5 Tips for Publishers from Robin de Wit

Our Senior Solutions Manager at Refinery89, Robin de Wit has over 6 years of experience working in Programmatic Advertising. He began his career in the industry as an Ad Operations Manager at Next Day Media before moving to Refinery89, where he now manages the Operations Department, tackling a wide range of projects related to optimizing and improving our product for our clients. Here lays out all the key points of consideration for any publisher willing to make the most out of programmatic advertising, answering the most common questions a publisher looking to optimize their revenue may have

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1.????I want to monetize my site. What do I do?

There are several ways a site can make money from their traffic and any publisher needs to consider all of them. These include paywall / subscription models, ads, and a hybrid of either. While paywalls and subscription models may work when sites are effectively niche, and users are not able to find that content elsewhere, we still emphasize that for most publishers, ads obtain the best results when the objective is to maximize revenue. When choosing to go with ads, it is important to plan a suitable implementation and consider different ad formats: Display, native, video, interstitial. This can be discussed with an ad partner.

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2.????What do I need to look for when acquiring an ad partner?

Firstly, and most importantly, you need an ad partner to begin implementing ads on your website. It is crucial to have a partner you can trust and feel comfortable with. Make sure that your partner is transparent and readily available for contact, so that they can advise you. Before you do ads, develop a mutually agreed upon idea with your partner and be open to having your ideas challenged by experts. For instance, ads may not disrupt your content in the way you think they do. Always keep in mind that ad optimization is mutually beneficial – it is an industry in which both the ad partner and the publisher make money together. Double check that your partner understands the legal requirements and compliance duties so that they can handle them transparently with you.

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3.????How do I structure my website for best results?

For ads on your site to generate the best results possible there are several key things to keep in mind when setting up your site. It is very important to note that the cleaner the code, the better the ads run. The truth is ads will?always slow down a website, the key is to make sure the impact of this on SEO is as minimal as possible. So, the less excess and unneeded code that you run, the faster your ads will load, and less chances there are for errors or conflicts. . Efficient coding is the way to go!

Additionally, it is important to make sure your code is homogeneous throughout your site. In other words, that the structure is consistent. Having different coding structures on different articles will make it difficult and often impossible for your partners to target ads in the agreed same way across all articles, which leaves room for error and could impact your results. The fewer the exceptions, the less issues to run into. The single tag solution at Refinery89 thrives under homogenous coding structure but can also quickly spot these inconsistencies through what we call ‘load differences’, meaning the tag is loaded but there are little to no ads on the page loaded!

Extra tip: Many publishers spend their entire lives on the design of the desktop version, neglecting the mobile version. In most cases, traffic is primarily via mobile, so take extra care to make sure your site is optimized for mobile as well!

4.?????What kind of traffic is most valuable for advertisers?

Exclusivity is key in the eyes of the advertisers. Make sure your content targets a specific type of user – this way advertisers know who they are targeting.

The purchasing power of the audience is heavily considered by advertisers. This can vary depending on many different factors such as geographical location, age group, and interests.

Traffic sources: direct and search visitors bring highest CPM’s (cost per mille). To acquire this sort of traffic, effective SEO strategies are crucial.

Mass traffic is not the most valuable. Say, for instance, an article goes viral and is shared and reshared at large. While this will bring lots of impressions and exposure to your site, CPM’s will be lower because the audience viewing your content is less specific and more random, therefore, less attractive to advertisers.

5.?????What are the top 3 mistakes I should avoid?

The number one common mistake is making big changes on the structure of your site without consulting or notifying your ad partner first. Since ads are positioned according to the current structure of a site, when changes are made, ads may disappear completely or turn out misplaced.

Another common mistake is neglecting suggestions on new industry requirements or tendency changes, losing lots of potential revenue. Make sure to establish a good dynamic with your partner before moving forward so that both you and your partner are communicating smoothly about changes that will shift how to optimize the performance of ads on your site.

Final mistake: Not working with Refinery89 and not taking the time to talk to one of our business development managers to see opportunities ??

Final tip:

Trust your partner. They are experts for a reason!