What Is An In-Feed Ad? 

In-feed refers to a type of ad format that is placed inside the newsfeed to monetize a site and enhance user experience. It relies on branded content on digital properties. A feed might be an editorial feed or list. These ads can be customized to match the look and feel of the content. These ads are placed between content on the feed, or where it begins or ends. As visitors scroll down the content, they encounter in-feed ads. They fit seamlessly into the feed, and are non-intrusive, as they don’t interfere with user flow. To qualify as an in-feed ad, it has to be part of the user experience and match the format and aesthetics of the content. Moreover, it should specify that the ad is sponsored or promoted content

Where can we use In-feed Ads?

Feeds may be either content sites, like Forbes, or news aggregators like Yahoo or CNN. Or eCommerce sites and apps like Amazon and eBay, and social networking and media sites like Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. The ad may be placed in-feed in a news site, or somewhere on a product listing or eCommerce site. As this ad is native, it matches the content in terms of aesthetics. Preferably palace the ads between two content units on the feed, or at the beginning or end. As visitors scroll through the feed, they can see the ad, but it doesn’t interrupt their user experience. These ads don’t break user flow and complement the content. This ad format was adopted by tech giants like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, to seamlessly present content to users. Usually, the ‘infinite scroll’ method of content delivery was used in social media networks. As mobile grew, the trend of organising content in a proper ‘feed’ format was adopted by the publishing industry too. A lot of publishers started using this ‘feed’ format to deliver stories across properties. Forbes, Gawker, and CollegeHumor, as well as 9gag, are all adopting responsive design so ‘feed ads’ can be incorporated into their mobile sites and apps.

As the ‘feed’ format of content delivery becomes popular, publishers have realized that banner ads aren’t great for monetizing, because they disrupt the user experience, especially when inserted between content. They don’t help in delivering rich experiences to consumers on mobile. In-feed native advertising may be the solution to delivering branded content to users without disrupting user experience while increasing engagement with ad units, both static and video.

Types of In-Feed Ads  

These ads are often placed between content appearing on news sites and social media that use the infinite scroll format. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, in-feed ads may be classified according to the type of feed. The IAB defines the different types of in-feed native ads as 

Summary of Sponsored Content 

Placed in a normal content feed and written by partnering with the publisher’s team, the performance of this content is measured using brand metrics. Since the ads are on a publisher’s website, the users remain on the website. Endemic in-feed ads are in a publisher’s content, written in story form in partnership with the publisher’s team, to match the surrounding content on the website.

Static In-Feed Ads 

Static ads link to the websites of the brands being promoted. They take the user off-site to a particular brand’s landing page. The efficiency of this ad may be measured in terms of click-through rate and conversions. 

According to the IAB, there are 4 kinds of ads that are in-feed – 

• Story ads, that are written ads inside editorial content pieces. 
• App installs ads, which direct you to download a mobile application. 
• Product ads that link to landing pages for products on eCommerce sites.
• Video ads that direct users to videos which may be either in short or long formats, on Vimeo or simply GIFs. 

Are In-Feed Ads A Type of Native Advertising? 

Matching the form, function, looks, and aesthetics of the page on which they appear, native ads are usually found in social media feeds or as sponsored content on websites. The IAM includes in-feed ads in the main kinds of native ads. The special thing about native ads is that they don’t look like ads. They appear to be part of the content on the page, so they don’t disrupt the user experience. There are 4 kinds of native ads. 

1. In-feed ads, or ads that appear in the feed like news, eCommerce or social network sites. 
2. Paid search ads or listings that appear on the top of Google search results or the sidebar. EIther text or non-text, these could include images and product descriptions. 
3. Recommendation widgets, or content pieces like sponsored posts, recommended articles, and more, appear on the screen after the article. 
4. Promoted listings, or paid content that appears on eCommerce platforms like eBay. Served with priority to more high-intent buyers, these increase the possibility of a purchase.

In-Feed Ads And eCommerce Platforms 

eMarketer estimates that the global eCommerce market has grown to approximately 4 trillion in 2020. Some eCommerce platforms enhance their user’s experience by serving in-feed ads. For instance, ‘recommended products’ or ‘articles you may like’, or other forms of paid content. This form of sponsored content doesn’t appear like an ad but looks like a recommendation. This makes it more likely for a user to click on it. Nowadays, with the help of tech, in-feed ads have expanded to include mobile, carousel catalogs, and video formats. In-feed ads are great for eCommerce platforms because they keep consumers engaged as the latter keep proceeding down the customer journey funnel. Such ads are flexible and are able to meet each stage of the journey.

What Is The Difference Between In-Feed And Standard Ads?

Display ads, banner ads, and other standard formats are placed around website content. Pop-up ads spring upright in the middle of the screen. All the aforementioned ads irritate users and disrupt the customer experience. Moreover, customization options are limited. In-feed ads are part of the user flow. Highly customizable, they are greeted by high-intent users. 

What Are The Advantages of In-Feed Ads?

Such ads have a lot of advantages for both publishers and advertisers. Some of these are enumerated below. 

