grow in users and social interest, ads that are better targeted and more effective will become equally important to publisher and ad networks alike. Clearly the ad-supported model is the favorite of Internet content and application developers right now.
And for your moment of zen, here’s a Google AdSense check which is sure to impress:
That’s a $132,994.97 AdSense check that this guy received – wild stuff. The online ad game is certainly a boon if you can crack the code.