Comments (0) Thursday, September 2 by Todd Garland
In our commitment to speed, we have added a tool to help us diagnose potential problems with the network and also added 3 additional geo-graphically distributed stats locations.
Diagnostic Page
At any time, you can go to this page to test your connection to the BSA network: http://buysellads.com/support/diagnostic. We will be using this tool to help us diagnose potential network issues, as well as collect stats from users that will help us plan for new stats locations. Speed is a top priority for us, and this tool will be very useful. Feel free to check it out and see how your connection is to the BSA network. The data we get from you going to that page is very helpful. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like:
New Stats Locations
Last week we added three additional stats locations to the BSA network:
Los Angeles
Toronto
London
This should speed up delivery of stats as well as reduce the load on our existing infrastructure. We’re actively working to add more locations in Europe and the US. Stay tuned for more updates. And, in Europe especially, if you have recommendations for some great dedicated hosting providers, please post a comment below (we’re already getting setup with LeaseWeb).
Minimalism can be viewed as a trend, akin to “lean startups” these days. If you are an “against the grain” type of person as I am (maybe we didn’t rebel enough as kids?) these trends can start to feel cliche and overdone, but there is a lot of value in their principles. They are extensions of the “less is more” mantra with additional emphasis on clarity. These same principles apply to selling ads, too: less options for advertisers will result in selling more ads.
The fewer ad zones the better
At BSA, an “ad zone” is defined as an area on your website where one or more ads of the same dimensions appears. For example, if you have six 125×125 ads where all six show at any given time, that is considered a single ad zone. We often emphasize to BSA publishers that they keep the number of ad zones available to a minimum; the “sweet spot” for an average website is less than five. If you have 10 ad zones available for sale, you are asking the advertiser to make a harder decision than if you have only five ad zones to chose from.
The fewer payment options the better
At BSA we impose 30-day payment cycles on all ads that are sold. This is the only option. Most people pay their bills for 30 days at a time. Most marketing and advertising budgets are awarded in monthly budgets. Most businesses review their ongoing performance on a monthly basis. Monthly cycles are a natural part of our culture.
Over the 2+ years that we have been in business we have seen requests from time to time suggesting that we allow 1-day or 7-day payment cycles. Why add more complexity to the buying process? Why force an advertiser make another decision? The idea behind the 30-day cycle is the following:
You are asking the advertiser to make a commitment to you for 30 days. Advertising is an investment, and investments require commitment. This helps ensure that the advertiser is serious about advertising on your website. The advertiser is voting with their dollars saying “I want to be associated with this website because I think I can find the right users for my website/application/company”. This is how you acquire repeat quality advertisers.
1 day, 7 day, or even 15 day campaigns are not enough to know the real effectiveness of an advertisement. Sure, if you are looking to simply drive traffic to your site and want clicks, a 7 or 15 day time period might be sufficient. If that is your goal, pay per click networks will guarantee you clicks. With banner campaigns, 30-days should be considered a minimum; in fact, when you purchase a sponsored banner ad you should plan to keep it for 90 days, at least. You cannot build momentum in 30 days or less.
The fewer interactions the better
Over time, we have found that in small batch ad sales (i.e. sales for advertisers spending less than 25K/month) the less human interaction the better. Interaction can add friction to the sales process. So how does one sell ads as an ad network if it’s better to NOT interact with the ad buyers? It’s simple: you make it very convenient for them to buy ads; you aggregate inventory of similar websites; you provide tools to facilitate the discovery of new placements; and lastly, add the right amount of human touch with just a pinch of mojo (this one is for our competitors who read our blog, so you can sit at your desk and wonder what “mojo” we’re referring to :) ). The human touch is key. It is important to have the proper software and automated processes to support this human touch; the overhead that we – and our publishers – would incur if we were to hire and rely on 10’s of sales people to call on all of our advertisers would be staggering. Quality software with assisted human touch (and some mojo!) leads to fewer interactions and more ad sales.
In summary
Don’t add friction to the ad selling process: don’t force the advertiser to make too many decision’s before they click “Complete my order” and send you their money. Keep it clear, and easy, for advertisers to understand how to advertise on your website and you will sell more ads.
We have a couple small updates to tell you about today.
Facebook fan count
We noticed that publishers have been actively building up their following on Facebook, and many of them have a very impressive following. Facebook fan pages have become yet another extension of a website and online brand. Therefore, it only makes sense for us to include Facebook fan counts as part of the public stats section on publisher buy now pages. To add your Facebook fan count to your buy now page, go to the Publisher Dashboard > Edit Site, and add your fan page URL. Go back to the Publisher Dashboard, click on “update stats” and your fan count will appear on your buy now page.
The hat tip for this idea goes to Adriana of Scene360. Thanks Adriana!
Tweet This
To help promote ad space, publishers will often tweet links to their BSA buy now page. When done in moderation, this can be a great way to make sure your Twitter followers are aware of the ad space for sale on your site. We wanted to make this easier for publishers by providing a shortened link for each buy now page. On the Publisher Dashboard, each site has its own http://bsa.ly/[key] link that goes to the buy now page and a link to tweet about it.