Better User Experience – In-feed ads make for a better, non-disruptive user experience. Being part of the user flow, they don’t interrupt the user’s journey or change the website’s look and feel. They integrate seamlessly into the website and serve their purpose.

Superior Monetisation – These ads give publishers the chance to find and monetize new spaces on their web pages, right inside their respective feeds. 

Fabulous for Mobile – Because they can help you monetize small screen spaces like mobile devices, such ads are great for mobile. 

Conclusion

Superior Reach – For advertisers, such in-feed ads offer a great opportunity to reach out to a highly-engaged audience. In conclusion, in-feed ads are loved because they don’t ruin the user experience. In an age where that is the deciding factor on which customers may return to your website, in-feed ads can make the difference. Read our blog about how to strike the right balance between ads and user experience to always get it right.

The post What Are In-Feed Ads – How Can You Make The Best Use Of Them? first appeared on Publir.

However, publishers and marketers have used behavioral data for both advertising and customization for years to improve the relevance and effectiveness of adverts and marketing messages delivered to online audiences. Marketers may utilize behavioral targeting to improve the customer experience and produce results with the correct technology in place.

We’ll take a deeper look at what behavioral targeting is and how it works in this piece.

What is Behavioral Targeting?

Marketers may use behavioral targeting to send appropriate marketing messages to customers depending on their behavior. Customers are segmented based on their interests and stage in the customer lifecycle or buying funnel using data from several channels. These segments may be used to target shoppers with highly relevant information at the exact moment they are most likely to convert. An effective eCommerce personalization strategy includes behavioral marketing as one of its components. It may be used to increase the return on investment (ROI) from bulk and triggered emails, as well as across your website and social media advertising.

The terms “behavioral targeting” and “online behavioral advertising” (OBA) are not interchangeable. Online behavioral advertising (OBA) is a type of online advertising that employs behavioral targeting to provide users specific adverts and tailored information, such as product suggestions. In some ways, online behavioral advertising is a sort of advertising, whereas behavioral targeting is a strategy. 

Behavioral marketing nowadays is much more than simply collecting explicit user data; it’s also about deciphering data and deriving appropriate inferences.

What are the benefits of Behavioral Targeting?

Increased User Engagement: Behavioral monitoring gives publishers access to customers who engage with certain marketing content on a regular basis. Consumers may be routed to online marketplaces and get information about a firm in a couple of seconds by using one-click advertising.

Increased Ad Click-Throughs: A tailored ad that catches the viewer’s likes and requirements is a far more valuable tool in assisting consumers to go down the purchase funnel than a generic banner ad with no relevant attraction.

Improved Conversion Rates: Advertisements that reach a behavioral target market are more appealing to individuals who see them, increasing the likelihood that users will seek more information or make a transaction. Companies that use behavioral targeting tactics can experience an increase in sales and returning consumers, as well as increased earnings overall.

What is the process of behavioral targeting?

Data is collected

Behavioral data of customers may be gathered via eCommerce websites, mobile apps, emails, and in some cases through in-store data. Effective behavioral targeting necessitates the real-time collection and coordination of vast volumes of behavioral data. Items explored, carted products, material watched, search phrases, and visitor frequency are among the behavioral data, as well transactional data like average order value and purchase history.

Segmentation of customers

The data gathered is examined and user segments are created. Users are divided into categories based on their activity. Individuals who travel frequently, people who enjoy shopping for clothes, people who frequently return to the same product category, and so on. Customers’ real-time preferences for elements like color, brand, and style may also be tracked with advanced customization systems, allowing for more complex behavioral segmentation.

Applying data for content targeting

After you’ve created segments, you can utilize them to target clients with the most appropriate website content and choose which triggered emails they should get. Lists may be exported to your email service provider (ESP) for use in bulk mailings, as well as utilized to retarget consumers through other channels like social media and Google AdWords. Ad campaigns are tailored to a certain user segment, making advertising more relevant to specific groups of people and enhancing conversion and response rates.

What is the difference between Behavioral targeting and Contextual targeting?

It’s important to understand that there is a difference between behavioral targeting and contextual targeting, which shows information depending on its relevance to the web page presently being viewed – for instance, displaying a tableware ad on a food website. 

Contextual targeting entails showing advertisements that are related to the web page’s content. Usually, this kind of targeting does not involve user information; instead, it relies only on the context of the ad. Behavioral data, on the other hand, maybe utilized to increase the relevancy of contextual advertisements.

Advertisers and marketers may target specific consumers via behavioral targeting. The strategy is founded on the idea that ads should be relevant to the user who is viewing the website, rather than the page itself. Because of the increased availability of user data, behavioral targeting has been widely employed in internet advertising and marketing for over a decade.

Final Thoughts

Thanks to behavioral targeting innovation, increasing your conversion rates has never been easier. You may increase the cost-effectiveness of your advertising by publishing material to target people on a tailored level once they have shown a certain interest, saving both energy and resources.

We live in an era of revolutionary new technology and creative marketing strategies. As a consequence, brands now have access to more tools than ever before. Contextual and behavioral targeting are among the strategies available. Testing and a close examination of the data obtained from this experimentation are required to determine which is best for your business and clients.

