Microsoft vs Google Does Microsoft have an answer to Google AdSense? The two New World giants have open fronts in almost any field they operate in. From mobile phones through browsers and on to office applications. It’s a battle. But the golden egg is still online advertising and Google’s ability to grow fast and fight Microsoft on so many fronts is based on advertising revenues coming from the Google AdWords platform and its distribution through Google AdSense. If Microsoft wants to stand a chance in this battle of giants, it’s the online advertising distribution that needs...

Media Planning Glossary How complex has it become? The once rather simple online media plan has now become a monster. And considering the fact that it is just a fraction of the largest all encompassing advertising plan, it’s simply mind blowing. After the competitive research, campaign goals discovery, audience targeting, geographic distribution, and all the other necessary steps… Only then comes the media mix which in all template plans includes sponsored links, sponsored search and SEM, banners, rich media advertising… And then each of these is further analyzed according to...

Search Bubbles within In Text Ads Have you ever hovered over an in text ad double underline link only to find a bubble that offers to search more information about the highlighted term? This is a Search Bubble. When clicking on a search bubble, the visitor is lead to a landing page with search results for that certain highlighted term. Clearly, this is not exactly an advertisement, because the visitor is only offered search results and not more related content from an advertiser. But you do see quite a lot of these search bubbles among other in text ads… Where are they coming from? And more importantly,...

The Original: Double Underline Links In text advertising comes in many formats. The original and most recognized format for the hooks – the highlighted terms which carry the ad bubble – is the double underline. But there are other formats that could be more suitable for your website and it’s important to know the differences. I already wrote a tip relevant to this topic: use a distinct format for in text ads. In text ads should be subtle enough not to interrupt uninterested readers, and yet they should send a clear signal to readers informing them about available additional information. Using...

I Want In Text Ads on my Site OK. I’m convinced. I understand the advantages and I want to tap into this hidden treasure. I want in text ads on my site. But… You know, there are so many hurdles to jump over, so many people objecting the idea – my visitors and community members, the authors and editors, the website’s designer and the IT team, even my boss… I need some answers. Well, here they come. Visitors and Community Members Always have Something to Say “Dear Webmaster, Why do I see double underline links? What’s with the new in text ads? I loved your website the way it was before!” Dear...

Online Publishers get Together to Create a Wacky Video What do thousands of publishers who work with the same in text ads network have in common? Well, first, they all operate a website, but that’s a given that derives from the very definition of an online publisher. What else? Usually not much. But lately, several publishers from around the world came together to create a wacky video, as part of an initiative for the New Year from Infolinks. Double With A Bubble If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I don’t often mention Infolinks here, as I’m trying to avoid...

Where did the Bubble Go? When defining in-text ads, the little tooltip that opens upon a mouse hover nicknamed “bubble” was a fundamental part of it. But, as it usually happens with definitions, there are exceptions. Some advertising methods that insert ads dynamically within existing online content do so without the so called bubble, or with variations of it. Generally speaking, I find the bubbles to be a crucial part of the success of in text advertising. The ability of the users to view the ad before clicking it guarantees the double permission process – when hovering with the mouse, users...

What are Related Content In Text Links? They look like in-text ads with double underline links and a bubble that opens upon a mouse hover, but their content is different. Instead of commercial content from an advertiser, the bubble offers additional content from various sources. They are informational links. The offered related content can be in the form of links to potentially relevant pages from the same website or from other websites. Sometimes, and mostly when the content is originated in another free website like Wikipedia or YouTube, the content can be made available within the bubble itself,...

The Online Advertiser Advantage The advertiser’s fantasy has always been a medium where highly targeted potential customers seek specific information and knowingly choose to get exposed to ads. Sponsored search ads fulfilled this fantasy. When people search online, they are looking for specific information, their location and some other characteristics are known, and they’re willingly clicking on search results – including sponsored ads. This explains the phenomenal success of Google AdWords for both advertisers and Google. In the online world, display ads, mostly in the form of banners,...

Thank you for asking. I received several requests to demonstrate double underline in text ads on my website. Since this is my personal professional blog and it doesn’t have commercial aspirations, I didn’t add any ads to it. But for the sake of clarifying how in text ads actually work, I’m happy to to integrate them. On the top left corner of the website you can see a link to a page called In Text Ads Example – it leads to a page with a complete book summary of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (the book summary is courtesy of the Free-Book-Summary.com website). I integrated Infolinks...