CPM ads available at Google

Ok, that got your attention! Actually, that title ought to read, "CPM ads available through Google's Content Network." Today, Google launched a Beta program to target ads to specific content partner sites. The information page specifically says that the ads will not run on the Google Search Network or Gmail.

The new program is an interesting hybrid CPM format. Google has combined a standard cost-per-thousand impressions price with CPC rank bidding. An advertiser bids a maximum CPM and the ads get delivered ranked by price. The advertiser pays whether the ad is clicked or not, remember this is impression based. There is a minimum $2.00 CPM bid.

Another factor is that the ads are competing against the CPC ads for the same space on the content sites. Googles site states, "For keyword-targeted ads, the AdWords dynamic ranking system considers the ad's cost per click (CPC), clickthrough rate (CTR), and other relevance factors, all taken across 1000 impressions. The resulting figure is the ad's eCPM, or effective cost per 1000 impressions. For any available ad position, the eCPMs of keyword-targeted ads are compared to each other and to the max CPM prices of eligible site-targeted ads. The highest-ranking ad wins the position and is displayed to the user."

It's concievable that your CPC ads could be competing against your CPM ads and pushing up the price on both. This will warrant some testing and a watchful eye on campaigns where you run both AdWords Content Match and Site Targeted CPM ads.

I know that all the search engines are looking for more revenue generating strategies. So here's a question, do you think that Google will eventually roll this out on the Google Search Network? They have always held a very firm line against CPM advertising. But as the search wars heat up, they could be floating a test balloon on this idea. We'll see.

Browser Compatability - Not Just A Techie Issue

One of the common questions I'm asked is, "do I have to worry about Firefox?" My standard answer is, yes, you do need to consider other browsers including Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, etc. because there are over 16 million people who use browsers other than Internet Explorer. An article in today's MediaPost says that the numbers of Firefox users rose to 8% of all internet users last month and is expected to continue rising.

Now if you think that browser compatability is just a techie issue, you need to reconsider. Browser compatability is also a brand and sales issue. Imagine this scenario.... Your customer (a Firefox user) finds your listing on Google and clicks through. Only, instead of arriving at your site, he arrives at a improperly rendered page or one that reads, "Download IE to view this page." I had this experience just this week. My first thought was, "you've got to be kidding!" My next action was to click back to Google and find another site, where I completed my purchase. The first site lost credibility and the sale because of something that is very easy to check and remedy. Have you checked your site in Firefox?

Local Search Players Enhance Offerings

ClickZ has a short story about several deals in the hot Local Search space. The most interesting deal is between YellowPages.com (which includes SBC SMARTpages.com and BellSouth RealPages.com) and AOL Yellow Pages. The deal adds a lot of bang for your online advertising buck if you're considering local advertising.