You may even need to create your own targeting hybrid because you’re working with a distinct audience. After all, you’ll most certainly require the finest of both strategies.

The post Understanding Behavioral Targeting to use in 2022 first appeared on Publir.

This changed something in the industry. From being annoying intrusions, recent pop-up ads are non-disruptive, and take user experience into account. Public opinions about pop-ups are changing, which is good news for businesses. Earlier, pop-ups were considered controversial and used to increase bounce rates. However, today they’re instrumental in lead generation. Companies today are seeing as high as a 40% drop in bounce rates, with conversion rates of 10% to 50%, if pop-ups are used correctly.

What Are Pop-Up Ads? 

Pop-ups are small windows that display either some offer, discount, or sale that pops up while a user browses a website. Each website visitor has their own experiences with a pop-up ad. It is a simple and age-old marketing technique used by businesses for grabbing eyeballs. A marketing message can be broadcast using a pop-up. Similarly, it can be used to promote offers, share information, and more. 

Why Are Pop-Up Ads Important? 

Pop-ups, though old, are an effective way of advertising products and services and attracting web traffic. Here’s why they are important. 

Increase Brand Awareness – Maximum visibility is always the most important aspect for websites, and pop-ups grab the attention of visitors, making them the perfect way of reaching out to a targeted audience.

Instant Customer Feedback – Pop-up ads are great to get an immediate reaction from customers. Visitors can leave feedback regarding user experience, product quality, or customer service. You can get to know your customers better and improve your products/services to give them a better experience.

Increased Conversions – Since the ultimate goal of businesses is sales, pop-ups can help you achieve your marketing and sales goals if placed in the right palace at the right time. If the copy and CTA are good, businesses can boost conversion rates. 

Versatility – You can present any message to website visitors. Videos, creative graphics, and more, according to your wish. Make announcements, guide visitors to promotions, and do a lot more. Pop-ups have many benefits, and businesses can utilize them to their advantage. 

What Are The Best Practices of Creating Pop-Up Ads?

While creating these ads is really easy, if you want to generate quality leads, market products, and boost conversions, you need a perfect website pop-up strategy. Here are some best practices to follow while setting up pop-up ad campaigns. 

Timing Matters  

Give site visitors enough time to engage with the website before displaying pop-ups. The best time to re-engage visitors with one is when they show exit intent. You could set triggers to display pop-ups when visitors have been around for 30 seconds, for example, recommending some best-selling products to them if they’ve been on your website for some time without navigating. 

Prominent CTA

CTA buttons are the most important elements that determine whether visitors may engage and convert. These words prompt the visitor to the next action. Some common CTAs found on eCommerce stores are ‘sign up now’ or ‘order today’, etc. If your CTA is not visible, visitors won’t complete any action. Hence, CTAs are highlighted in different colors. Try ensuring it is as prominent as possible so viewers are bound to click on it. 

Easy To Close

You must respect the website visitor’s choice. If they want to ignore the pop-up, you must make it easy to close the ad. Else the visitor will get annoyed and may never visit the site again. Keep the ‘X’ close button as visible as possible. If possible, include a button or a line near your CTA that says ‘No I Don’t Want Your Offer’ or something similar.

Frequency

Frequency matters a lot. Instead of leaving the default frequency settings, adjust them. For a weekend or flash sales, increase the frequency, but for regular pop-ups that offer a discount code or free shipping, keep the frequency to once a week or once a month.

Don’t Solicit Too Much

Visitors hate taking quizzes and tests. Keep your pop-up ads straightforward and fast, forms short and sweet and if you can get your job done with a name and an email address, do so. Most of the best pop-ups have just a couple of fields, so customers don’t waste too much time filling out forms. 

A/B Testing – 

If you have more than one pop-up, experiment with them to find out your best-performing one. Keep at least one unique difference in each pop-up, like a CTA, copy, or a varied headline. For A/B testing, display two different pop-ups at different times to the same visitor, which can help in identifying the change in the pop-up that makes the current one better, thereby improving the results of your ad campaigns. 

In order to create engaging pop-up ads, you can use one or more of the below services. 

Hello Bar – With the lowest price for an unlimited number of pop-up ads, this also has a free version, which will limit the number of ads to 10.

GetSiteControl – The pricing for this starts at $7 per month, and there’s a free trial available. There’s also a pro max package. It’s a great service for collecting emails, promoting deals, increasing ad revenue, decreasing abandonment of shopping carts, etc. There are a lot of customizable templates for different goals. 

Mailmunch – The free version of Mailmunch allows you to create website pop-up ads to get more emails, converting subscribers to customers. 

Sumo – This is a free service that helps you automate site growth, offering independent tools for entrepreneurs and marketers. Most of Sumo’s features are free, with their pro version coming in at $39 per month.

AddThis – This is a free service that provides tools for eCommerce for lead generation and to reduce shopping cart abandonment, CMSs, and audience segmentation. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is very important to create pop-ups that are engaging, creating, and high-converting so that you can deliver a positive experience to website visitors. Your visitors should always be prioritized when it comes to displaying popups. Create them using the free tools we’ve mentioned, and customize them so you can delight your website visitors. Remember, that the key to an effective pop-up is how it interacts with the user. They are annoying if they appear at the wrong time, during the website or landing page experience. They should be shown when users have read the page, and should always have an option to close it. Read our blog about striking the right balance between ads and user experience to always get that balance right on your website. 

