Video Ads are quite new to the industry and many Advertisers simply do not have a video ad they can use. The misconception is that they are too expensive or too hard to create. That could not be further from the truth!

Our friends at LeadsByVideo.com have put together a step by step guide to creating your very own video ad using Windows Moviemaker, which comes standard on any Windows installation.

Tip: you can overlap images as well as audio by dragging one clip on top of another. This is how the voice narration and music are played at the same time.

To enhance your experience and to learn more about Windows Movie Maker check out the following;

Education and Forums:

• www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2
• www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Forums/Default.aspx

Software Transitions and Add-ons:

• www.pixelan.com/mm/intro.htm
• movies.blainesville.com

An alternative to Windows Movie Maker

If you don’t require voice narration and would like some unique transitions, OneTrueMedia.com simplifies the making of online slideshows or video presentations by effortlessly combining photos with words and music to personalize your story.

This 15 minute process is free, quick and easy with no software downloads and immediate results. Just follow the 4 step process that’s described below;

• Upload your images
• Add in any special transitions and effects you desire
• Use text slides and captions if applicable
• Add music from their catalog or upload your own
• Publish your video, and submit the video link to LBV

Once you have created your video ad you can easily book ads on AdToll! You will need to host your video on a video sharing site like YouTube. We do provide instructions for doing this here

There are those out there who question the effectiveness of banner advertising so I thought I would put together a little experiment. The idea was to prove that banners can be effective and especially effective when targeted correctly and the banner itself is enticing to the viewer.

I booked three 160×600 banner ads on MyGameSpace. To offer some background, MyGameSpace is a gaming related web site, being a flash arcade.

The three campaigns I booked were:
1. www.lerx7.com -> An automotive related web site, completely off topic to games. (LERX7)
2. www.pimpineuro.com -> A MMORPG, which is well targeted. (PEU)
3. www.razzling.com -> Another flash arcade, which is targeted perfectly. (RAZZ)

Here are the banners I used for each booking (resized):

Each banner is very different, obviously! The LERX7 banner is focused on the car, appealing to car enthusiasts. The RAZZ and PEU banners are “sexed” up to really attract the viewers eyes. In my experience banners like this aimed at this market (gamers) outperform any other banner by far.

Below you can see a snapshot of the campaigns from the account area. The columns represent campaign name, site the ad appears on, duration, views today, clicks today, CTR and CPC.

Looking at the statistics you can clearly see the RAZZ campaign is outperforming the other two by a significant amount with a 12.97% CTR.

Below I have included screen shots of the more detailed stats for each campaign so you can see how consistent these results actually are.

Razzling Arcade Campaign Statistics

Pimpin Euro Campaign Statistics

LE RX7 Campaign Statistics

By clicking on each image above you can see the statistics for each campaign. It’s actually quite interesting to see the consistency in the CTR for the RAZZ and PEU campaigns. Considering they are well targeted it’s no big surprise although the RAZZ campaign is really performing well with a consistent 11%+ CTR every day! This shows how important the actual ad media is. In this case we would assume the ad media for the RAZZ campaign is far more appealing to the target audience.

The LERX7 campaign, being not targeted at all isn’t doing nearly as well as the other two. Of course it’s not surprising! This does prove how important it is that your advertising be well targeted.

Overall the results were quite expected although I personally found it useful spending the time doing this because it really did reinforce the basic concepts of banner advertising. I hope my little experiment has helped you in some way as well, after all that’s what this is all about; helping each other!

Good luck with your banner campaigns, I hope you can achieve success!

Video Ads are now becoming more popular online due to their ability to deliver a complete message to viewers making them far more qualified by the time they land on the Advertiser’s web site; resulting in a higher conversion rates.

Text ads and banner ads are great but there is only so much they can do. Where they fail to deliver, Video Ads makes up for it, and more!

