Boy, times have changed.

In the early days, advertisers use to enjoy click-thru rates of about 15% on their banners. Today the average click-thru rate is only 0.5%. So why hasn't the average price to purchase banner impressions dropped at the same level?

Major web sites depend on banner revenue to continue operating, and as long as their are big advertisers such as IBM, Dell, etc. who can afford these overinflated prices, the costs will remain unrealistic.

What happened to the banner market? It started to drop drastically to a point that authors were writing articles that the banner industry was dead. With an average click-thru ratio of only 0.5%, advertisers could not afford the steep price for banner impressions. Likewise, web sites selling banner ad space could not afford to sell banner impressions at a discounted price.

Advertisers started using other means of advertising such as ezines. Ezine advertising took off a few years ago, but even the enthusiasm for this advertising medium has since then leveled off as readers started becoming immune to the print ads or sponsor messages.

But things are changing now.

Advertisers do not want to pay for unguaranteed results anymore. They want to pay only for performance. Companies that provide advertising are now realizing that selling advertising is not a one way transaction anymore.

Companies have to become partners with their advertisers if they want to truly succeed. I saw this trend about a year ago and that is why I offered to critique my advertisers classified ads.

Many of my advertisers were submitting poor copy and I knew that their ads were not going to perform well in my ezine. I figured that if I rewrite their ads or offer suggestions on improving their ads, they will get a better response.

Of course some of my customers wrote great classified ads and I didn't edit them, but the sad fact is that majority of my advertisers do not know how to write an effective classified ad.

Not only did this differentiate my ezine from other ezines, it showed my customers that I cared enough to see them get results.

Who do the advertisers blame when their ad copy does poorly? They blame the ezine publisher. I depend on repeat business, so I took it upon myself to make sure that they got results. Results mean repeat business.

Who doesn't love repeat business? :)

But once again the market was getting tougher. Advertisers were still demanding better results. How could I keep my advertisers happy so that they would keep coming back to purchase more ad space?

In 2001, I raised the price of running an ad in Cool Cash Ezine, but at the same time reduced the number of classified ads to only a maximum of five ads per issue. I also took it one step further by guarantying a certain amount of click-thrus depending on which sponsor ad the advertiser purchased.

<-- For example -->

Sponsor #1 - $50.00
(This ad will appear just after the table of contents. Guaranteed 50 clicks)

Sponsor #2 - $35.00
(This ad will appear after the editor's comments. Guaranteed 35 clicks)

Sponsor #3 - $25.00
(This ad will appear after the "Business Building Articles" section. Guaranteed 25 clicks)

Sponsor #4 - $20.00
(This ad will appear after the "Cool Sites" section. Guaranteed 20 clicks)

Sponsor #5 - $15.00
(This ad will appear after the "Stress Relieving Humour" section close to the end of the ezine. Guaranteed 15 clicks)

<-- End of example -->

By guarantying results, I am telling my advertisers that I will assume some of the risks of your ad and will make sure that they receive a certain amount of clicks. If they do not get the desired number of clicks, I will either run their ad again in the same ezine or in another ezine until they get the number of guaranteed clicks.

If you notice the ads in this issue of Cool Cash Ezine, you will see that all the urls are redirect urls going through the www.freecoolcash.com site. This is so I can track the results of my customers' ads. I can also show them the results and suggest the next course of action that I feel will benefit them.

Advertisers want results. Give it to them and they will give you more of their business.

Pay-per-click search engines are a prime example of web sites that offer pay only for performance. You only spend money when you get results. Using search engines such as Goto.com, you could literally bring thousands of visitors to your web site for as little as a penny per click.

Maybe I have started a new trend for ezine advertising? Regardless, I do know that I am going to have to increase the guaranteed number of click thru's as time passes. That is the reality of Internet marketing.

Bend over backwards to help your advertisers and believe me, they will catch you if you fall. Advertising should be a full fledged partnership where both parties end up happy.

If you do not differentiate now, then you will surely be out of business in the future. If you provide advertising for customers, show them the results.

If you are an advertiser, tell your mama that you ain't spending another dime until you see results!

About the Author:
Gauher Chaudhry is editor of Cool Cash Ezine. You can subscribe by sending an email to subscribe@freecoolcash.com with "sub-art" in the subject. Join Gauher's two-tier affiliate program by promoting his latest book "EZ Money With Ezines." Gauher teaches individuals how to make thousands of dollars in the ezine publishing business! http://www.ezmoneywithezines.com

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