When Contextual Advertising Strikes Back

Google's brought the idea of context based advertising to amazing levels. Using their filter, people who advertise via AdSense can place an ad on any page that lists almost any word within its content.

This is great if you want to make sure that your modeling agency shows up every time a model is mentioned, or your restaurant shows up every time a particular kind of cuisine is mentioned, but what happens when the content you're advertising next to isn't the kind you'd want associated with your product?

AdPulp points out this disturbing placement of a Folger's Coffee Ad alongside a headline stating, "Coffee Might Trigger First Heart Attack In Some." Suddenly the best part of waking up isn't Folger's in your cup.

It brings to the forefront the need to know as much as you can about the placement of your advertising. And of course, AdSymetrix is here to help.

Tag Your Ad with AdSymetrix and watch the responses. You'll know where and when people are reacting to your ads and what advertisements are good advertisements.

With Great Audience Comes Great Responsibility.

Google's finding itself in a bit of a snit these days. There's a new movie out from documentarian Michael Moore called Sicko. It focuses Mr. Moore's cameras at the health care industry in America. As you could probably expect, the health care industry isn't particularly happy about this new movie. What you probably wouldn't expect is that Google - via their Google Health Advertising Blog - is advocating that they provide a first wave of defense against the potential public uprising by offering ideas about how health care advertisers can utilize Google to supply their own information to anyone searching for Sicko based content. A point of view quickly retracted by the writer of the blog post.

The issue that arises is one of editorial conflict of interest. Any publication can set its own editorial policies, and choose what kind of advertising they'd like to have in their pages. Google's advertising network is agnostic, it cannot push one product over another nor one political ideal over another. Doing so diminishes the value of the network.

We bring it up because it is important for advertisers to know how their ad placement decisions effect the potential responses they get from their ads. It probably is a good idea for health care companies to advertise on searches related to the new movie, but thinking up that idea shouldn't be the job of the advertising network.

When you place an ad you need to know if its working. AdSymetrix is here to help. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. You'll know what ads work and what ads are just wasting your time and money.

Microsoft, Late to The Table, Still Very Hungry

In the past few weeks, we've watched as Google's eaten up Doubleclick and Yahoo's dined on Right Media, it's only fitting that the other 800 ton gorilla in the tech world look to get a seat at the buffet. Microsoft announced today their deal to purchase aQuantive, a marketing company that not only owns advertising networks, but also creative agencies.

The purchase not only quiets some of the recent talk that Yahoo may merge with Microsoft, but shifts the model that's surrounded most of these deals. Now search engine companies - the new publishers that present advertising to the widest audiences available - are buying more than just advertising networks, their buying creative companies too.

And with large creative companies folding into advertising networks, the ability for your company to make independent decisions about the creative and targeting of your messages may be lessened. The only way to protect that ability is to know as much as you can about what works for your ad campaigns.

AdSymetrix is here to help. Use our system and know who, how and and where your responses are coming from. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses.

So that when you're asked about your next ad buy, you'll know more than where you want to place your ad, you'll know why.

Googling Your Business to the Top

Being smart in the 21st century is less about what you know and more about knowing how to find the information you need.

And thus is the crux of Google's amazing success. They've become the first place many people go to find the information that they need.

Knowing this, you can utilize pieces of the Google toolbox to build interest in your business. Business week starts you down that road with its article, How To Scale Mt. Google. Their idea is that if you learn the Google system, you'll be able to exploit it to your business's benefit.

Experimenting with advertising is important. Trying new things lets you grow and expand your business in new ways. But for every new effort you make, make sure that you have a way to measure that new effort's effectiveness. AdSymetrix has been designed to help you with just that problem. When you've decided on a new way to advertise, Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. You'll get better information and be able to make better decisions.

Why Networked Ad Sales are Suddenly So Newsworthy

Business Week nicely explains the reason why companies like Yahoo and Google are doing their best to buy up the online ad sales networks DoubleClick and Right Media -- they want to own the advertising transaction.

Simply put, business is driven by advertising. Yahoo and Google know that if they're going to sell advertising, they should create ways to sell as much advertising as they can. By buying the ad sales networks, they're expanding their inventory exponentially. They may not make as much selling an ad on your site as they would on one of their own, but they're still making something. And that something has immense value to these companies.

And for you, the advertiser that wants to buy ads in various media, you have to find a way to manage your advertising buys as economically as possible. That's where AdSymetrix comes in. Tag Your Ad with AdSymetrix and use our tools to track and monitor your ad, in any media, anywhere.

Stop by and give AdSymetrix a try, sign up is free

Movement in the Online Advertising World

Two interesting things happened over the last few days in the world of Online Advertising. Yahoo announced that it was buying Right Media, an online advertising marketplace and a Norwegian company launched their FASTMedia product that intends to give newspaper publishers the ability to target online advertisements to user intentions without having to go through a Google-like search engine.

Both of these announcements play in the background of most advertisers' business. They won't mean much to the small business person who wants to buy a placement on a local newspaper website or in a similar publication. But they do signify the bigger issue in the publishing world: how will publishers adapt to the new advertising marketplace.

Creating new ways to sell ads is one way, but properly understanding the value of their ads is another. AdSymetrix has been developed to solve that problem. Using our easy-to-use tools publishers and advertisers can track and monitor any ad, anywhere. They can compare return on ad spend against any medium, and any message.

