While I can't tell you which solution would be better for your specific
needs, as the former Director of Technology for a traditional Advertising
firm (TV/Print/Radio) I can give you some things to think about when
considering either option. We discussed issues surrounding online
advertising at length internally.
Seriously consider who is going to handle managing the accounts for your
advertisers. Even a totally automated system needs someone to call and
pitch ad sales. Someone will have to design the ads. Even if the
advertiser does this, and upload the ads themselves, you will have to deal
with helping those individuals who can't figure out how to do it on their
own. This may not seem like a big deal, but without a steady stream of ads,
your ad management system is irrelevant.
IMHO, ad based revenue models are very very tricky. Clickthrough rates are
getting lower and lower, and the price advertisers can charge it getting
lower. Advertisers are getting scarce.
Consider this list as an example... MD set it up to be sponsored to offset
some of the costs of running it, but I don't think he's gotten a landslide
of offers for sponsorship. The days of "if you build it they will come" are
over. If it fits the situation, sometimes it can be worth it to pass this
responsibility off to a third party who has the resources to manage the
accounts and make sure you have a steady stream of paying advertisers.
Just something to chew on...
-Cameron
--------------------
Cameron Childress
elliptIQ Inc.
p.770.460.7277.232
f.770.460.0963
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Dawson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 11:25 AM
> To: CF-Talk
> Subject: (ot) Advertising
>
>
> Sorry for the OT post, but I do have the right audience.
>
> I need to determine which of the following approaches is best, and am
> curious for some feedback from this list.
>
> 1.) Outsource Ad Serving: we sell ads, but may have a network of sales
> agents (site users). Double Click Dart.
> 2.) Build an Ad Management system, preferably in ASP (current
> site in ASP).
> Need to be able to manage a site network, all sites on the same
> server farm.
> Interested in Open Source packages, or otherwise.
>
> Thanks
> Eric
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at
http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm
Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