The post How to Create Conversion-Boosting Pop-Up Ads first appeared on Publir.

This study says that around 80% of all consumers experience banner blindness. With digital marketing, ad spending reaching 300,000 million USD in 2021, the use of banner ads to monetize websites has been growing steadily. However, it fails to generate revenue for publishers or provide a significant ROI, and this is often due to banner blindness. 

When and Why Does Banner Blindness Happen

Banner blindness occurs when the user consciously or subconsciously skips or ignores banner ads or information laid out in a banner-like fashion. Usually, the effectiveness of a banner ad is calculated by determining its CTR or Click Through Rate. 

CTR =(Number of clicks/Number of ad impressions)X100. = % CTR

The term ‘Banner Blindness’ was coined by Benway and Lane in 1998 when they found that large, attention-grabbing, and brightly-colored banner ads were still failing to attract clicks from participants who were seeking specific information. Even embedded with helpful related information, banner ads would be ignored. Banners on the top of the webpage, further away from important links are more likely to be ignored than the banners located on the lower side of the page. When users browse websites, they are usually seeking something specific, tending to ignore everything irrelevant. This is the reason for banner blindness.

Thanks to banner blindness, revised users avoid ads on both desktop and mobile, so publishers would do well to avoid using banners that look like ads. Banners too can be placed randomly on a website. Displayed in fixed dimensions, given a fixed color, and a certain position on a web page, they can start becoming repetitive. There are several reasons for banner blindness. 

What causes Banner Blindness

One of the most prominent reasons is that visitors to a webpage are already on a mission, to find out the content they want. This is why they don’t particularly need a banner to tell them where to go. Another reason is the informational scent. People usually don’t read the entire banner, rather they tend to skim through it for relevant information. The third reason is that readers are usually distracted by some other elements on the page. There are several other reasons as well. Some of the most important ones are – 

Location 

The location of a banner makes a big difference because users sometimes skip the banner part of a page. They are usually seasoned web browsers who have visited scores of websites that display banner ads. Users assume all website layouts are the same and hence become banner-blind. 

Ad Clutter 

A cluttered web page, full of banner ads, pop-ups, texts, and external links often makes users lose focus. Excess ads cause a sensory overload, annoying visitors, who eventually learn to ignore these ads, concentrating solely on what they have visited the website for. 

Visual Style 

Ignoring ads is something users learn over time. They know how ads look and dodge them. Visitors know that typical ads look very different from the main website content. Whether it’s a banner ad or an inline ad, if the ad is of different font color, type, or has another background different from the host website, or has text embedded in the image, users classify these as useless ads, skipping them entirely. It doesn’t even matter if your ad is useful or not. It just won’t be seen.

Perceived Usefulness 

Displaying your ads to the wrong audience would be a waste because ads that are irrelevant will be classified as annoying and boring. User responsiveness is related to personalization. 

Ads Harm Other Elements Too 

Ads cause other elements of the page to be ignored too because they are placed on the same part of the screen as ads. These cause people to skip these, mistaking them for banner ads. Banners are quite problematic for advertisers. There are a few ways to avoid banner blindness and grab a user’s attention. Some of them are enumerated below. 

Stop Making Content Resemble Ads 

Ad content is quite different from the rest of the page. You should ensure the same, choosing the color, font, background, and overall style carefully, to ensure your content is distinct from the banner ads on the page. 

Testing Different Sizes and Locations 

Banner ads are located in 728×90 leaderboards, and 300×250 rectangles, placed on the right side of the content. These always do not work, and checking out unconventional locations and sizes to grab your visitor’s attention can get you a better Click Through Rate. 

An Eye-Catching Design 

A poorly-designed ad can be annoying, while a well-designed ad can help you. Ads must be simple in design, with elements placed from the most important to the least. This applies to the font as well. Try playing with font and element sizes, make some elements larger to highlight them.

A Good CTA 

The message of the ad matters. A question needs an answer. While writing your ad’s copy, ask yourself what you want to achieve with this ad. The CTA should clearly convey the message. A successful CTA should guide users, prompting them to take action. 

3 Dimensional Photo Ads 

3D ads are interactive, with objects like product images in the display area. Users can spin, move or even customize the product images in real-time. 3D banners convert more than flat banner ads.

Implement Native Ads 

Text ads in social feeds, graphic ads within mobile apps, or short video ads that play in the middle of TV series episodes, native ads are seen more than traditional banner ads, resulting in higher viewability – a must for successful ad campaigns. 

Follow the F Pattern 

According to web usability consultant Jakob Nielsen, page visitors often tend to scan websites in an F-shaped pattern, meaning they start scanning the page from the top left to the right. Keep this in mind, while placing your ads on a particular web page. 

Invest in Video Ads 

Net users find videos more engaging than texts. Invest in video ads, and don’t forget to run these on FB and YouTube, for wider engagement. Keep commercial videos under a minute. While you can use longer videos, they should have a strong storyline. Make sure the video quality is top-notch, before release. Read our blog on video ads to know more. 

