Advertising I'll Actually Click
Gmail puts a little advertising bar across the top of your inbox. As with most advertising, I don't often pay any attention. And when I accidentally read the link, I never ever click. And it's not that I'm anti-advertisisng, it's just that that ads are ill suited to my current task.
Things on my mind when I'm looking in my mail box:
- I hope I have mail.
- Why don't I have mail?
- Maybe I'll write some mail.
- Now I'm done. I should do something else.
I guess the conventional wisdom is that when I hit the "now I'm done" stage, I'll feel the need to click "Click here to learn more about Cialis." But they misunderstand. When I say "something else", I mean something else that's awesome. Engaging. Something I may actually enjoy doing next. Reading generic advertising will never be my next step.
So here's what you do: feature articles and blog posts. I just clicked through to "Live Journal Bans Users - www.wired.com - Results in massive Blog User revolt followed by retreat from Six Apart." Why? Because that's a story I'd actually care about.
I'm sure this has been well-researched already, but it's the first I've thought about it. Buy and sell content. Stories. Articles. Instead of sending a person to a dead-end upsell, send them to something they may actually read.
And charge the parent company of that content site, who's dying for eyeballs.
It's so simple.
Comments
Site [a] pays site [b]. Where does site [a] get the money to pay site [b]? From site [c].
So site [c] pays site [a] who pays site [b]. Where does site [c] get the money to pay site [a]? From site [b].
So site [c] pays site [a] who pays site [b] who pays site [c]. No one ever makes money.
This is why you will never have a world where only content is advertised. Products always have to be there. There has to be a link in that circle to outside revenue other than other content providers. Otherwise, the money in circulation will never profit anyone.
It's kind of like living paycheck to paycheck.
Did this make any sense?