We are now in the process of putting together our new Video Ad service which will fit into our existing offering here at AdToll. Publishers will be able to create Video Ad Groups and have them on their site where Advertisers can book ads directly! As per normal RON Video Ads will also appear on the Ad Group for the Publisher to benefit from.

We are currently prototyping and testing the new Video Ad format and we expect to have this completed within the next 1-2 weeks. With any luck we will have Video Ads available and running within the month!

This great new addition to AdToll should prove to the industry that we are serious, we care about our service and are dedicated to providing you the best, feature rich and effective ad network online.

If you are familiar with our service you will know we are very focused on clicks. For example, you will see the Site Directory ordered by the number of clicks you can expect on a particular Ad Group.

While clicks are important, you should also consider looking at sites with low CPM (Cost Per Mille) rates. If you look hard enough you will find absolute bargains just waiting to be snatched up!

Lets look at some examples from today:

Smiley Gamer - 88×31 Banner - 54,685 ad views @ 20c = 0.003c per 1k ad views

ET-Mails - 728×90 Banner - 58,060 ad views @ 30c = 0.005c per 1k ad views

Bayswater City Forum - 120×60 Banner - 37,322 ad views @ 20c = 0.005c per 1k ad views

Wikiled Dictionary - 120×600 Banner - 29,229 ad views @ 20c = 0.006c per 1k ad views

That’s just 4 examples of absolutely incredible value ads based simply on CPM. These ad spots are perfect for a branding exercise where your ad will be viewed literally thousands of times to a target audience. The more users view your ad the more familiar they become with it and your brand name.

The words you use in your text ad are vital and can determine the success or failure of your ad campaign. Here we provide you with some hints and tips on how to effectively write text ads.

Understand the audience
Understanding the mindset of your prospects is the fundamental key to writing click-friendly ads. Start thinking like your customer and not an industry insider an you will be far more effective. Understanding the challenges of your audience will also increase your chances of success when communicating to them in writing.

Less is more
It is just not possible to get a complicated strategy into a short text ad and there is no room for elaborate techno-speak. The objective of your text ad is to be straightforward and succinct so as not to make a sale but to get your prospects attention and therefore a click.

Define your goal
Make sure the message you put across in your text ad supports your desired goal. If you want to generate phone calls then put your number in the ad or point to a page on your site that contains your contact details.

Highlight unique selling points
Be sure to make your Unique Selling Position clear. Do not just tell the user you are the best, show them why.

Clever word play doesn’t work
Do not try and be too clever with the wording of your text ad. What does work is precise targeting and an attractive offer. Try to avoid clichés that are meaningless; users become “blind” to commonly used clichés and phrases.

Forget punctuation…for once
Avoid irregular punctuation like all capitals and title case. It is very distracting to the eye and most publishers won’t allow it. Keep the punctuation of your text ad so that it appears clear and professional. As an example it is fine to use the word free but avoid caps and do not use exclamation marks.

Test different concepts (split testing)
Put together 2 or 3 (or more) ad copies together and run them head to head to see how they perform. Keep them running for at least 7 days and at the end of the period compare the results and their performance. At this point you can throw away the lower performing ads.

Test the link
Once you have booked your ad and it is running, click it! It does sound like common sense (as most things are) but many advertisers simply do not check their own ad. So make sure the link works!

Writing effective text ads is a skill and now you know the rules for writing text ads, give it a try. Remember to split test your ads against each other to see which ads are performing the best for you.

With the new Goal Tracking feature available to Advertisers I thought it would be useful to show it in action! In theory then this would be a real life case study where you can see the results of a real campaign.

The Ad Booking I will be showing you is a campaign advertising an online game (www.pimpineuro.com) which is a Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). The Advertiser chose a 120×600 banner on Charazay Basketball Manager, which at the time cost $10 for the week.

The Advertiser used the Goal Tracking feature, with the required goal being a sign up on the game; therefore a new player.

The statistics on the Ad Booking you will see are quite impressive with a CPC of under 1c, a CPM of under 1c and a cost per conversion of 18c!