Keep Testing 

To avoid banner blindness, always keep testing different versions of ads to see which works the best. USe A/B testing to see which ad receives high engagement if you want to battle banner blindness. 

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, while banner blindness might be quite a menace for advertisers, there are quite a few workaround methods. Users tend to ignore ads, finding them irksome and annoying. However, using the above tips might help you bag more customers via digital advertising. Remember, it is incessant advertising that caused banner blindness in the first place, so it would be prudent to put some best practices in the palace to avoid ad fatigue and the resultant banner blindness. Read our blog on striking the right balance between ads and user experience, to ensure a smooth browsing experience for your customers. 

The post How To Reduce Banner Blindness? first appeared on Publir.

What Is Ad Discrepancy?

To put it simply, it is the term used for data inconsistencies that occur while measuring data. The number of ad impressions between the publisher’s ad server and the demand partner’s ad exchange or ad server. It could also mean the difference in ad requests between the ad servers of both publisher and partner. This problem due to data mismatch is quite complex. Impression measurement depends on factors like site loading time, ad-blocks, and user interactions. When this number has a mismatch, you get an ad discrepancy. 

The reasons for this happening are many, the most common being the mismatch in impressions because the sell-side and buy-side use different counting methods for impression measurement. Other common reasons for this include losses due to exchanges between the publisher’s and partner’s ad servers, redirects between the landing page and the ads, network connection failures, and server timeouts amongst others. 

Right now, the two kinds of discrepancies being faced by the ad industry are – 

• Between ad tech vendors. 
• Between sell-side and buy-side platforms. 

These two may mix together and create further issues because publishers and advertisers have different standards for ad impression and delivery data calculation. Publishers might depend on the number of ad requests generated to calculate impressions, while advertisers may depend on the number of ads delivered. 

How Do You Calculate Ad Discrepancy

Usually expressed as a percentage, ad discrepancy can be calculated as follows –

(Difference between the number of ad impressions recorded by a publisher + number of ad impressions recorded by the ad exchange)/average of two numbers further multiplied by 100. This way you can see both you and your partner’s discrepancy, i.e by how much % your and your partner’s number differs from the actual value. 

How Does Ad Discrepancy Occur

There are quite a few causes of ad discrepancies. Some of the main ones have been listed below. 

Latency 

The total time a page takes to load is critical in the programmatic auction or real-time bidding. It is impossible to have a page load instantly. Distance between a hosting server and user and ad server latency are a couple of factors that affect page loading time. High page latency often leads to unfulfilled impressions. Users leave pages if ads load after the page content. The request may be recorded, but there’ll be no impressions. Moreover, if users abandoning the page, your bounce rates will increase, damaging your SEO. 

Ad Blockers 

With around 27% of users using ad blockers in 2021, fewer and fewer ads are making it to them eventually. This leads to ad request discrepancies between the servers for you and your partner. You get neither ad delivery nor measurement, as ad blockers block both. Sometimes the odd domain or ad could go through, creating an anomaly. Report figures and tracking codes are severely affected by ad blockers which show different values on you and your partner’s analytics report. For example, if an ad blocker stops all Ad Class, then the user’s browser will not show any ad placed in said Ad class. However, the publisher still sees the user as active. However, they can’t display any ads to the user and get any impressions. 

Human Errors 

There is a fair share of human errors that cause ad discrepancies. If publishers don’t correctly integrate ad codes or place an ad code wrongly, things can go awry. For example, placing a video ad script outside the video player instead of a banner ensures users don’t see ads, nor do you get any impressions, which should be avoided. Always cross-check all your actions when working with ad codes. Ad networks give special instructions for publishers, like step-by-step recommendations on ad code installations. If you want accurate ad impression and stats tracking, integrate your ad code correctly. 

Heavy Creatives 

Another overlooked reason for ad discrepancy, some creatives are just heavier than others. It is known that video ads are heavier than display ads, requiring more time to load. In the case of out-stream video ads, for instance, if a user visits your page but leaves before the ad loads, you’ll see an anomaly in the final number of video play impressions. The publisher’s ad server would’ve counted the impressions, without the ad being displayed at all. 

Time Zone Differences

Most reporting tools don’t provide real-time data. Take, for instance, an advertiser using an EAT time zone. If he is working with a site owner who is in the EC time zone, the latter will be generating reports by 10 pm daily. This causes a 2-hour gap. Because time zones will never change, this inconsistency in data reports on both sides will always be there. 

What Do You Ultimately Do

You can’t totally get rid of ad discrepancies. However, you can aim to keep that percentage below 10. Here are some tips. 

Cache Busters 

A browser cache saves details of website visitors, so when they come to the site again, the page loads faster and smoother. Ad units get attached, and if the ads are not updated regularly or loaded accurately on the browser, this affects analytics reports. Cache busters are tools that ensure that each time a person visits your site, the ad server loads ad units, instead of the web browser cache doing so. 

Traffic Validation Tools

Certain traffic validation tools and platforms can help to owe to their bot filtering feature, scanning, and removing invalid traffic. 

