Līve Ambitions

You can think of advertorials as a cross between an informative article and a sales copy. Advertorials usually start off by presenting a problem, and ends with a solution of some kind.  The solution they offer is typically a sales pitch to subtly persuade the reader into buying something.

To give you a better picture of what I’m talking about, here are 2 ads that are frequently seen on Yahoo.  The ads themselves are not advertorials, but once clicked, you are directed to the corresponding advertorial page.

The 1st is an ad from HowLifeWorks.com, and the other is by ARALifeStyle.com.  ARALifeStyle was the 1st to use these types of ads, but HowLifeWorks was quick to jump on the business model.  It was kind of innovative because the design of the ads sort of made you feel like those articles were just a part of Yahoo.

Once you click on one of those links, you are directed to a simple looking website. The landing page offers an article, a few related articles, and some sponsored PPC ads.

So you may be asking “what is the big deal?”  Well, there really isn’t.  Simply put, these websites are nothing more than beefed up arbitrage sites.  Except, instead of flipping PPC traffic, these websites are buying CPM traffic and flipping them to PPC and affiliate revenue.  We can easily spot the PPC ads, but the affiliate links are embedded within the article itself.  So, someone who has no clue about affiliate marketing would have no idea that the article’s true intention is to promote an advertiser’s service or product.

The advertorial business model is not entirely new though.  We see it almost everyday.  Websites like eHow, About.com and HowStuffWorks.com all have the similar business models.  When you break it down, they are all websites that provide informative articles about certain topics, and they all make money from PPC ads.  The only difference is that these sites do not include sales verbiage in their articles.  For this reason, we do not look down on eHow or About.com like we do the advertorial sites.

What are your thoughts on advertorial sites?

Commission Junction, North America’s largest affiliate network, has launched a new advertising service called CJ PayPerCall.  We’ve typically seen this type of advertising platform on “Yellowpage” type sites, but it’s still a new concept in the affiliate marketing realm.

Here’s the gist of how the program works:

1. Publisher signs up for pay-per-call campaign (CJ is using a pay-per-call platform called RingRevenue.com).
2. Publisher applies for affiliate programs and selects phone numbers.
3. Publisher promotes the phone campaigns.
4. Customer likes what they see and places a phone call.
5. CJ tracks the phone call.
6. Advertiser receives phone call.

According to CJ, PayPerCall will not only pay higher commissions vs traditional methods, but also increase conversion rates.  At the same time, the advertisers will have increased targeting capabilities and have the ability to reach new markets.

You can sign up for PayPerCall via your CJ affiliate account, or visit: www.cj.com/paypercall

Do you think an advertising platform like this will work?

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a number of different affiliate networks.  I tried many, but most of them I’ve simply collected for future reference.  By no means is this the most comprehensive list of affiliate networks.

AcclaimNetwork.com (credit cards)
AdFish.com
AdFusion.com
AdMarketplace.com
AdReporting.com
Adteractive.com
AdValiant.com
AffiliateBot.com
AzoogleAds.com
CJ.com
ClickBank.com (digital products)
ClickBooth.com
ClickXchange.com
Collective-Media.com
CommissionSoup.com (financial)
Copeac.com
CoProsper.com
CPAEmpire.com aka Affiliate.com
CPAJunction.com
CPALead.com
CPAStorm.com
Credit.com
CyberBounty.com
DarkBlue.com
Datran.com
DirectLeads.com
DirectTrack.com
eAdvertising.com
HydraNetwork.com
iCommissions.com
IncentaClick.com
Kolimbo.com
LeadClick.com
LeadHound.com
LinkConnector.com
LinkMo.com
LinkShare.com
MarketHealth.com (health & beauty)
MarketLeverage.com
MaxBounty.com
MoreNiche.com
MotiveInteractive.com
NCSreporting.com (financial) - owned by BankRate
NetPartner.com
NeverBlue.com
OffersQuest.com
PepperjamNetwork.com
Performics.com
PrimaryAds.com
QuinStreet.com (financial)
RevenueAds.com
RevenueAllies.com
RevenueGateway.com
RocketProfit.com
SearchCactus.com
ShareASale.com
ShareResults.com
WebClients.com
WebSponsors.com

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.  I hope to keep this list updated.