Choosing Media Partners

Monetizing with Ads and Working with Media Companies By

Taste of Home and My Recipe Magic

Your Blog is Your Business • • • •

Know your audience Gather emails through offers and opt-ins Post minimum 2x+ per week to blog More for other social media platforms

Ad Revenue

• Advertisers want your ad space • Traffic measurements • Page Views = The number of times your pages have been seen by your visitors

• Impressions = The number of times the ads are displayed • Unique Visitors = Best tracked by signed on users, but sometimes tracked by IP addresses

Ad Revenue • Advertisers are looking for: • Audience specifics, demographics • Ex. Age, Gender, HHI, Children in HH, etc. • Contextual • Words in your post, image titles or post titles • Engagement • How long a visitor stays on your site • Number of pageviews per visit

Ad Revenue: Measuring Success • Engagement – blogs tend to have high engagement because of loyal followers • Time spent, comments, shares, likes • CTR = Click through rate • Ex. On Taste of Home, targeted media gets ~.3/.4% CTR • Mobile – traffic increasing

Media Partners Help Maximize Ad Revenue • Media providers bring advertisers • Dedicated sales staff • Combine relevant audiences for more volume • Technology • Utilize content/audience targeting • Research and audience metrics • Knowledge of ad space to maximize the most dollars • Provide post-campaign metrics

How Pricing Works • • • • • •

CPM: Cost per thousand Effective CPM (eCPM): Actual or overall CPM All ad revenue divided by available ad impressions Fill rate becomes important Too many ads dilute CPM – ad space and ad sizes Measure RPM

Stacking Your Ads Using DFP – highest bid wins • Direct sale, local media: • Ex. Joe’s Diner @ $1.25 for 10,000 • Media partners • Ex. Taste of Home @ $.80 • Indirect/remnant, CPM floors • Ex. TBD @ $.35 • Direct based on sponsored posts or other third party targeting

Tracking Ads How Ads Are Served • Nano second delivery • Tools like DFP or native chain • Share passback tags • Track the ‘lost impressions’ Keeping Track • Monitor the daily runs – dashboard • Measure eCPM – daily dashboard provides reports

Choosing Media Partners: Compare Their Content Match Your Vertical Market • Complement other sites • Establish relevant affiliations • Add value from cross promotion and programs

Choosing Media Partners: Compare Their Services Paperwork & Logistics • Contract • POP • comScore • Getting Tags

Choosing Media Partners: Compare Their Services Getting Paid • Payout timing • CPM estimates or floor • Revenue share

Choosing Media Partners: Compare Their Services Technology • Back office: Operations/ad ops for optimization • Dashboard & CMS • Technology advancements • Ex. Mobile platform • Ex. Video platform and content access • Tech guru capabilities • Research, analytics

Choosing Media Partners: Partnership Beyond Banner Ads Influencer Marketing • Sponsored posts • Contesting Engaging Ad Units • IAB rising stars – new units • Video –video capabilities

Custom Rich Media Ad Unit: Sidekick

Custom Rich Media Ad Unit: Billboard

Choosing Media Partners: Partnership Beyond Banner Ads Promotions • Content • Content sharing to drive traffic • Cross promotion with other brands/websites • Social Media: Shared Pinterest boards, mutual likes, shares

Choosing Media Partners: Partnership Beyond Banner Ads Promotions • Events • PR options

Your Blog is Your Business • Do your homework • Community conversations • Ask all questions