Try To Coincide Time Zones 

This might not be so easy. Publishers and advertisers need to decide on a time zone in which both parties can perform analytics. 

Use Common 3rd Party Platforms

While calculating audience behavioral metrics, both publishers and advertisers could use the same 3rd party platforms across both accounts. 

Daily Reports 

Daily reports containing collected user data, updated by publishers and advertisers can help you detect the smallest change and keep a close eye out for discrepancies. 

Whitelist Your Site 

Your ad partner needs to whitelist your site. A white list is a list of sites that an advertiser can work with. Any site not on that list won’t be able to display ads. 

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, you have to keep an eye out for anomalies in ad statistics. Whether they come from the ads, publishers, advertisers, or the ad network, find that discrepancy and see whether it has happened before. Finding the problem is the first step, and if you can’t pinpoint it, work closely with your team in combing data.

Always keep running tests and create a detailed impression discrepancy report, which can help you narrow down the causes for ad discrepancy. Publishers always need to be aware of where impressions are lost and try to find ways to work around the problem. Read our blog on striking the right balance between ads and user experience to give your site visitors the browsing experience they’ll remember.

The post What is Ad Discrepancy and How to Deal With It first appeared on Publir.

So Why do we need Ads?

As humans, we’re known to put in an effort when a tangible benefit can be gained. From a discount coupon to a financial reward, or a small sense of accomplishment, anything goes. Whenever we type in a search query, sift through results, click on a link and wait for a site to load, we’re anticipating content. That’s quite the effort to visit a website.

This effort needs to be rewarded with the best possible user experience. If your website cannot fulfill this need, the user then returns and looks for the same query again. If this happens more than a couple of times, it starts adversely impacting your SEO, resulting in lower traffic and revenue. Balancing ads and user experience is an art and a science. Here’s why. 

Ads Bring Revenue

There’s no lying that advertising brings in revenue for site owners. According to this report, digital spending may overtake television by 2024. Every website has ads, some cleverly hidden away. Some are disguised as campaigns and some even have gratifications in the end. But, a website full of ads cannot provide a good user experience. 

How do you strike that balance? 

Share Ads in Context

If you are on a website that sells computer parts, you don’t want to see a banner pop up for sending flowers to your loved ones. If you are sharing ads on your website, make sure they’re in context. As a rule, you first need to fulfill the visitor’s purpose, before offering them more of what they like. If your site posts movie reviews, you can share some content on ticket booking sites where the next blockbuster may be released.

Any piece of content should have ads related to it, so it provides a natural extension for the curiosity of the consumer. A real estate website with reviews of baked goods doesn’t make sense. It’s not as if people who don’t buy houses don’t buy cakes. It’s just not relevant in this context. Contextually relevant ads bump up engagement, click-through rates, and conversions. Please ensure that ads aren’t random, for the sake of immediate high revenues. As a publisher, you might have limited control over the personalization of ads. However, you can limit the irrelevant ads that appear on your site. 

Don’t Overload Your Webpages

How much is too much really? New publishers often wonder whether they’re oversaturating their page with ads. Well, how much advertising is too much depends on a couple of factors. Don’t crowd your site. Ads that take time to load, may sometimes force the page content to shift down abruptly, ruining the user experience. If you rely on sticky ads, pop-unders, or audio-ads, limit the number to one per page.

There’s no single approach. Many publishers choose different ad formats. Smaller publishers who don’t have a team advising them, often find it hard to strike a balance. As a publisher, you can either be a long-term value seeker, who believes that content is king, and ads are frivolous, or you may be a short-term thinker, who wouldn’t mind milking good content with many ads. Both are extreme approaches, with the risk of loss. While there is no thumb rule to the number of ads your page may have, loading it with too many can spoil the user experience. Strike a balance. After deciding on the number of ads per page, do consider the loading time.

Google’s 3-second rule states that if your page load time goes from 1 to 3 seconds, the probability of bounce rate increases by around 32%. Why lose visitors over excess ads? Don’t let ads slow down your website. Try workarounds like lazy loading ads, that come up only when the user is ready/about to view the ads, rather than loading ads during the initial page load. Too many banners, viewability, loading time, type of ads and placement, all contribute to overload or ad fatigue, leading to poor user experience. 

Keep Testing and Optimizing

Sometimes, ads are the only way your website can make money. Don’t separate ads from your website content, putting them outside your locus of control. You need to invest considerable time and work in ad optimization. Multiple variables affect ad revenue. You can’t fulfill or test all parameters in one go. Starting with ad placements can help. Because that may not affect user experience so much. You could run A/B or multivariate testing for best results. Learn how users interact with your website content and ads so you can optimize them for better revenue.

Using a heat map tool is good for understanding how users interact with your site, where the maximum clicks are, and more, all in real-time. You need to focus on how users are interacting with your site across locations, time zones, and demographic segments. Gaining such insights could help you drive engagement via more contextual and personalized ad content. A better user experience will lead to optimized ad revenues. Test constantly and consistently to try to stay ahead of the curve, adapting to dynamic user behavior 

What to avoid while integrating Ads on your Website?

