• by Jeremy Ostermiller , Op-Ed Contributor, April 6, 2011

Almost every digital publisher constantly wonders if they are doing everything to monetize their site's traffic. In our work with publishers, we study a site's current advertising to determine how it could increase ad revenues. There are five ways to begin increasing your ad revenues -- sooner rather than later.

 

1. Display Advertising
Display advertising is becoming more competitive every day. In order to maximize your banner inventory, we recommend focusing your time on direct sales and outsourcing your remnant banner inventory. Your goal should be to sell 20% of your inventory direct ($5.00-$20.00 CPM) and the other 80% remnant ($.30-$1.50 CPM.)

The 20% you sell direct will traditionally make you more money than the 80% remnant. The remnant game is confusing, competitive and convoluted.  If you do not know what a DSP, RTB or SSP is, odds are you are behind the eight ball when it comes to remnant  -- and you will make 30% to 80% more revenue working with companies like ours. They will do all the billing, collections and reporting , which will save you countless hours of brainless work! 

Remember, the days of running two ad units on a page are history. Studies show that users are becoming more used to the ads and even expect them. We recommend four ads per page and to go heavy on the 300*250 banner. The 300*250 banner is traditionally the highest-paying ad unit and is in greatest demand. The best bet is to place three ad units above the fold if possible and the fourth ad at the footer. 728*90 below the header, 2-300*250 on top of each other on the right column and a 728*90 at the footer of the page.

2. Video Pre Roll
Video pre roll is the highest-yielding ad unit period! The challenge with video is finding a quality player, custom content and quality ads. Another challenge with video is to get traffic to your player.  Our recommendation is to have an auto-play video player on your high-traffic pages and to build out a video page or video section that has a user generated player.  You will see immediate results with the auto-play video player and over time, with proper on-site promotion, your video section will build up.

3. Mobile Advertising
Everyone is saying 2011 is the year for mobile.  If you do not have a mobile site or application, you need to get moving.  Mobile users are the fastest-growing user segment on the Web, and we do not see this slowing down. Traditional banner ad units are very large and annoying on a smartphone.  Mobile ad units are geared toward mobile users and can be very profitable.  

4. Contextual Advertising
Contextual Advertising or in-text ads are a great way to make additional revenue on your site without taking up any precious real estate. Contextual advertising is becoming the norm and top publishers, such as Gannett, MSNBC, Fox News and Ziff Davis, have adopted these creative ad units for some time now.  Contextual ads can be some great extra money, but won't pay for your new mansion.

5. Pop Unders
You are probably saying to yourself: "I hate pop unders." Well, odds are if you are saying that, you already have a pop-up blocker. But what about the sizable Web users that don't have a pop-up blocker installed. Pop unders can be a great way to make extra money; advertisers love them, due to the high click-through rates. A friendly suggestion is to block any pop unders with auto sound. Most legitimate pop-under providers block these annoying ads already, but it never hurts to double check.