A relatively new site on AdToll which has kicked off very well is The Game Homepage, which you will currently see is our top performing site and has been for a few days.

I thought it might be worth speaking to the owner of the site and get a few words from him about the site and how he has managed to make it so successful. I am sure a lot of you out there are wondering how a site can do so well. Thanks to Gaz for sending some information through, his words of wisdom can be found below.

Hi, my name is Gaz, I own and run TheGameHomepage.com

The Game Homepage has been a project/hobby of mine for the past year and has come a long way as my coding and flash design skills have improved.

The most popular part of the site by far is the main arcade. Here visitors can play the latest flash games from some of the biggest sponsors (Armor Games, Crazy Monkey Games etc) as well as our own sponsored and custom coded games. No registration is required to play but users who do sign up are also able to compete for high scores and discuss the games in our forum.

Traffic to the site is almost entirely viral from the distribution of our sponsored games to other sites as well as a couple of banner exchanges. Our advertisers can rest assure that their clicks are good quality as I don’t use any trick tactics to increase CTR (adverts too close to games and whatnot).

So far I’ve been very pleased with my experience with AdToll. The site is super easy to use with a clean intuitive layout. The customer service is great too and the admin are fast to respond and are very helpful. Most importantly it works! I was able to use all of the ad sizes I wanted and they’re now full of happy advertisers

Thanks AdToll!!!

We have just officially released our new Default Ad feature allowing Publishers to set their own Default Ads when their Ad Groups have no Sponsored Ad Bookings.

The feature also allows the Publisher to weight their Default Ad against the display of our Run of Network Ads.

The feature is only available for banner Ad Groups and to use it simply edit your Ad Group and provide the required information as seen in the following pic.

This allows Publishers to take control of their ad inventory and maximise their potential earnings. Initially requested by premium Publishers, we felt it was a feature that any Publisher would benefit from and should be able to take advantage of.

There is more information available in the Publisher FAQ, we recommend reading it at https://www.adtoll.com/publishers.php#default_ads

It’s your ad space right? Then why should you be forced to display ads you might not want to? The simple answer is, you shouldn’t!

At AdToll we are all about providing Publishers with the necessary tools they need to effectively sell advertising on their sites. In addition to Sponsored Ad Bookings, we automatically serve Run of Network Ads. These serve the purpose of allowing the Publisher to make money and provide valuable statistical data for the Site Rate Card.

In theory this works very well, and has been since our launch. However, discussions with premium Publishers has made us realise a simple fact; some Publishes only want to sell Sponsored Ads and do not want network ads shown on their sites. Instead they want the ability to display their own “default ads”.

In response to this demand we are now working on the new Default Ad feature whereby Publishers can specify a URL, and a weighting (vs network ads) for each Ad Group on their sites.

What this allows them to do is show this alternative URL in the space rather than network ads, which they can also weight. For example a Publisher may place Adsense ads in his default ad and may want to weight it at 50%. What that means is that half the time AdToll network ads will be displayed and the other half will be his default ad. This weighting can be 100% if the Publisher wants as well so as to never show AdToll network ads.

At this stage we are developing this feature and to kick start it off we will be hand selecting a couple of premium Publishers who are interested in a pilot. Once satisfied, we will officially release it to the public.

We look forward to releasing the new Default Ad feature and we do feel it will give AdToll yet another point of difference in the market.

We are looking for any comments and feedback so this is your chance.

A lot of webmasters out there will tell you that the Alexa Rank is flawed and I would have to agree… however it still serves as a tool so as to indicate the popularity of a web site.

Also consider AdToll is webmaster related and most webmasters would have the Alexa toolbar installed. If so, it is fair to say then that the Alexa Rank is useful for comparing similar sites in the industry.

I know a lot of people have been watching and commenting on our Alexa Rank since we launched so I felt it worthwhile posting a blog entry about it.

At this present time our 3 month Alexa Rank average sits at 40,421 which is very respectable considering we launched on the 18th of June this year.

From the graph below you will see the Alexa Rank currently hitting around 20-25k on a daily basis with our weekly average currently 21,041.

Now again, the Alexa Rank is merely a tool to gauge the popularity of a web site and as we all know is no means 100% accurate.

The trend does indicate however that AdToll had a pretty successful launch and is performing quite well on a daily basis.

I thought it would be nice to mention some of the feedback we have received since our launch. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to have your say, we do appreciate it.

“Signed up.
This is simply one of the simplest navigation / layouts I have seen in a while. Top stuff!”

dhscott on NamePros

“I signed up, great support, really easy. I absolutely love the design and easy interface. Recommended to everyone!”

TheArbiter on NamePros

“Hey its was really nice joining your program i received very good support from one of your account manager Paul R, he helped me a lot with the ad placements and setting up everything. 10/10 for his support.”

