WebProNews » Contextweb

ContextWeb’s ADSDAQ Goes Live

Andrew Goodman — Tue, 01 May 2007 19:09:32 +0000

DoubleClick may be working on a "NASDAQ-like exchange" for online display ads, but today ContextWeb has opened their ADSDAQ platform live, discussed here recently.

We’re still trying to digest the relative impact of the DoubleClick (Google) and Right Media (Yahoo acquisitions), and to piece together their current and future impacts. There is already some speculation out there that Right Media specializes mainly in junk social media ad inventory — if so, that’s something for Yahoo to fix post-acquisition, or perhaps it’s the part of the inventory pie that was available, so not to be sneezed at, especially not by the producers of large-scale junk social media ad inventory. (I do worry when you’re using phrases like "non-premium inventory". In the past decade or so, non-premium online ad inventory has run the gamut from banners in less-visible positions, to forced page views. In other words, from near-worthless to fraudulent.)

ContextWeb seeks to broker both high-end and remnant inventory more efficiently by allowing publishers to communicate their ask price. ContextWeb is actively fighting the industry tendency to relegate publishers to "remnant" status by default.

The role of an independent growth player in the marketplace is a real wildcard. We know that product quality hasn’t been the main reason Google won the PPC wars (reach was), but it was a real catalyst for pulling away from the laggards. ContextWeb’s success will depend on the coolness of its platform (I’m confident of that) and the size of the marketplace it’s able to build through business development and self-serve publisher signups.

Owning the premier properties seems to be the most favorable place to be here, given the emergence of rough-and-tumble competition among robust middlemen. Yahoo would really love to acquire Facebook, wouldn’t they. So Right Media sounds like a consolation prize.

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Advertiser Resources – Going Beyond Google

Michael Pedone — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 17:24:51 +0000

When we think about using paid search to market our products or services, our predominant focus is often the two major players – Google and Yahoo! (in that order).

But the PPC search model has grown to mammoth proportions over the past few years, and companies are putting more and more of their media dollars into search to the point where there’s not enough inventory (via number of searches) to go around.

This drives up the cost of search for advertisers, and makes the channel less effective due to the glut of ads competing for consumer attention. Let’s face it, if there are 12 ads for cell phones in the first page of Google’s search results, it’s difficult to stand out from the crowd. So what’s a marketer to do?

Spending media dollars, one click at a time

There are a number of smaller, second tier, PPC search engines you can add to your media mix including MIVA, whose distribution network incorporates a selection of search engines and web sites including superpages, InfoSpace and search.com and boasts over 2 billion queries per month. Other tier 2 engines/networks include Enhance Interactive and eSpotting (for the European market). Be sure to track conversion and ROI closely with any PPC search campaign – Tier 2 engines are notorious for click fraud, although all engines claim to have processes in place to limit this.

Quigo is a contextual PPC network which is similar to the Google’s content network. You cannot target via keyword on Quigo, you target by category or “channel.” Quigo uses a PPC bidding model. Quigo’s distribution network is impressive and includes top destination and news sites such as Newsday.com, USAToday.com, Chicago Tribune, marthastewart.com and eDiets.com. Quigo provides advertisers with small budgets a way to get their ads on premium web sites affordably, and it’s easy to track ROI since it’s a cost per click model.

ContextWeb is another contextual PPC network. As with Quigo, advertisers do not bid at the keyword level on ContextWeb, but target by category. Ads appear on pages that are contextually relevant to them (e.g., an ad for cell phones might appear next to an article about wireless technology). ContextWeb works very well with popular categories such as health, travel, and technology. ContextWeb also sells graphical ad placements on a CPM basis.

Snap- It seems fitting to end this post with a paid search engine, although Snap.com offers a fascinating new twist to the current paid search model. This is a brand new search engine developed by IdeaLab, the brain child of Bill Gross (founder of GoTo which became Overture and is now Yahoo! Search).

