Pat Phelan is using tech to change his health. Some interesting tech to help him.
Well done LouderVoice with their American deal.
Blog from Rossa McMahon.
.ie domain names for €2.99 ex VAT from Blacknight.
20 pieces of music that changed the world.
The economist on online advertising.
Ten worst tech presents to buy at Christmas.
Via Art of the Title is one of the best single take steadicam opening scenes.
Bonfire of the Vanities
David McWilliams speaks at Google Dublin
The issue with online advertising? A big part of it is a crock of… Not very good stuff indeed. I’m pointing at *you*, CPM. Amazing that many Irish sites won’t touch things like CPA, where we all have skin in the game… I remember talking to one unnamed, part of the top 5 Irish websites, who sell 50% of their inventory CPM and 50% is just Google and such.
“We don’t do CPA, we only do CPM…”
Yes, I reply, but 50% of your inventory is CPC… So you do go outside of CPM.
“No, but we only do CPM.”
Yes, but CPM is a heap of crap unless you’re on a massive, all-channel branding campaign. It’s useless for the majority and you’re not selling to the majority, because 50% of your inventory is pot luck Google ads! Why not do a trial with CPA, for example, and find some models that work to compliment rather than exist your CPA campaign?
“But we only do CPM.”
Ahh, okay. Why?
“I don’t know, that’s just the decision that’s been taken.”
Aha.
Meanwhile, the amount Komplett spends on channels like TradeDoubler goes up, and up, and up, and up. Why? Because both sides have skin in the game. We gotta give you a good offer, and you gotta give us good eyeballs.
On top of that, the internet ads are becoming more and more desperate to make those connections… Anyone can sell ten million PI’s, but with folks ignoring them you need to do stuff like overlay the whole page with some big f-off ad to get any attention.
Sigh.
Online advertising might be growing, but for the majority of businesses I would not, under any circumstances, recommend going with CPM campaigns. Not unless it’s an all-out brand campaign, where it does have value as a part of the overall megaphone operation.
And it’d be nice if idiot Irish businesses would figure out their heads from their arses in online ads. In another major media company I spoke to a senior person trying to sell me a CPM campaign, who didn’t have a breeze about such things as the difference between an MPU, a leaderboard and a giant beached whale.
How many PI’s will it serve over the month run?
“Umm, I’ll have to check that.”
Seriously.
Do I sound a little peeved?
Yes :p
The David McWilliams speech was really great , well worth watching.