I have been considering this for a while now. I want to advertise on the top banner for 25$/CPM. How much money do you think I will have to spend to see sales and nice traffic? Is about 2% for a decent banner the normal CTR here? How far would 250 dollars get (yes, I know 10k impressions. I'm talking sales-wise and click thru-wise). Also can you recommend some other great places for hosts to advertise that is deemed effective. Thanks in advance!

You can try FreeWebSpace.net, and sponsoring the Paid Hosts Forum. It's not as big as here, but I hear they give you many hits.

FreeWebSpace.net hm yeah Xshare right.

Have any answers to my other questions those are the most important ones??

HostonicWeb,

I haven't bought any banner space from WHT but I will admit that I have clicked some of the banners I've seen in the rotation there. So, they do get traffic. Granted, I haven't bought any of the services from my clicks but could in the future. If the service interests me, I bookmark it for future use.

That probably doesn't answer your questions but hope it helps. :)

Certainly some of the advertisers may, if they desire, let you know what success they have realized. However, lacking that, the best way to evaluate a site for advertising prior to testing it is to study the existing advertisers over a period of time. If advertisers seem to renew month after month, then it is probably an indication it is working for them. If the advertisers seem to have a very high rate of change, then it may indicate that the success is not enough to justify continuing.

so now the question is, what is the best location to advertise at WHT and what's the best deal

I can't comment on the banners, but don't do a sticky ad in the advertising forums if you're planning on taking a holiday. :)

Gary

Originally posted by HostonicWeb
I have been considering this for a while now. I want to advertise on the top banner for 25$/CPM. How much money do you think I will have to spend to see sales and nice traffic? Is about 2% for a decent banner the normal CTR here? How far would 250 dollars get (yes, I know 10k impressions. I'm talking sales-wise and click thru-wise). Also can you recommend some other great places for hosts to advertise that is deemed effective. Thanks in advance!
I believe you're looking at advertising here and you're looking for an instant ROI on your ad_$ invested. IMO, it won't work that way. Banner ads here are more about branding and building product awareness. I get the feeling [from your post] that you really need a fast return as in sales for this campaign. I believe that a long term commitment would be required from yourself, if you want to build your brand awareness.

Maybe thinking of a campaign in the 6mth to 12mth time period, would increase awareness of your product and pay dividends, over the long term. IMO, you're not going to recoup the $$$ you've spent on banners here, in a short time frame.

Originally posted by Incognito
Certainly some of the advertisers may, if they desire, let you know what success they have realized. However, lacking that, the best way to evaluate a site for advertising prior to testing it is to study the existing advertisers over a period of time. If advertisers seem to renew month after month, then it is probably an indication it is working for them. If the advertisers seem to have a very high rate of change, then it may indicate that the success is not enough to justify continuing.
Some of those advertisers that do advertise month after month, are locked into a certian time frame for their campaign. I do not know if they sign a contract, when they agree to a 6mth to 12mth campaign [for a lower rate], but I imagine that could be the case.

6 to 12mths constant advertising here, would be an excellent method to increase awareness of your brand. WHT is a large gateway to the hosting world, and I imagine that with Headsurfer at the helm, this will only get larger.

why do they call him head surfer?

Originally posted by sharkman
why do they call him head surfer?
That's his username here. :)

Yeh but he also calls himself Head Surfer on his site. Seem a bit unprofessional for such a top notch businessman

I believe it's a simple play on ideas. He is the President (I presume), thus the head of the company. What do those in the internet world do a lot supposidly (sp?)? They surf the web. Hence, Head Surfer. This could be comparative to an executive refering to themselves as the Head Geek, or Mr. Geek. Just that Head Surfer is more internet specific and doesn't hold a stereotype.

Richard

I don't see anything wrong or unprofessional from using a name "Head Surfer"
In your view what would you call a professional top notch businessman?

Originally posted by sharkman
Yeh but he also calls himself Head Surfer on his site. Seem a bit unprofessional for such a top notch businessman
Seems to be doing ok. ;)

Originally posted by sharkman
Yeh but he also calls himself Head Surfer on his site. Seem a bit unprofessional for such a top notch businessman
:rolleyes:
Well you can look at it like this...he's successful! I like his style, upfront and honest! Hes a Texan too.
HeadSurfer --> he let the dogs out :D

Are there any people that would fill me in on how there ad campaigns have gone with WHT? In the short term and long term?

