Ad Exchange (part 2): Exchanging Ads, Articles and Special Offers For FREE Advertising

If you haven't read it already, please check out PART 1 of this special report to learn how to set the criteria for potential partners and keep the exchange going.

In this 2nd part, we dive deeper into how to get the most out of the exchange. It's not just about exchanging ads. It's about partners working together to increase everyone's exposure.

Type of Ad to Exchange

As soon as you have the buy-in from the gathered partners, you'll need to establish uniform sizes for your ads.

• Box Ad.
  If your ad exchange agrees to post a column of ads on each other's home pages, you could agree to each provide a 120 pixel x 120 pixel "box" ad to the exchange. You would then stack these square ads on everyone's home page.

  But a 120 x 120 ad can be small and hard to read. Having four or five ads stacked on top of each other will make the page look too busy and lower the potential response rate.

• Skyscraper ads.
  One solution is to exchange skyscraper ads instead. Skyscrapers are rectangular banner ads that typically measure 120 pixels x 600 pixels. You should only have one per page - but that creates the challenge of making sure everyone gets equal exposure.

• Rotating ads.
  To ensure that everyone receives equal exposure, use a banner rotator. It's a program that lets you rotate the banner ads that appear on each page. You can set it to show the next ad on the rotating list whenever someone first lands on the page.

  You can also set it to rotate for a predetermined amount of time. For example, you may set the ads to rotate every 15 seconds that a visitor is on the page. The JavaScript program for rotating is freely available on the web, but you will need someone with expertise to put it into your website code.

• Avoid horizontal banners.
  I strongly urge you against using horizontal ads at the top of your web pages. They do attract the most attention, but they can quickly cheapen your website's professional look.

Newsletter Ads

Putting ads into the eNewsletters that exchange members send out can be tricky. Because most newsletters must be compact, skyscraper, banner and rotating ads often don't work.

This is when a stack of 120 x 120 box ads may work best. Unfortunately, you run into the same problem of hard-to-read ads and busy content.

An alternative would be text ads. These are similar to the Google text ads you see on the right hand side of the page when you use the Google search engine. Text ads aren't as busy and are easier to insert.

Special Columns

Instead of ads, you may also want to exchange special columns or articles. For example, if one of your exchange members is a real estate agent, you may want to arrange to put a linked column on insurance for homeowners, in his or her real estate website.

In exchange, you would put a column on real estate issues in your insurance website. The columns could take up whole pages, with a linked teaser on the home page. But such column or article exchanges work best if you and your partners can write good content and are experts in your fields.

Special Mailers

Your exchange should also consider exchanging special email offers. In this arrangement, you'll send a special offer from each of your exchange partners to your email distribution list. In turn, they'll email your special offer or announcement to their distribution lists.

For maximum impact, your special offer should be sent in a separate email from everyone else's offer. The problem is that too many of these "special" emails can annoy your list and drive up "unsubscribes."

That's why you should stagger them by sending no more than one "special" email per month. Every other month is even better. What are these special offers? They could be a free ebook or a special seminar on HSAs, individual coverage or other health insurance issue - something that won't cost you much but offer value to the prospect.

Combined with the banner and newsletter ads, these special email offers can reinforce your online advertising and directly pitch to your exchange partners' prospects and clients.

Getting Started

Are there real estate agents, small business consultants, financial planners or accountants in your area with a similar appreciation for web marketing as you? If so, you've got the basic ingredients for a local ad exchange.

All you need to do is pick up the phone. If they're entrepreneurial, they'll be open to the idea. And you may get new referral sources in the process - even if they aren't able to participate in the exchange.

But hurry, because every day you delay is an extra opportunity for another agent to take advantage of this tactic ahead of you.

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Free Customized Banner Ad Designers:
http://www.addesigner.com/

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