Publishers Discuss...Cut 'em off at the pass!

So, I started thinking. What stops us from attempting to contact potential publishers that use other networks (Yahoo, AdWords, FindWhat, etc) to buy click-throughs directly from us?

In other words, your own little PPC program....

Given the way that current programs give such a small payout to publishers, it seems that directly finding publishers to pay PPC on your site could be a win-win for both parties...lower cost for advertiser, higher payout for publishers...

What's your guys' thoughts on this? Anyone tried it?

 

My first thought was "spam".

 

What's that supposed to mean?

 

Sanzbar,

You bring up an interesting point. But wouldn't it be pretty hard to find the publishers that would be interested in a particular site through the g or ypn network? I mean, why would they go through the hassle of buying from lots of little sites when they can buy from one central location and get the whole shooting match?

 

Most people have a shortage of two things needed in order to make this happen - in a successful way:

1) Time

2) Credibility

An e-mail from me or you will never carry the same weight and trust as Google has developed in the advertising world.

Try "cold calling" (via e-mail or any other method) for link exchanges and see what type of response you get. Trying to go direct with advertisers already using Adwords could prove even more difficult and time consuming. The very first question I would ask someone who contacted me with such an offer would be:

"Give me 3 good reasons to go with you vs. going with you through Google"

Question two, if we got that far, would be:

"I assume you have a reporting tool that can provide me with all the same info I could get from Adwords".

The fact of the matter is now that site targetting is available what you're proposing got even tougher.

 

Naturally, though, you would assume a major discount. As on some terms, advertisers are paying $6-8 and publishers are recieving .50 - $1 in return. It seems like there's a huge opportunity to make up some of that difference while offering a VERY competitive price...to both mitigate some of the risk mentioned that an advertiser would take by using you.

The whole volume argument is a good one, but it seems if you could do decent volume and give a price of more than 50% off that it would be compelling for both ends to try....you just don't see it happen much, though.

 

Where will these ads appear?

 

Why wouldn't they just use site targetting through adwords?

Large advertisers like the simplicity and consolidation of Adwords. I spend a pretty decent amount through Adwords - the thought of dealing with individual webmasters on all my ad buys is not a good one. Someone would have to approach me with a spectacular deal for me to even consider it.

I'm not saying it's not possible, I'm just saying the work vs the revenue, unless you're getting incredible ad rates, would not be worth it for 99.9% of the Internet advertising population.

And one last point - I would never in a million years pay for a PPC campaign on an individual webmaster's site. That just has "potential for fraud" written all over it. It would have to be CPM or nothing.

 

Presumably you'd place them wherever you usually have ad space...in lou of network ads, you'd place ads directly paid for from an advertiser.

This is all hypothetical...just seeing why more people don't do it.

The price break an individual publisher could give is significant. Based on my calculations an advertiser could cut costs by 75% and the publisher would make out better than site targeting through a network.

Your point on potential for fraud is probably the main issue of why this doesn't happen more often. And of course the whole volume issue.

 

You can run site targetted cpm ads via Adwords for a $1/M. How much lower of a price break could you give and still make $$$?

There are quite a few people who sell advertising direct - look at the buy/sell forums here for a great example. I've never seen any individual webmaster sell CPC ads though...always CPM or just flat monthly rate.