Below is a screen shot of the Ad Statistics, if you click on it you can view a larger version which you can clearly read.

As you can see from the stats the campaign is still currently running as of this blog entry.

A picture speaks a thousand words and all you have to do is look at the stats of this Ad Booking to see that the Advertiser would be pretty happy to this point. At 18c per guaranteed sign up I know I’d be reinvesting more money into the exact or a very similar campaign!

Keep in mind the cost per conversion is based on the “money spent so far”. This gives the Advertiser an exact cost per conversion at any point in the campaign.

As you can see from this, Goal Tracking provides valuable information to the Advertiser which really helps them justify where they are spending their money. If you are currently Advertising then consider using the Goal Tracking feature!

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.

Leads By Video is a brand new service with very unique qualities that is a breath of fresh air for anyone looking for high quality targeted traffic at no cost.

Simply put LeadsByVideo.com is free and uses video infomercials instead of limited text link ads to educate prospects about your products and services.
This pre-qualifying or screening process ensures you increased sales with reduced number of customer enquiries.

You could say Leads By Video is a different type of traffic exchange. From a high level it shares the same type of model. But when you look closer you will find it is very different as does away with all the drawbacks of traditional traffic exchanges.

For example, it uses video instead of textlinks to target the right audience, and unlike other traffic exchanges where your visitors earn reciprocal traffic or points for visiting your site, Leads By Video visitors arrive without incentivised ulterior motives making them more likely to purchase or subscribe on your offer.

The diverse demographic of viewers at Leads By Video range from bargain hunters, opportunity seekers and competition enthusiasts to advertisers researching online video conversion rates and webmasters wishing to secure more traffic.
So matter what you’re promoting, you’re sure to have interested viewers who feel comfortable spending money online.

A great benefit is that all traffic leads sent to you are guaranteed to have viewed your video in its interety. This reduces the chance that your visitor has mis-interpreted your offer and leave your site without taking any action.

All video viewers at Leads By Video are served videos from a uniquely ordered playlist, one video at a time. Each video is 30 seconds long, after which, the viewer is prompted to decide if they wish to click through to the advertiser’s website, flag the video for later follow up or watch the next video.

You can provide your own video or have Leads By Video help create one for you. If you really seek high quality traffic to yuor website, you should ensure that your video is targeted towards your highest converting demographic.

To get your video on the playlist, you must acquire a playlist spot. This can be done by watching three 30 second videos which takes just 90 seconds.
There is no limit to the number of spots you can acquire. The more spots you have the more views your video will get.

The great part about Leads By Video is that one playlist spot allows you to get your video viewed an unlimited number of times. The majority of views will occur shortly after the playlist spot becomes active and then slowly taper off as other advertisers acquire more spots and add more videos. This is a great option if you have little or no budget.

Advertisers with a budget but limited time, can acquire spots by getting other people to watch videos on their behalf. Again, Leads By Video is very different to other traffic exchanges, by directing third party traffic to Leads By Video through their unique referral link, advertisers acquire referral spots whenever a referral watches videos but DOES NOT REGISTER to claim their acquired playlist spots. This is a fantastic opportunity to benefit from poor quality referral traffic as long as they watch video of course.

The playlist is ordered individually for every viewer. The least viewed videos are played first, and you’re never served the same video repeatedly. This way the view count of newer videos quickly catch up to older videos. The playlist then plays on rotation ensuring everyones videos experience equal views over time.

You can monitor the number of views and leads generated for each of your videos, and you can place the same video in more than one spot giving it greater exposure, or even split-test various videos to compare their conversion rates.

Leads By Video have fool proofed their system against anyone who thinks they can take unfair advantage of their service and it’s members. In particular you must respond correctly to an instruction delivered by audio before you can acquire a playlist spot. This stops bots and scripts in their tracks.

If you are looking for a new alternative to advertising then we do recommend giving LeadsByVideo.com a go!