Snap.com is different from the Yahoos and Googles of the world because the search results are visual. Advertisers bid on keywords and their ads are displayed beside an image of their landing page (via a split-screen interface). Snap.com is also the first paid search engine to offer ads on a cost per acquisition (CPA) basis. Advertisers define what an acquisition is when they set up their campaign (e.g., registration, newsletter sign up, sale, etc.) Currently there are about 2000 advertisers on Snap.com, so while there may not be a lot of traffic to the site , there also isn’t a lot of competition.

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Michael Pedone is the President / CEO of eTrafficJams.com, a search engine optimization and website marketing company <http://www.etrafficjams.com> located in Clearwater, Florida that specializes in getting targeted, eager-to-buy traffic to your site. You can catch him blogging at: <http://www.etrafficjams.com/blog/>.

Putting ContextWeb In Context

WebProNews Staff — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 21:40:04 +0000

The year-old New York-based contextual advertising company has seen rapid growth and an influx of new VC funding.

I heard from a spokesperson for ContextWeb recently, citing the smaller firm’s increasing challenge to the entrenched powers of Google AdSense and Yahoo’s Context Match. She mentioned the company’s work with publishers AP and Better Homes and Gardens, and advertisers Delta and Vonage, and invited further inquiries.

So I asked the obvious question: “What can ContextWeb deliver to help it compete with the likes of AdSense and Content Match?” I received this in response:

“Yahoo’s ContextMatch only looks at keywords, not categories and keywords like ContextWeb does. ContextWeb scans for both – for example, if someone is reading about travel to Paris, the technology will identify the word “Paris” (category) and keywords such as “Left Bank” or “Eiffel Tower” so that the possibility of them seeing an ad for Paris Hilton’s latest video is eliminated. Only those ads that are highly relevant will be served.

“Yahoo’s ContentMatch also does not operate in real-time and depends on spidering technology to scan pages. Yahoo also only offers text-based ads, whereas ContextWeb offers advertisers the choice of text-based or graphical advertisements.

“Google’s AdSense has similar limitations to ContentMatch. Google cannot work with dynamic content and also uses spidering technology to scan pages. It, too, just scans for keywords on a page so the ads generated are not always relevant to content.”

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

Dit-It Hires Former Ask Jeeves Exec As CEO

Andy Beal — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:17:41 +0000

This is an interesting development. Did-it has hired former Ask Jeeves, MaxOnline & DoubleClick executive to be the new CEO. Kevin Lee will step aside and become Executive Chairman.

Ok, I have a question. Kevin recently brought in Kevin Ryan and now Bill Wise, effectively pushing himself out of the top position. You normally only see that when a company has a lot of VC backing or is trying to get some VC (with pressure coming from the VC company to install more experienced management). Anyone know if that is the case with Did-It?

Did-It Company Bio for Bill Wise:

Bill Wise, Chief Executive Officer, Bill Wise joined Did-it in January 2005 as the company’s CEO. With several successful tenures in executive positions within leading interactive companies such as Ask Jeeves, MaxOnline, and DoubleClick, he has enjoyed a distinguished career in the online marketing world.

Most recently, Mr. Wise was Chief Operating Officer for MaxOnline, which became a subsidiary of Ask Jeeves, Inc. after the April 2004 acquisition of MaxOnline’s parent, Focus Interactive (later renamed Internet Search Holdings) for over $500 million. Bill was then appointed head of strategy and integration for Ask Jeeves’ sales division, AJinteractive, responsible for the three sales organizations formerly within MaxOnline, Excite Network, and Ask Jeeves.

Bill is also currently on the board of directors of ContextWeb, a contextual marketing company, and the DoubleClick Client Advisory Board. He has been quoted in numerous trade publications and articles, including Business Week Online, MediaPost, AdWeek, Internet Week, DM News, iMarketing News, and AdAge. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in New York State, and lives in Larchmont, NY with his wife and two children.

Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant and considered one of the world’s most respected and interactive search engine marketing experts. Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian.

You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com.