Publishers should consciously stay away from –

• Pop up ads that obstruct the user’s view.
• Auto-playing video ads with sound that suddenly distract the reader forcing them to switch off their sound because they might shut the window by mistake.
• Prestitial ads with timers should be avoided. Waiting annoys users.
• Large, sticky ads that cover more than 30 percent of the bottom of the screen.
• Flashing animated ads that constantly morph and change color and distract the viewer.
• Full-screen scroll over ads that need users to scroll them over because they can disorient users.

Conclusion

In conclusion, striking that fine balance between ads and user experience should be a priority for publishers. If you think that you can earn a lot of ad revenue in a short time by bombarding users with ads, you must know that they might never return, having had a distasteful browsing experience at your website. Try to keep ads contextual, to the minimum, unobtrusive and if possible, interesting so users have a reason to visit and revisit your website. If presented in the right way, ads don’t hamper the user experience. Users, if given control over their browsing experience are happier. If you provide the right value to the user then ads might even improve the browsing experience. Read our blog on monetizing your ads so as to maximize your ad revenue.

The post How To Strike the Right Balance Between Ads and User Experience first appeared on Publir.

It’s your job to ensure that your ad campaign is unique and engaging, practically begging for your ideal audience to click it.

But how do you make your ad click-worthy? Read on.

Best Strategies to Optimize Your Ads

Fresh Adwords users and seasoned veterans alike sometimes struggle to grasp pay-per-click ad management, ensuring that they get in front of the right consumer at the right time. This increases your sales and lowers the net amount you spend on advertising. While Google ad optimization may seem a pain even for the most seasoned digital marketing professional, if you want to see results, i.e an increase in revenue or even increased engagement for your brand, you will need to get into the game. Thankfully it isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Here are some basic strategies that you can employ to optimize your Ads. 

Optimize Your Keywords

While this may sound simple and obvious, it really goes deeper than surface-level work. Optimizing keywords isn’t restricted to choosing the right ones; it also means removing the non-performing ads. Stop focusing on keywords that aren’t performing well. Throwing more money on ads that didn’t work in the first place. What does an ineffective ad look like? Statistics say that Ads that have a clickthrough rate (CTR) of less than 1% post-optimization are fit for the omission. Real people search for these keywords, so they’ll keep changing, with new keywords always emerging. There are several keyword tools both paid and free that could help you. 

Use Negative Keyword Pruning

You could also explore the practice of negative keyword pruning, which essentially means including terms that prevent your ads from being shown in specific searches. This is a great way to narrow down your audience purely to prospective customers who actually want to work with you. 

Here’s an example: Suppose you are running a business that uses “graphic designer in NYC” as a phrase-match keyword in a campaign to find new customers. A person could also search for “jobs for graphic designers in NYC”, and find your ad. This is a waste, because the searcher is looking to get hired, not hire your services. Adding ‘jobs’ as a negative impact keyword can help you avoid wasted clicks. 

Group Relevant Keywords Together

Another mistake digital marketing executives commonly make is bunching random unrelated keywords together. If you find new keywords, add them to any relevant existing group, and if you don’t currently have a group that’s relevant, start a new group. Ad groups will always have one or two odd keywords that could mushroom into new ad groups, each with its own individual adverts and landing pages. This way could get you a higher quality score, a lower CPC, and higher conversion rates. 

Optimize Your Ad Copy

Copy provides information to consumers, which helps to increase brand awareness and grow the know, like, and trust factor. If your ads are organized into groups, so the copy matches the keywords in the ad group, is already targeting the right customers and showing when your most likely customers will convert. The next step is to write some compelling and optimized copy. 

Testing different ad variations, known as “split testing,” to see what works best is a great place to start. Let us assume you want to test two ad variations, with half your audience viewing each type. Over time, it’s easy to determine which ads have higher CTRs and conversions. There are five main ad components:

• Offer – The most important component, anything less than compelling will drop traffic and conversions. 
• Headline – This has to match what the customer is searching for, and must stand out from the competition. 
• Description Lines – This helps your consumer understand the offer, and tries to encourage them to click more. 
• Display URL – This is your chance to remind customers about your offer, and specify your store/office location, or provide a CTA.
• Ad Extensions – The more extensions that Google can use in the search results, the more space your ad will take up on Google’s first page, thus raising the number of clicks you get.  

Don’t Shy Away From Diving Deep Into Analytics

Data is your friend, especially when you are dealing with online ad optimization. You must link your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics account, a simple step that cannot be overlooked. In the analytics pane, visit your ‘Audience’ tab and further dive into ‘In market Segments’. This will give you valuable data like your site visitors demarcated on the basis of what they want. You will also find customers with the highest conversion rates, that you can add to your campaigns for a higher bid adjustment. Market segments is a great way to bid for audiences that may convert.

Keep A Close Watch On Your Competition

In the digital realm, it always helps to see where you stand in the market. Doing some simple tricks like bidding on competitors’ names, or finding out what they are doing using Spyfu or Ispionage, can help you stand out from the crowd and appeal more to prospective clients. Find out what ad campaigns your competitors have had success with and compare those to your own ads. You might be surprised at what you find!