Well. I do agree, they are good for branding. However, clickthrough rate is not high.

(This info is from a friend who advertised here, I have no direct experience)

1000 impressions will go by in a flash at WHT... seriously. Expect to spend big bucks if you want your banner to stick in viewers minds (or have a very good looking banner).

A week or two ago, 1000 impressions went in a couple mins.

A week or two ago, 1000 impressions went in a couple mins.

if what xshare said is true,

$25 x 30 ( every 2 minutes 1000 impressions )
= $750 per hour
X 24
= $18000 per day
X 7
$126000 per week

That is quite a bit of money to brand your product.

1000 impressions doesnt happen in 2 minutes afaik (unless something really major happens).

Hi Rick! WHT generates about 120,000 pageviews/day. As Xshare's experience shows, this does mean 1,000 impressions would go quickly (though you do have the option of having the ad views distributed over any number of days).

A 2% clickthrough rate is on the high end; very few banners generate that kind of response on any site. And having sold ads to web hosts for the past 6 years, I agree with Aussie Bob. You should not buy advertising with only immediate ROI in mind.

Scenario 1: Hostonic buys $250 of ads on a one-time basis. Let's assume that you do get a 2% clickthrough rate, which will bring 200 visitors to your site. Let's also (optimistically) assume that 10 of these visitors will order your $9.95 Advanced package, which brings you $100/month in additional recurring revenue. If the average lifespan of these 10 new customers > 2.5 months, you'd have a positive advertising ROI.

BUT - what about the 98% who saw your ad once but did not click, or the 95% who spent a few minutes on your website but did not order? In two weeks, these folks will have forgotten all about Hostonic. In other words, a enormous proportion of your advertising investment would be wasted.

Scenario 2: Hostonic sets aside a modest monthly budget and advertises continuously 6-12 months. In addition to generating clickthroughs and sales, the ads build up an increasing degree of brand awareness. It's similar to the way certain TV or radio commercials start sticking in your mind because you keep seeing/hearing them over and over again.

Let's say you got 10 signups in month 1. This number would most likely increase during subsequent months - because people have you bookmarked. Or they're finally in the market for a new web host and pick you because they've seen you around. In the end, your average cost per sale on a 6-month ad campaign would likely be many times greater than on a 6-day run.

Thanks for the great post Isabel! Do you think 500 in advertising a month on WHT would work out well in the long run?

I think $500 could be put to good use in other places which would have better results than WHT (imo).

You know what makes more of a difference than the amount you spend - or where you spend it? Your website.

Your header says Hostonics in some cases and Hostonic in others. Not to pick on you, but who knows what details potential customers might pay attention to? Also, I wasn't able to access your PayPal order form. If you were running ads right now, this might already have cost you several signups. Last but not least, I would add pop-up descriptions on each of the service plan features (like so -> http://www.jumpline.com/vds_hosting.php). Many new site owners may not understand what SSI or Ensim Control Panel means.

Another important factor is your ad design. Given the number of hosting companies in the market, it takes more than just "reliable hosting - $9.99" to get customers' attention. I would experiment with several variations with different colors, text, graphics. If you don't have banner making experience, I would highly recommend http://www.20dollarbanners.com. They've done a great job for several WHT advertisers.

Aaron - where are these other places where you've gotten good results? I'm sure Rick and others would love to hear.

Originally posted by Isabel
with several variations with different colors, text, graphics. If you don't have banner making experience, I would highly recommend http://www.20dollarbanners.com. They've done a great job for several WHT advertisers.


Just went to their site ... These guys rock ... :cool: :cool: :cool:

What do you think of this banner I just managed to put together?
http://www.hostonic.com/hostonic468x60.gif
Would this banner deem effective to you guys?

Originally posted by HostonicWeb
What do you think of this banner I just managed to put together?
http://www.hostonic.com/hostonic468x60.gif
Would this banner deem effective to you guys?

erm ... not loading in my browser ... hmmmmm :rolleyes:

Hmm... A question to HS/Mods... If you buy ads, can you pay extra to get them at Peak times in the day?

