The First Professional Guide to Monetizing Your Website with In-Text Advertising I’m happy to share that the new book is out!  The Hidden Treasure in Your Website: The First Professional Guide to Monetizing Your Website with In-Text Advertising (the link goes to Amazon). Humbly, author Tomer Treves is me, the same person behind this Online Siesta blog, so I can’t review the book objectively. But I think it’s only reasonable that I would recommend it… Well, friends, I recommend the book – please buy one copy for yourself and 10 other copies for your family and friends...

Technology Background In order to better understand in text advertising, some technological background is required. I’m not going to dive into the code structure here; in fact, I’m not the right person to attempt that… but I do think that some basic clarification could help when considering this method. Also, the leading in text ads networks utilize different technology and the following analysis may be helpful in choosing the right partner for you. The Magic a Little JavaScript Does When you integrate in text ads on your website, all you’re required to do is insert a little piece of JavaScript...

What is In Text Advertising? Definition: In Text Advertising is a method of advertising where advertisements are placed as hyperlinks within existing text. [see also the Wikipedia definition for In Text Advertising] This short definition encapsulates the whole concept in just a few words, but as it usually happens with short explanations, each of the words count and some further clarifications are required. First of all, it’s a method of advertising. There are many reasons to include hyperlinks within text online – in fact, that’s the essence of the Web – but here, we’re discussing a...

What makes those double underline links so promising as a method of advertising? It’s the crucial difference between interruption and permission. Although this concept still seems very fresh, the idea was presented by Seth Godin a decade ago in his marvelous book Permission Marketing, and if you still haven’t read it, it’s never too late. Traditional advertising is based on grabbing the attention of people away from what they’re doing – TV commercials, newspaper ads, telemarketing phone calls, and even online display banners. Godin calls this Interruption Marketing and shows how it’s...

I generally dislike discussions about new media that start with ancient history and the development of the Internet in the sixties of the previous century. We’re beyond that. This said, however, there is much to learn from comparisons of the Internet’s evolvement with other media in the past. And if there is one clear pattern that repeated itself in all media – newspapers, radio, broadcast television, cable television, and lately the Internet – it is the penetration of advertising. We’ve seen it before – from a medium where ads are not allowed, to organizations who protest against the...

People filter out the ads. This is true on TV, in a newspaper, and mostly – online. We read online content, look at pictures, view videos, but we don’t notice the ads. Fighting back, the advertising industry launched a battle over the attention of online readers. Wonderful companies like Eyeblaster pushed the evolution of banners forward and, in fact, saved the monetizing business. Banners began jumping around, animated characters walked onto our screens, full page ads covered sites entirely, and when moving the mouse away from the content, we mistakenly activated sound from banner ads. Even...

Revenues from ads on websites are dropping. If you don’t know this by now, you either don’t monetize a website or extremely smart or lucky. After several happy years of sharp angle graphs showing numbers growing insanely, the trend has changed. Theoretically, the positive growth should have kept going. The disturbing economic downturn caused a general decrease in advertising budgets in general. But as part of the process, advertisers are seeking measurable and direct ways to communicate with their potential customers, and online advertising is the leading choice. Therefore, online advertising...

I like to wake up in the morning with a smile knowing that my work contributes to the positive side of the world’s delicate balance, don’t you? Well, strange as it may sound, I actually get this feeling when monetizing websites, and if you’re in this business – you’re invited to join me for the ride. The Internet was born free, has changed our way of life, and should stay pure and free of any capitalist interests… would you please stop? The Internet is a wonderful communication tool and a magnificent source of information, but it has costs. And in the real world, somebody needs to pay...