In conclusion, whether you have recently been inducted into the fascinating world of online Ads, or you’ve been managing campaigns for a long time, constantly monitoring them and optimizing them is very important for you to get the most results for the least spends. Adwords campaigns aren’t cheap, and your performance depends a lot on constantly searching for new keywords to bid on. 

Fortunately, Adwords allows you to really dig into your results so you can adjust current and plan future ad campaigns.

Final Thoughts

We recommend spending how much you want, not how much you can. Learn where your margins are maximized, and keep an eye on metrics to have a successfully running ad campaign. Together with Google, there are other untapped platforms where you can unleash the power of Advertising. Read here about how advertising on OTT platforms is all the rage, and how your brand can get visibility as viewership globally increases. 

The post 6 Ways To Optimize Your Ads first appeared on Publir.

Reviewing Ad Spending In 2021

As this happened, companies needed to tailor their digital marketing strategy and ad spending plan to cater to this new, homebound audience and a new way of doing business. Make no mistake, the competition was intense. When a person is sitting at home, there are a million ways to get distracted, so how are you going to make your product stand out for them? Digital advertising saw a marked shift during the beginning of the pandemic, with some brands taking a more story-based approach toward problem-solving. 

Global Decline In Spending During Pandemic

According to reports in 2020 by Magna, ad spending in the U.S. for linear media fell to $81 billion in 2020, a year-over-year decline of 16%. The agency had expected digital media to grow by around 10% in 2020, reaching $140 billion, as digital was often driven by eCommerce and advertisers seeking “lower funnel” attribution. Magna’s prediction for 2021 isn’t too drastic. It claims that led by search, digital media may grow by around 8%.

Mobile Ad Spends To Lead the Way 

Since the beginning of 2020, there has been quite a clear shift to digital in terms of share of ad spends, compared to 2019. And in 2021, this trend will continue as the smaller screen becomes more popular. 

According to Dentsu’s report of the Global Ad Spends forecast for 2021,  In APAC itself, the digital share of ad spending amounted to around 55.7% in 2020, which beat the global 48% average, and was the highest figure in terms of percentage, across regions globally. It’s estimated that by the year 2020, mobile will overtake the desktop in terms of ad spends.

Though the pandemic is lightning up in many parts of the globe, many people continue to remain closer to home. Often that means more screen time. And the more people’s lives revolve around the screen, the more marketers will need to come up with ingenious ways to bring their offerings to clients. 

In 2020, Zenith estimated the global ad spend will total $587 billion, a year-over-year drop-off of 7.5%. The agency noted the ad marketplace had unexpectedly rebounded in the latter half of 2020 or the decline would have been greater. In 2021, Zenith forecasted the global ad marketplace, driven by the postponed Tokyo Olympics and UEFA Euro tournament, will grow by 5.6% to an estimated $620 billion. Nonetheless, global ad dollars in 2021 will be lower than in 2019 ($634 billion). Looking ahead to 2022, global ad spend is projected to grow by another 5.2% reaching $652 billion. 

Digital Content To Become More Unique and Creative 

There is no doubt that the pandemic has not only changed shopping habits but lifestyles as well, as an extension. For companies, adaptation is key. Creating interesting ads that target the right consumers is key if you want your product to stand out and not get lost in the ‘pandemic specials’ that every company seems to be parroting nowadays. For example, if you have a streaming service, why should people use your portal instead of Netflix?

Experts To Help Companies To Navigate The World Of Digital Media 

Evolution needs to be a constant process. Before the pandemic, Uber and Lyft were constantly at loggerheads and expanding in multiple ways, trying to get consumers to choose one of them as a service provider. Leveraging social media is a proven way organization can reach more consumers if done right. If you run a small business, you need to get the word out about your offerings in the most efficient and cost-effective method possible. And attracting consumers is not enough. You need to retain them, so they form more than just a perfunctory functional bond with your product. They should fall in love with the brand, so they buy a subscription. Publir’s subscription tool is a nifty way to capture details and get clients to sign up for your services. 

Expect A Rebound 

In 2021, digital ad spending in America alone will increase to around 25.5%, the fastest growth rate since 2018. The ad market and wider economy are continuing to recover from the pandemic. Though 2020 was relatively flat, total media ad spending could rebound at around 18.0%. That’s not bad when you compare it to global figures. In February 2020, digital ad spending grew by around 12.7% only. Also, total ad spending declined by 1.2%, led chiefly by a 15.7% contraction in traditional ad spending.

Conclusion

It’s expected that 2021 will be marginally better for companies than the year 2020 because not only do businesses have more than 12 months of experience running in a pandemic, the global shutdowns are coming to an end in many countries. As time goes on, this new way of doing business might become the new normal, and functioning under these circumstances may be the only choice we have. The emphasis will likely be more on automation and personalization and less on customized, in-person experiences. Companies are aiming to offer users even more personalized content, and to help in doing so, artificial intelligence too might chip in. So despite being around for quite some time now, digital still has fresh and continually evolving prospects. To read such interesting articles, visit Publir ‘s Blog now!

The post Global Digital Ad Spending 2021 – An Overview first appeared on Publir.