SticKer on DigitalPoint

“I can see a lot of hard work has gone in to it. The earnings potential for a publisher is definitely better than anywhere i’ve seen, should work well for you in attracting new clients.”

zorde on DigitalPoint

“Easy navigation and a good layout too; it just gets better and better at the moment! I might spend some of my earnings on advertising! *Moths fly out of wallet*”

dhscott on DigitalPoint

“Thank you, Ruby! I am impressed so far and I think your service is going to grow and prosper.”

charlinks on DigitalPoint

“Adtoll is one of the best advertisement services I have seen! Payments are on time, really easy navagation and the best support. All e-mails are responded to within 24 hours. I give AdToll 5 stars and 2 thumbs up, A+++. Keep it up AdToll and you will be up there with Google AdBrite!”

Nick Throlson on NamePros

“I started AdToll not long ago and it’s absolutely fantastic. Everything works (unlike Ad.brite) and the design is terrific. It’s very easy to navigate, easy on the eyes, and it’s quick. “

cheerio on NamePros

The success of AdToll will largely depend on the support we receive from the industry. Since our launch back in June we have had widespread support ranging from blog entries to forum posts, all of which is very appreciated.

One special show of support we feel is worth mentioning was the initiation of the Unofficial AdToll Forums. Created by one of our Publishers and true supporters, the forum is a place for discussion on AdToll and other related topics.

The forum itself is still very new (much like AdToll), but in time may become something of a knowledge base for AdToll. Forums themselves require support so if you are interested in AdToll then please check out the forums, sign up and get involved with the discussion.

We do have AdToll representatives on the forum as well who can help with anything you need.

Ad space is also available on the forum, check out the AdToll Rate Card at http://www.adtoll.com/rate_card.php?sid=25

A very common question we are asked is “Can I use AdToll with Adsense on the same site?”. In the past, Adsense had strict rules as to what they allowed but they have loosened up recently with their Terms of Service changes.

One change which was well accepted by the webmaster community was whereby any other ad network was now allowed to be used on the same site as Adsense. Of course there are certain rules to adhere to but it’s quite straight forward.

To put it simply… as long as the other ad network ads don’t resemble/look like the Adsense ads then it is allowed. The idea here is that Google do not want their customers confused as to what is a Google ad and what is not. As you know, Google mark all of their ads with the “ADS BY GOOGLE” branding and this is something that will most likely remain in the future.

So to answer the question “Can I use AdToll with Adsense on the same site?”… YES you can as long as the AdToll ads do not look like the Adsense ads.

On a similar subject… we do recommend using another ad network like Adsense with AdToll because it means you are diversifying your revenue streams which helps minimize risk.

One trick we recommend is to randomly serve AdToll/Adsense ads on the same position within your site. This keeps your page content fresher by serving a far more diverse range of ads in the same spot on your page.

One of our goals at AdToll is to provide Publishers with the necessary tools they need to effectively sell advertising on their sites. The Rate Card (on the AdToll site) provided for Publisher sites is a great tool used by Advertisers to help make advertising decisions. It provides a range of information like site details (name, description) and statistics (estimated views/clicks per week).

Prospective Advertisers can reach the Rate Card by clicking the “advertise here” links on the ads contained on Publisher sites. This is quite effective in itself however requires a “click” to reach - and as we all know reduces the conversion rate!

To overcome this and to help Publishers push their available advertising we provide what we call a Rate Cardlet which is basically a summarized view of the Rate Card. The difference being that the Publisher can embed the Rate Cardlet on their site, effectively providing the necessary information to prospective Advertisers without the need of an extra “click” to reach the full Rate Card on the AdToll site.

We have numerous Publishers already using the Rate Cardlet on their sites, have a look at a few below:

http://www.modyourcar.com.au/advertising.php

http://www.pimpin.com.au/contact_us.php

http://www.lerx7.com/advertising.html

From a brief investigation and analysis of Sponsored Ad sales of sites using the Rate Cardlet and those that do not, it is quite evident that those that do are far more effective at selling ads on their sites!

The Rate Cardlet is very easy to use, it’s as simple as copying some code and pasting it into your site HTML. If you are a Publisher you can view your Rate Cardlets and copy the code you need from https://www.adtoll.com/rate_cardlet.php

As part of our pre-launch marketing campaign earlier this year we arranged with Tyler Cruz for an objective review of AdToll be done as soon as we launched. The review was completed and has been available on TylerCruz.com for some time now but in case you missed it then we do recommend having a read.

 

Our first Publisher Spotlight on our new blog will be that of the well known Australian automotive online shop ModYourCar.com.

ModYourCar has been online and servicing the automotive community for 5 years now and in that time has built a reputation and authoritative presence in the industry.

Their web site, apart from being based on the osCommerce shopping cart system, has been extensively modified and enhanced to provide special features to its customers. The user experience has been well thought out and it really shows when you take a few minutes and browse the site.

Primarily, ModYourCar makes money from the sale of parts and accessories through it’s retail web site however a secondary revenue stream has been introduced, advertising. AdToll was the choice of platform for ModYourCar and while initially set up as a pilot to test whether online sales would be affected, it is now a permanent part of the business model.

That’s right… the initial pilot actually proved that online sales were not affected by the introduction of advertising, albeit complimentary in nature.

ModYourCar, now, on top of being a retail outlet for automotive parts and accessories now makes it possible for advertisers to market their web sites through strategically placed banner ads throughout the web site.

Advertising rates are reasonable, especially considering the very qualified user base of ModYourCar.com. Have a look at the rate card at here.