Can Pixel Ads Be Put To Good Use?
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Brad Fallon, author of Stomping The Search Engines (try the free course, it’s very good) and one of the more well renowned search engine optimization (SEO) experts runs a blog. One of his entries, Pixel Ads — Be there by being (a small) square goes into a discussion of pixel ads and their SEO effectiveness. He’s also put up a test on his own website to demonstrate another way to use Pixel Ads and so far this is the *only* good use I have seen of pixel ads besides of course the fad that is the Million Dollar Homepage (MDH).
Many people thought they could duplicate the MDH and enjoy similar financial success. The fact is that it’s a fad and only the first will make good money because only the first has the buzz and the traffic. No advertisers will want to buy pixels on a site that doesn’t have traffic and lots of backlinks like the MDH does. Sure a few very quick replicators that managed to drum up some press coverage may have managed to make a few bucks but nothing even close to what the MDH has managed to achieve. I’d never bother to even consider replicating the MDH but it seems hundreds of other people did.
Brad Fallon has placed pixel ads at the top of his SEO blog offering squares at $50 a year and he’s managed to sell a few. His site already has some good traffic given his high profile and extensive online marketing, it also has a PageRank 6 so there is value and appeal for other businesses looking to attract the SEO audience that Brad has. The Pixel Ad format offers a very affordable method to get a site-wide link on Brad’s blog that lasts a full 12 months. That is pretty good value.
The pixel ad banner sits at the top of his site and doesn’t detract too much from his content. It’s like any other advertising banner position, it just happens to be occupied by a lot of different advertisers paying a low yearly fee rather than a few advertisers paying a monthly fee (or something like AdSense or Chitika). Since pixel ads are new it has a unique appeal and perhaps might get more eyeball attention for a while since it’s not a standard advertising format that people are used to like a 468*60 banner or large leaderboard.
For webmasters looking to test out a new advertising format pixel ads are an innovative way to monetize a site. It helps if you have a well established website, with good traffic and high PageRank in a niche where other companies will want to advertise. I would not consider selling pixels on a small site, it will just make the site look less popular as your pixel ad board will be empty. On the right website pixel advertising may add a few extra thousand dollars to your yearly income without taking up too much space on your website.
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I hate pixel ads #1 they are ugly, and absolutely make the whole website that much more “cheap” looking. I was considering pixal ads when I launch my blog network, but have decided to host my own text ad system. I also am not a fan of google — I mean if you own a niche web community….why rely on google…why not but a script…set-up the text ad system yourself and host your own ads….you make more…and advertisers get way better value.
I can’t believe advertisers are buying up pixel ads. As an advertiser, text links are much more effective than images.
Advertisers buying pixel ads on Brad Fallon’s site are essentially saying, “Screw anchor text”!
It’s a good deal for Brad though. He’s able to generate more money per unit of virtual real estate. A 3-word text link is now compressed into a tiny 100 pixel box.
I have seen many charity sites that sell out very quickly.
They are non-profit, but still create money for a good cause.
As is it looks like the MDH has stalled its sales.
There are also good uses of the same concept…
For instance using it so people can buy adspace on the side of a blog…etc.
I have been fascinated with the success of MDH, infact I’m jealous
I have tried several twists of his concept and this is what i came up so far http://ilostamilliondollar.hostevil.net/
Brad Fallon is pretty smart, his pixel ads has one of his sites directly in the middle. That way it does not look like he’s promoting it himself.
Hello Yaro and everyone else. While I agree that pixel ads are UGLY and completely OFF TOPIC in 90% of cases, the yare effective. I do not think they will be effective for long, but for now, they are not something interenet marketers can ignore. I tried to talk some more about pixel ads on my website, Web2earn.com – online moneymaking opportunities – I hope you’ll find them useful.
Regards,
Michael
Hey Michael – to be honest I think Internet marketers can ignore them quite comfortably. If you want to buy links on a site then I’d always buy plain text links and if the webmaster said “No, we only do pixel ads” I’d find another relevant site.
From the publisher’s point of view I think it’s worth testing them to see if you can get advertisers and monetize areas of a website that may otherwise not be bringing in income but as with all advertising if you don’t product results for your advertisers than you probably won’t keep them on board for long.