The View

I was speaking to an ad buyer at an advertising agency the other day. I thought I was doing a heck of a job selling him, when I proudly told him that our Click-Through rates were much higher than what Google recently reported as their averages. His response…

“Jeff, I really don’t care about click-through rates.”

What? An ad man that is interested in buying online advertisements isn’t concerned with click-through rates?

He told me that with online advertisements it’s all about “viewability”. The opportunity for prospects, who spend a great deal of time online, to see his client’s ad. He explained that McDonald’s doesn’t advertise online to sell you an Egg McMuffin that minute. They do it to stay in front of their audience. They know most people won’t click their ad and even if you click their ad, that purchase won’t happen immediately.

 

You only get about 3-8 seconds to view a highway billboard.
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

 

He further explained that the value in online advertising is the “measurable viewing time” that an ad has with a visitor. A billboard on the highway is seen for just a few seconds, a commercial for just 30 seconds, but online news and information sites have much longer viewing times. For example, on this site, the average visitor will read about 7 – 8 pages (think different stories) during their time spent on our site. That allows a much longer “measurable viewing time” than most other advertising opportunities. And that means the advertisers name, product or service is making a much larger impression on the visitor.

 

For Real Estate, the mantra is location, location, location.
For Marketing, the mantra is Repetition, Repetition, Repetition.
Where online is also important, go for a website that puts you
routinely in front of your target market.

 

In the end, what impressed that advertising professional the most about www.MHProNews.com was the 112,245 visitors (think, MH Professionals, Execs and Owner readers), 817,745 page views and 2,023,635 'hits' this past month. This is more than all the other similar business to business resources in the Industry combined. That meant the industry professionals that his client wants to reach are on our site in large numbers and for a lengthy duration.

So, learn the same lesson that I did…when it comes to online advertising, think beyond click through rates to view-ability and readers viewing time. # #