Pick a website out there on the World Wide Web, any site will do, and take a look at its current ad campaign. If it is a newer website then there’s a decent chance that it will have some type of contextual ad, which means that the advertisement will scan user’s recent browsing history and generate a custom banner that they are likely to take advantage of right then. Experts within the industry are already proclaiming that contextual ads are by far the best invention since the wheel or sliced bread, but we certainly disagree. Here are three reasons why contextual ads are not always the answer-
1) Contextual Ads are Almost Worthless on an Authority Website
Let’s say that you build a website about butterflies. Why butterflies, we don’t know, but we’re not here to judge you so don’t worry about picking a strange topic of interest. Anyway, your butterfly website tells people all about the hobby and gives everyone plenty of pictures, news, and updates relating to the world of butterflies.
What sense would it make to have your website generate ads for something other than this industry when someone visits your website? For all you know, their child could have been looking at toys a few minutes ago so your butterfly website will show the adult a box of Legos or an off-road dirt bike. If you’re an authority, then you want to advertise for your industry only.
2) Contextual Ads Cost Website Owners Money
Okay, let’s say that you want to build a blog-type website that incorporates Wal Mart or Amazon so that you can sell anything. Those types of websites have great appeal to the masses, but you’re also choosing to compete with about a billion unique domains that are doing the exact same thing as you are. While offering a million different products would seem like it would make you a larger overall commission, you’d be much better off picking one topic and offering a much smaller inventory.
The reason why is simple; Amazon may pay you a 2-4% commission where a specialty retailer could pay 20-40%. That means that you’d have to sell ten Amazon camcorders to equal out to one sale of an electronics retailer…and both items cost almost the exact same price on each of the websites.
3) Contextual Ads Encourage Multi-Task Ideas
Then there are the people who want to have a website about butterflies but they really like snowboarding as well, so they talk about both on the website and assume that contextual advertising will have them covered on all bases. While this is certainly true; look at all of the money that you are throwing away just to save the time of filling out an additional two minute application on our website.
Affiliate marketing is 100% about specialized sales; there’s no easy way to get around that no matter how you look at the scenario or how great your new website seems to be. Contextual ads encourage domain owners to think outside of that box, which is really a great thing. Most of them ultimately give away entirely too much money for the little bit of flexibility, however, which is why we always recommend to go directly with affiliates.