As always, if you have any feedback, please don’t hesitate to send me an email: todd _at_ buysellads.com (attn: spam bots – I know my _at_ trick won’t fool you, but it makes me feel better).
When we first started BSA we knew absolutely nothing about building an ad network. Heck, we didn’t even know that we were an ad network – we were just trying to simplify the process of buying and selling ads. In many ways we like to think of ourselves as a software company and not an ad network. Many many people have been quick to tell us that there’s no value in our software – it’s reproducible, easy to build, not patentable, yadda yadda yadda – we’ve heard it all. We disagree.
We are proud to announce today that we are now licensing our software to other entrepreneurs and companies who want to build their own ad network. We’re dubbing this “BSA Private Label”, enabling people to build vertical ad networks using the same software that powers BuySellAds.com. Nothing else like this exists. It’s a big deal.
Why we’re doing this
Quite simply, we’re doing this because we were tired of saying “no” to all of the people who were asking us to license our software, and we also think it’s a really good idea. Even though BuySellAds.com is a very generic name, we’re still focused on tech related websites — it’s where we belong, it’s part of our own personal culture, we like this type of stuff. Vertical ad networks are where website publishers find a home and where advertisers connect with very specific audiences. Vertical ad networks are communities. We strongly believe that what makes a vertical ad network successful is the subject-mater expertise of that network. BSA Private Label will empower those with that same passion that has made BSA successful to build their own vertical network.
Our first partner: Beacon Ads
We’re not just announcing that we’re “planning” to do this. We’re doing it, right now. Our first BSA Private Label partner is Beacon Ads, an ad network focused on the Christian space. They are live, and selling ads. Go over to their site and check it out. We decided to partner with Beacon Ads as our first partner for a few reasons:
They already had an ad network up and running, and so we knew they liked the ad business and that they were good at it.
They care about design. We don’t want any of our Private Label ad networks to look like crap.
They seemed like fun people to work with (turns out our assumptions are true).
We believe that by having BSA software powering Beacon Ads that they will become the #1 ad network in the Christian space, very quickly.
These are the types of partners we’re looking for with our Private Label product. If this is you, get in touch.
Additional details
You can check out more info about the Private Label product here: http://buysellads.com/privatelabel. If you think you have what it takes to start and build an ad network or if you are currently running an ad network that’s hacked together and are looking for an upgrade, get in touch. We’re happy to start a conversation.
Ladies and gentlemen, we’re glad to introduce our latest video and our first single featuring “the pros at BSA”. No, we haven’t changed direction, we’re still into ads, but we took the two year anniversary party to a new level and (after launching the asynchronous ad code and introducing the Image + Text ad format) we ended up with a track and now a video featuring a couple of BSA publishers in a cameo appearance. So dance, buy, sing, sell, enjoy! Lyrics and the original professionally mastered mp3 after the video for karaoke enthusiasts!
The track is composed and produced by our friend Mason Page from RapForMe.com
The Music Video
The Lyrics
BuySellAds.com The site where ya go When ya wanna make your business grow Like an oak, I’m not blowin smoke! This is not a test, OR a QUIZ, Or a clever little joke It’s a BUSINESS To HELP you make money YOU built the hive Now let’s make the honey! BSA , we just turned two Happy birthday to us Happy birthday to you!
When ya need to advertise it Place your brand just right Contact BuySellAds.com Cuz they do business right
When you want to publish ad space This might sound cliche But no one does ads better Than the pros at BSA
Hey we’re proven, Read the testimonials on the site, Accolades, for business done right Cuz we’re ethical, Mason push Decibel, a company’s values… Should be more than theoretical Hey its not biomedical We’re only here To keep your cash flow plentiful We keep it simple We focus on support And customer care aint a last resort
When ya need to advertise it Place your brand just right Contact BuySellAds.com Cuz they do business right
When you want to publish ad space This might sound cliche But no one does ads better Than the pros at BSA!
Minimalism can be viewed as a trend, akin to “lean startups” these days. If you are an “against the grain” type of person as I am (maybe we didn’t rebel enough as kids?) these trends can start to feel cliche and overdone, but there is a lot of value in their principles. They are extensions of the “less is more” mantra with additional emphasis on clarity. These same principles apply to selling ads, too: less options for advertisers will result in selling more ads.
We noticed that publishers have been actively building up their following on Facebook, and many of them have a very impressive following. Facebook fan pages have become yet another extension of a website and online brand. Therefore, it only makes sense for us to include Facebook fan counts as part of the public stats section on publisher buy now pages. To add your Facebook fan count to your buy now page, go to the Publisher Dashboard > Edit Site, and add your fan page URL. Go back to the Publisher Dashboard, click on “update stats” and your fan count will appear on your buy now page.
To help promote ad space, publishers will often tweet links to their BSA buy now page. When done in moderation, this can be a great way to make sure your Twitter followers are aware of the ad space for sale on your site. We wanted to make this easier for publishers by providing a shortened link for each buy now page. On the Publisher Dashboard, each site has its own http://bsa.ly/[key] link that goes to the buy now page and a link to tweet about it.