AdSymetrix gives advertisers and publisher the tools they need to thrive as the advertising world evolves. Why not give it a try? Sign up is free.

Everyone Wants To Know What's On Your Mind

AdSymetrix has been designed to allow advertisers to know who, how and where their potential customers are when they respond to an ad. Following the response helps the advertiser understand how to connect with the respondent.

This same idea is showing itself in the recent (and upcoming) efforts of search engine giants like Google and Yahoo that plan on using predictive profiling software to bring search results more in line with the intent of the searcher.

Think of it as more focused responses to search questions. By knowing your history, the search engine can more carefully craft your results.

AdSymetrix gives advertisers similar powers, without the questionable privacy invasions. Using out system, advertisers can focus their messages and media buys in ways that help get the interest of specific audiences - and in turn more effectively spend their advertising budgets.

Give AdSymetrix a try, signup is free.

AdWords Grows in a DoubleClick

Google's buying DoubleClick. This is big news in the advertising buying world. It means that Google will have expanded the reach of their advertising reach of their AdWords network and extended the kind of media that they'll use to get your message out.

Google's posted a FAQ about the purchase, including their very telling phrase "We see this acquisition as bringing the worlds of search and display advertising together." DoubleClick is the group behind the banner ads you see when you go to a site, Google is the group behind the microtargeting of AdWords. Put these two together and suddenly you'll find advertising that's more closely targeted to the content on the page.

And how does this effect your business? Well, the continuing consolidation of advertising placement networks could make the process for buying ads more simple, with less contacts and a wider range of placements. It could also mean that the ways that you can advertise may become lessvaried. All in all, this consolidation means that you need to know what works for your business and what kind of advertising you should consider when promoting yourself.

And AdSymetrix has the tools that you need to understand the value of your advertising and where it should be placed. Give it a try, Signup is free.

Viacom and Yahoo - Making the Advertising World a big Smaller

News today that Viacom and Yahoo have become best friends - working together to sell advertising to viewers and users of online properties.

This continues both Yahoo's competition with Google and Viacom's uneasy relationship with YouTube. The deal means that Yahoo will service and sell ads on many Viacom properties and that the advertisers who want to play in Viacom's court will have one less contact.

Consolidation seems to be rampant these days in the media buying world. That means that advertisers will be forced to add lower-performing properties to their portfolio to get the best prices for future ad buys. The only way to defend against these so-called deals is to know the value of every ad you place. And AdSymetrix is here to help you determine that value. Give us a try, Sign up is free.

Doubleclick - Doubledating

Consolidation seems to be inevitable in the world of advertising. If smaller firms aren't swallowed up by larger firms, then larger portfolio companies (like Omnicom) purchase big ad agencies and make giant corporate entities.

In the case of your business, some consolidation is happening too. Microsoft and Google are both going after ad server and network Doubleclick. A purchase makes sense, as Google already owns the large AdSense/AdWords network and Microsoft wants in on the market. For each company, the reach of Doubleclick's network is a big draw. For your business it means that working with online advertisers may become more streamlined, but also more expensive.

However it all falls out, AdSymetrix will be here to help you understand the value of any ad placed in any network. Because it's one thing to know where your ads are going, it's something else to know whether they should be there in the first place.

Pay-Per-Action : Google's New Idea for AdSense

Google's focus on extending their advertising network is taking another step forward with the introduction of their Pay-Per-Action AdSense functionality.

Simply put, the new service allows advertisers to define how they'll pay for their advertisement based on the actions taken by people who are responding to the ads. If you're looking to get people to sign up for advertising tracking service, or a newsletter or purchase a particular product, the advertiser won't pay unless that action has been taken.

The Pay-Per-Action model is one familiar to anyone who's played in the world of Affiliate marketing. Where you pay another site or sales person a cut of the proceeds when a sale is made. Tying this to AdSense, however, brings the barrier for entry to affiliate sales much lower.

Pay-Per-Click most likely will not work for every business or campaign, but it does bring accountability to advertising. A concept that we at AdSymetrix have placed at the center of our service. The more you, as an advertiser, know about the value of your advertising, the better decisions you can make in placing your next campaign. And knowing is just one free signup away.

Google Buys Adscape

Google Buys Adscape
from san jose mercury news

Google just wants to give you the opportunity to touch everyone, anywhere. Their announced purchase of Adscape allows them to place advertisements inside video games. In a connected world, the ability to place ads based on both the game and the gamer.

Whether that type of ad works is, as always, up in the air. But that's why AdSymetrix is around.

AdSymetrix helps advertisers learn the value of their placements. And signup is free.

Google Testing Targeted Cable Ads

Google Testing Targeted Cable Ads
from paid content

While you may think of Google as the first place to go when you're tying to get information on any subject you could imagine, Google is acting as a giant advertising network determined to find ways to get more valuable ads in front of potential customers.

The news this weekend that they are now trial-testing a way to target cable television ads (in the same way they are looking to target print ads) coupled with the recently discovered patent for a Google Phone that gives you search results before you even ask for them, brings to bear the value of knowing where you customers are and how to communicate with them.

As you look at your media plan, how you're buying advertising, and what kind of marketing your business is doing, it's important to remember that focusing on the right customer is as important as creating the right advertisement. AdSymetrix helps.

Using AdSymetrix you can determine the best locations, media and messages to reach just the right audience.

Give AdSymetrix a try, sign up is free and you can begin learning more about your advertising (and your customers) right away.