I know we've had the categories option for awhile now, but my understanding is that it's being used purely for statistical purposes at this point. Do we have any idea when we'll actually get the ability to only display category-relevant (and language-specific) links on our sites? I've recently gotten alot of feedback on one of my sites, and the one thing that nearly everyone commented on was the fact that the ads seemed so out-of-place and off-topic. ("Why do you have a link for Women's Bras on your sports site?", "Why are there links in Russian?", etc).. Thanks!
I'm glad someone asked that - I'm hoping for the same thing. I'm sure none of my visitors can understand Polish, so the poor Polish dudes just aren't going to get any clicks on their ads. Equally, my site (web design related) isn't going to get a whole load of clicks from Russian bra enthusiasts. I see no sense in advertising there. (I would like to make it clear I hold nothing against Russian bras)...(Unfortunately ) I love the co-op. It factors in pagerank so it gives me more ad impressions than other networks would. I just wish they could be targeted - that would give me the equivalent of way, way more ad views.
adult content is not allowed by the TOS, if you know of a site, just post it here and it will be investigated.
From an advertising view point those unrelated ads are valuable. I am promoting a high end product that costs a lot of money. Before the coop we only advertised it on related web sites and it was nice. But now (and for a very low cost) we got ads displayed on all kinds of web sites all over the world. So the reach has increased a lot. I am pretty sure that the convertion rate is low, but on the other hand because of the reach and great number of displayed ads we now got customers from all over the world (even from Poland) and there is a growing waiting list for this product (they have hired two extra persons full time to work in production). Each order makes me a lot of money, since I am their only affiliate. So what I am saying is that themed ads are fine, but I hope that there still would be an option where I can get these ads displayed on Russian, Dutch and christian websites.
Maybe the new customers were not from our ad-network ? Always go for targeted niche websites, to advertise in The best customer reach is there.
It's good to see you Sorvoja. It's been more than 6 months since we last spoke. I don't know what you are promoting, but maybe it appeals to all kinds of different people and so you can target less. I think some things do need to be targeted a bit more closely so it would be good to have a choice. Actually I wish there was some incentive to have people do full text adverts and even banners rather than just stacks of links. Also if there was some benefit to putting the ads where they would actually get clicked.... Then we'd have some real advertising power with the network.
Cristian Mezei: Statistics is my only weapon in a world were pople often are much smarter than I, so yes I know the number of new customers that came in through the network. I use cookies and store user agents, ip-addresses, actions on site (click path, exit and re-entry pinits). It is nice to know what pages the customer look at before they found their way to the order or contact form. From the referer field I see if the visitor is from a coop site. I agree with all vord said.
Maybe give us the option of whether or not we want to display non-topical or non-english links? I have some sites where I wouldn't care whether or not these types of ads get displayed, but others where I really want/need links with the same theme. I'd imagine others are in the same boat.
I know it was mentioned a few months ago that people would be given the choice once the theming was implemented.