I’ve been working with clients to look at advertising on-line as a navigational tool, like direct response advertising is off-line. An ads purpose goes from “look at me” to “use me to get what you want.”

An advertising network I manage maintains a strong 0.5% to 1.0% CTR — but that means turning away many advertising dollars. A client’s network pushing 25 million impressions a day with only a 0.01% to 0.02% CTR — they accept anyone who will ante up.

(As an advertiser, I want the CTR! As a publisher, I want the CPM money without the CPA risk!)

Publishers can get more relevant ads by focusing their sites and being more selective with advertisers to choose them around customers interests. This means being a guardian of the visitors experience, rather than the upfront gain of accepting who ever can pay.

With higher CTR, you’ll find you can make the same money with fewer resources than a high impression network. Plus, users won’t consider your ads as advertising because they will better serve their interests.

Best,

Justin