Comments on: Buyer Beware! What Local Media Sites Don’t Want Advertisers To Know

By: Pmarsh

Pmarsh — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:50:19 +0000

@Marty : Definitely going to give it another go. The biggest problem was that ads could be served up by Google that might conflict with a sponsor. Even though we could exclude categories Google couldn’t guarantee certain ads would never make it through.

Such is the daily battle. Thanks for the response.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:14:28 +0000

Pmarsh: I don’t think you’re out of luck at all. I would challenge the premise that you can’t run AdSense. We’ve faced most objections before and rarely find obstacles that can’t be surmounted.

@Search Engine Optimization Journal: “If I had a nickel for every time… “

By: Search Engine Optimization Journal

Search Engine Optimization Journal — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:52:47 +0000

I would love to know the amount of wasted marketing dollars per year from companies who have not a clue what they’re doing. I bet it’s pretty baffling.

By: Pmarsh

Pmarsh — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:33:16 +0000

Great post. Now coming from the other side of the equation.

Our site would probably fall into the group of local media sites. We are only part of a company that is very much tied to old media. We still sell print, signage, etc. and lack a sales team that is dedicated to our online ad inventory. So what is sold is usually part of a larger traditional package.

I’d love to suggest ways we can make the online component more attractive. We cannot run AdSense for various reasons so do you all think we’re just out of luck?

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:43:10 +0000

We need to take the same principle from print media auditing and apply it to the net. We marketers demand circulation metrics when buying print ad space, why not demand the same sort of accountability from any other media. Great post. Great topic.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:37:42 +0000

If true, this is really big news: Facebook Grants Google Access to Groups and Events. @Dev Basu: Thanks for your kind words.

By: Dev Basu

Dev Basu — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:32:23 +0000

I’m a big fan of the content network to target local niche sites. As you’ve indicated, the CTR skyrockets due to the home town relevance factor. Great article Marty!

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:46:17 +0000

@Scott Clark: Yes, stop the madness . It’s always nice to see you in these threads Scott. Thanks for stopping by.

By: Scott Clark

Scott Clark — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:31:13 +0000

Brilliant insight as usual – and so true. I see similar things happen around me, particularly in the old school businesses. When a $2M spend for a year has *no* conversion tracking, you know there’s a problem. I think heads should roll. What’s even sadder is when there is RESISTANCE to employing conversion tracking – saying it’s too much trouble to re-tag destination URLs or call ad properties to add tracking params. Pa-leeze.