On web pages, users constantly see text ad units that are dedicated to certain topics. This phenomenon is called contextual advertising. It brings income not only to advertisers, who receive targeted customers in this way, but also to web developers. In addition, this is an income for resource owners. They get paid for clicks on their site. The funds for clicks are charged by the advertiser. In the article we will talk about the types of contextual advertising, what determines its cost and about the intermediary companies that organize it.
Varieties
There are several types of contextual advertising:
- search engine;
- thematic;
- media;
- with personal targeting.
You see search ads when you enter a query in the search bar. Below is an example of contextual advertising.
Blocks with it are constantly located undersearch bar or on the page on the right.
Themed ads
The most interesting type of advertising that bloggers and well-promoted sites make money on. On such resources there are ads similar in subject matter to the content of the site.
Display advertising
The most "smart" representative, which is a graphic or text-graphic block. Below you see an example of contextual advertising called display advertising.
Photo display advertising
Advertising blocks can also be divided into the following groups:
- ads with personal targeting;
- designed for a specific region;
- an advertisement that is shown at a certain time;
- calculated for language settings;
- advertising for mobile devices with web access.
We have divided the reviews about contextual advertising into pros and cons that most advertisers highlight.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of contextual advertising
It is already clear that placement of contextual advertising is beneficial both for those who advertise the product and for those who are looking for where it is more profitable to make a purchase.
Now let's look at its main advantages:
- Advertising itself finds a buyer. This is called targeting.
- You get the first responses (sales) immediately after the launch of the advertising campaign.
- Does not cost much. You can try to advertise your product even with a budget of 300rub.
- Complete with different types of contextual advertising, you can use other means of promotion: SEO articles, teaser advertising.
- You can set up your own advertising campaign depending on the amount of money, location, time of day and night. You yourself set the parameters that you are interested in to achieve the effect.
- After conducting an advertising campaign, you will receive information about the effectiveness of the methods. Then you can choose what gives the maximum result.
- Contextual advertising meets the user's needs and helps to navigate the sea of the same type of goods, compare prices, quality characteristics.
- Unobtrusive. Nothing pops up or flashes. Ads are neat blocks that don't get in the way of the user. If advertising still brings inconvenience, then it can be safely hidden. In the parameters, the user can indicate their unwillingness to see advertisements of the corresponding content.
- This is an informative type of advertisement, despite its small size and unobtrusiveness. In contextual ads, as a rule, there is everything that a future buyer needs: a title, an image, an explanation, a link to a site that sells a product.
Disadvantages of contextual advertising
- Short-term compared to SEO promotion. The effect of any kind of contextual advertising is quick, but short-lived. SEO articles, for example, may not attract traffic as quickly, but for a much longer time.
- Cost overrun due to incorrect settings in contextual advertising services. If you use the settings incorrectly, then there is a high risk of losing all profits. For example, you are selling school desks. The cost of one desk is 7000 rubles, and your profit is 2500 rubles. If you set up the advertising campaign incorrectly and one click costs 4,000 rubles, then, of course, you will not receive income, but will go into the red.
- In some areas of trade, contextual advertising is money down the drain. This applies to products that people are used to buying offline.
How to use the advantages and deal with the disadvantages of contextual advertising
If you do not have much experience in this business, then you should not rely on luck, because it is about your money. Experts advise to definitely turn to automation services.
These are excellent helpers in setting up contextual advertising for beginners and not only. The service will help you not to make mistakes and not “drain” the entire budget at once. They will also tell you how to make the most of the possibilities of a particular type of contextual advertising.
Further in the article, we will provide a list of services that provide support for advertising campaigns.
Context advertising services:
- MyDuMedia.com;
- Advmaker.net;
- PropellerAds.com;
- Contema.ru;
- Google AdWords;
- B2BContext.ru;
- LimonAds.net;
- AdvertLink.ru;
- Market PLACE;
- Nolix.ru;
- AdvMagic;
- ApiShops;
- Runner;
- MediaTarget;
- People-Group.su;
- Google Adsense;
- Facebook Ads;
- Advertur.ru;
- Youlamedia;
- Click.ru;
- Yandex. Direct;
- RORER.
How much does PPC cost?
The cost of contextual advertising depends on:
- Minimum amount to deposit into the system.
- Money to be paid to a contractor or freelancer who will do the setup.
Let's consider the first point on the example of the popular contextual advertising system Google AdWords. The amount here will depend on:
- industry niche of your goods or services (your subject matter);
- geographic coverage of the audience (geotargeting);
- number of impressions per day (temporary targeting).
Now let's look at what determines the cost of contextual advertising, in more detail.
Theme. Here the run-up is very large, since in some industries a budget of 5,000 rubles is enough for you. for a month, while in others it is the price of one click. In order to determine the budget, as a rule, professionals first compile a list of keywords.
Geographic coverage of the target audience (geotargeting). Everything is simple here. Small region - little money. If you decide to cover the whole country, then the budget should be appropriate.
Time targeting. Here the amount will depend on what time your ad will run. For round the clockwork will have to pay a tidy sum. Analyze what time your target audience is most often online. This will save a lot.
Impression loss due to budget
Let's get back to the AdWords account again. Here in the parameters there is a tab "Quick statistics". When you go to it, you will see “Percentage of search lost impressions due to budget. The function is incredibly useful because it shows whether you have enough money on your balance sheet to fully cover the demand for your goods or services.
Sometimes after you have launched an advertising campaign, you need to allocate more funds for promotion, because you lose profit due to the fact that you cannot grab all the users who are interested in your services.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to say right away how much money should be included in the budget. This will be clear only after testing the advertising campaign.
What to pay for?
What exactly you need and can pay for on the service:
- Clicks. (PPC - pay-per-click). This is very convenient, since funds are withdrawn from the balance only when the client has followed the link.
- Impressions. If branding is your priority, then you should invest in impressions. For every 1000 scrolls of your ad, money will go out of your balance. This is only available for PPC media view.
- Pay for conversions. The most interesting form of payment. Money is written off for specific actions of the target audience: phone calls, applications, user registration on the site, payment for purchases. many entrepreneursattracted by this opportunity.
If you hire an agency or a freelancer to promote your brand, who knows how to set up the main types of contextual advertising, then, of course, you budget his commission.
It usually consists of:
- percentage of the advertising campaign budget;
- fee for the work of the agency for the month (freelancer's salary) or payment for a specific amount of work performed.
Directologist - contextual advertising specialist
In order for your money not to go down the drain, and you get the maximum profit from contextual advertising, you should contact the pros in this area. A director will help you. The word came from the name of the Yandex. Direct advertising network, which is the most popular in Runet.
You can look for a directologist among freelancers. There are many exchanges where they offer their services and immediately announce the cost.
By what criteria should you choose? What to look for when flipping through a specialist's portfolio?
- A director (targetologist) with experience should have completed projects with detailed calculations and positive feedback. Such reports are called cases.
- This person must be well erudite. Watch his reaction when you talk about your industry. If a person frankly does not understand what is at stake, then he is not suitable for you
- The director is ready for contact. Immediately describes the principle of work and voices where your funds will go.
Worth working withcontextual advertising
Any kind of contextual advertising is not a panacea, and you should not place too high hopes on it. It is best if you use it in combination with other online and offline promotion methods, because using only this tool, it is unreasonable to cover the entire target audience.