Banner works now, give me some feedback please.

Isabel,

Does the software that WHT uses for displaying banners permitt us to have such control of our campaigns? I mean, in comparison to Google. Would we be able to specify multiple banners each with different end URLs and specify how many impressions to be assigned to each?

You specified trying different banners, etc. I was wondering if we could try with one large campaign or would we need to setup several smaller campaigns?

Thanks.

Richard Brevig

P.S. I'm asking in regards to a campaign that I might be interested in beginning towards the middle of August. Not for the site in my profile, though.

Ceo or President

Originally posted by Toeki
I don't see anything wrong or unprofessional from using a name "Head Surfer"
In your view what would you call a professional top notch businessman?

Originally posted by HostonicWeb
Banner works now, give me some feedback please.

1. Loop
The loop is a little too fast to catch and digest the words ... add maybe 1-2 seconds to it

2. People
Use real 'people' instead of clipart .. makes you look more pro.

My 2 cents :stickout:

Originally posted by HostonicWeb
Thanks for the great post Isabel! Do you think 500 in advertising a month on WHT would work out well in the long run?
Depends on how good your site/product is etc. But if you have all your ducks in a row, 500/mth for 12mths would be a good investment, imo.

Well, $250/mo at WebHostDir doesn't get us alot of signups, that's for sure but we still keep it going because......I dunno, why do we keep it going......:confused:

Originally posted by NexDog
Well, $250/mo at WebHostDir doesn't get us alot of signups, that's for sure but we still keep it going because......I dunno, why do we keep it going......:confused:
You do know that the technical definition for insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different result. :D

[edit] fixed typo :blush:

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
You do know that the technical definition for instanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different result. :D

:D :D :D
BTW I couldn't find "instanity" in the dictionary :stickout:

Rick - I like your banner a lot, especially the cartoon people :) HostAZ will probably disagree, but I've never been a fan of "real" photos on websites and ads. Viewers pretty much know that these are not your actual customers/employees.

Xshare - yes, you can specify exactly which hours your ads run for a 10% premium. (But keep in mind that WHT probably generates as much - if not more - activity outside of "normal" business hours.)

brevig - yes, you can run multiple ads simultaneously and link each to a different URL. You would be able to view stats for each ad separately and add/change/remove ads as need be.

Originally posted by HostAZ
:D :D :D
BTW I couldn't find "instanity" in the dictionary :stickout:
Fixed. :D

But what about the thin line between insanity and genius? :D

Talking to yourself is a sign of genius, argueing with yourself is a sign of insanity :)

How much does a sticky in the ad forums cost?

Anyway, I like the clip art people over real people as well.

Originally posted by Isabel
Rick - I like your banner a lot, especially the cartoon people :) HostAZ will probably disagree, but I've never been a fan of "real" photos on websites and ads. Viewers pretty much know that these are not your actual customers/employees.

No Isabel I won't disagree. You're entitled to your 2 cents too ... :D :stickout: ;) :) :cool:

Originally posted by HostonicWeb
What do you think of this banner I just managed to put together?
http://www.hostonic.com/hostonic468x60.gif
Would this banner deem effective to you guys?

According to the banner, it looks like Spider Man, Rambo, Mike Tyson and Osama Bin Laden are among a few of your happy customers. I only wish I had clientele of such high profile. :D

Seriously, it might be a wise idea to alter your clipart somewhat so it reflects your business as a hosting service rather than a charity marathon that strives for world peace.

ok lets think about this, you want to advertise on a forum that people come to in order to get rock bottom rates on webhosting, so if you are offering rock bottom rates (lower then most on this site) then go for it, if not screw it (literally)

Originally posted by Boeman
According to the banner, it looks like Spider Man, Rambo, Mike Tyson and Osama Bin Laden are among a few of your happy customers. I only wish I had clientele of such high profile. :D LOL, I hadn't noticed that until you mentioned it. I do think that Hostonic should consider editing that part out. :D

Originally posted by bmwdriver
ok lets think about this, you want to advertise on a forum that people come to in order to get rock bottom rates on webhosting, so if you are offering rock bottom rates (lower then most on this site) then go for it, if not screw it (literally)
Watch the banner ads. Most of them are not web hosting companies. They are service providers to web hosts.