Out With A Bang

If this blog could just do a little audio, what you’re now reading would be a drum roll… that and another big thanks to our Ian who has been fiddling underneath the old www.Addiply.com bonnet this weekend to get our little local/niche advertsing network baby up to the stage where….

… OWAB’s long-time pal Craig McGinty can roll it out on his website… www.thisfrenchlife.com.

Craig did us a favour last week by guinea-pigging advertising via Addiply here on OutWithABang; now he’s switched sides and become our first publisher to arm himself with his own self-service advertising system.

And it will be fascinating to see if Addiply can service his revenue needs.

But already Craig is enpowered. For not only did he choose the advertising model himself – be it PPC or CPM – but also he set his own bar price-wise. Initially, he’s dipped his toe in the water at 50p per 1,000 views.

Maybe that will prove too rich for his FrenchLife community; perhaps. At which point he goes fishing at, say, 20p… whatever he thinks it will take to get his first nibble.

But it’s his decision; he’s enpowered. There’s no letter of the law set down from on high; no pre-determined, pre-bought advertisers lining our pockets to roll willy-nilly through his site. This is just between Craig and his community.

As for that ‘entry’ price of 50p, because the model is based on the highest bidder earning the greatest prominence (ie the top ’slot’), so the theory is that the market should find its own level; simple supply and demand.

If he finds six advertisers demanding space on his home page, then the fact that he is only supplying five ’slots’ means that someone has to be out-bid…

Craig can also set up multiple panels and charge different rates accordingly… stick with the 50p CPM for the home page… www.thisfrenchlife.com but then, say, drop the price down to 20p CPM for an ‘inside’ page… eg http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2008/09/record-spike-in.html

But that’s his decision. All we’re doing is giving him the tools, the kit…..

As we are his mate Phil on www.landscapejuice.com – for if Craig’s passionate niche is ex-pats and France, so Phil’s is gardening… which is fine. As ours is all things new media.

Three publishers; three different ‘outlets’ for me, the advertiser, to look at and ponder on our ‘publishers’ site…. where does my ‘brand’ best fit? France, new media or gardening…

http://www.addiply.com/index.php?option=com_addiply&Itemid=69

What do I get for my cash? Where’s the ad placed? What’s their traffic like…. etc, etc, etc… Open, honest, transparent, simple.

Right now I haven’t actually managed to find where Phil’s placed his Addiply panel; but there we go… he’s signed up and ready to roll. Again, it’s his decision as to where he places it. He’s enpowered to make that decision.

Of course, going forward and you can split that ‘Publishers’ information into niche or locality – www.addiply.com/gardeningsites or www.addiply.com/France …

But, anyway, there we go. And if anyone else out there fancies giving it a whirl step right up, come this way…

http://www.addiply.com/index.php?option=com_addiply&Itemid=1014

UPDATE… OK, Craig’s just got his first nibble. Whilst I was writing this. I’ll let Craig tell you whether that one is a straight ‘organic’ advertiser or whether that’s a mate, but there we go No1 – http://www.perigordvacance.com/

Mr PerigordVacance would have seen the advertising opportunity on ThisFrenchLife himself; seen the price; seen whether it was his ‘target’ audience; he’d have filled in the form… sent the link to Craig; Craig would have approved the link… click, he’s on…

No third party intervention to be seen. Niche publisher meets niche advertiser. Bingo.

And after two, long years on some very rough start-up seas, that little text ad is – believe me – a thing of real beauty.

UPDATE: See comments, but Phil’s now added his own variety on the Addiply theme on www.landscapejuice.com . And he’s decided to go the PPC route; 50p per click. Fine. His decision; his site; his knowledge of his community. But the key thing is that he’s now enpowered to make that decision.

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