One of the most interesting aspects about the AdWords and AdSense programs is how it exposes techies (the politically-correct term for “geek”) to tried and true advertising techniques while presenting them as fresh concepts. Here are some examples:
- Blended ads. One of the best-known tips for using AdSense is to choose ad colors that blend well with your site's color scheme. Most often, this means selecting a border color that matches the background color so that the ad appears to be borderless and making sure that the link color in the ad matches the link color used by the site. Simple stuff to do, really. But certainly not new. Blended advertisements have been running in magazines and newspapers for eons now. Just this month, for example, I came across an advertisement in Wired magazine that at first I thought was part of the magazine's content, because they had matched the fonts and general style of the magazine. The only clue was the word “Advertisement” up at the top of the ad. Very subtle, very much what many AdSense publishers do today. Definitely not new, though.
- Split-run advertising. Advertisers often test different ads in the same issue of a magazine or newspaper by having one ad printed in half the issues and another printed in the other half and tracking which ad performs best. This is called split-run advertising. AdWords advertisers have long been able to do split-runs by running separate campaigns targeted at the Google search result pages vs. those targeted at the Google “content network”, which includes the sites of AdSense publishers. Recently, Google made it even easier to do these kinds of split runs from directly within a specific AdWords campaign, as shown in the image below. Technically, this is more of a reverse split-run, because you're running the same ad in all places but are pricing it differently depending on the market that's viewing it. But it's the same basic concept.
- Offensive or startling advertising. Programs like The Rich Jerk have gained attention among AdSense publishers because of their “in your face” attitudes and messages. But again, nothing new here. Advertisers like United Colors of Bennetton have long been known for racy and controversial advertisements. It's a bit harder to do with text ads (because images can imply so many things in just one glance) but it can be done.
As you can see, there is very little that's truly original when it comes to online advertising. The mode of delivery is different, as are the audience and the cost structures, but much of the theory still applies. So if you're looking for some inspiration, why not pick up a book or two on advertising and see what else is out there that you haven't yet discovered?
Eric Giguere is the author of Make Easy Money with Google, a real (printed!) introductory AdSense book for non-technical people, available at all fine bookstores. Be sure to download the free sample chapter for more information about the book. Or add it directly to your Amazon shopping cart!