I’ve been invited to present at the first ever WordCamp event in The Netherlands, on October 31 at Seats2Meet in Utrecht.

I will be presenting a very practical use case of the integration of WordPress and OpenX. OpenX is an ad server. More information about OpenX can be found on my blog. OpenX is free open source software, just like WordPress, and can be downloaded from www.openx.org.

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OpenX is an ad server, a system used for online and simple management of advertising space. It is free open source software. Because it is very powerful and has a lot of features, in some cases it can be a real plus to hire a consultant.

In recent weeks I had a number of questions from people asking me what ‘OpenX‘ is. Clients that I help with their OpenX system and implementation know the answer, of course, but since I write about it on my weblog all the time, others have noticed the term too. A valid question, and below is a short introduction about OpenX, how it can be used and what my work around OpenX involves.

Short introduction of the OpenX Ad Server

OpenX Ad Server is an ad server, created and published by the British-American company OpenX.org. It is a system that can be used to manage and optimize the advertising space on one or more websites. It is a tool for web site owners (called ‘publishers’ in the online advertising industry).

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Direct ad sales is hard work

In my work as an internet business consultant, I often help site owners and publishers with their online advertising programs. The objective is usually to optimize or maximize ad revenue, or to reduce the costs involved in operating the advertising. And very often people will want to try out if they can sell advertising directly, instead of just using an ad network or programs like Google AdSense.

As it turns out, trying to sell advertising takes time and energy, and it has a remarkable resemblance to normal work. It requires dedication, perseverance, patience, and a keen sense of business. In some cases, people are a little bit disappointed. They had the impression from stories in the papers that just setting up a web site would be enough to start making serious money without putting any hours in.

John Ramey, CEO over at isocket, did a four part series on his blog, that goes into a lot of detail about selling advertising. The first article explains the difference beteen remnant advertising and direct advertising. Then he goes on to explain why selling direct advertising can generate more ad revenue than just running ad networks and exchanges. There is another article on the blog that gives some pointers to help you decide if direct ad sales is a good idea or not. Once you’ve decided that direct ad selling is something worth trying, the next question is: how? John’s third blog in the series describes what isocket.com will do to power direct ad selling. Of course, isocket.com isn’t the only option for doing direct ad sales, and they are still in private beta when I write this, but it is something to keep an eye on.

Update November 13, 2009

OpenX, the makers of the free open source ad server, recently did a survey of over 450 publishers, asking them about their approach to direct ad selling and the results. Based on the feedback, they put together a 3 page report that lists the five most important factors that can lead to an increase in the CPMs from direct ad sales. The announcement and a download link for this report can be found on the OpenX Blog.

It’s often said that site visitors are developing something called ‘banner blindness’. After a while, it’s said, you just don’t see the ads anymore. Perhaps that’s the reason why banners are not always getting the creative attention they deserve

Researchers at market research firm MetrixLab have studied what influences the effectiveness of banner ads, looking at aspects like size, timing of showing the logo and brand name, and interaction. They also investigated how site visitors respond in terms of attention, memorization and attitude.

The study reveals eight tips for effective banner ads:

1. Show the logo or brand name at the end of an animated banner, because otherwise it will be too much of a distraction.
2. The message that needs to get across must also be at the end, that will demand the most attention from the viewer.
3. The bigger the better: people will notice large ads more often and look at them for a longer period of time.
4. Fast moving text will be memorized better, but slow moving text results in a more intention to buy.
5. Continuously repeating the same message does not have any additional effect. Once is enough, but make sure that the final image is right, because that’s going to stick.
6. Showing images of people has a positive result and will increase click through ratios.
7. By explicitly asking to click the ad, the click through ratio decreases. People don’t want to be bullied, they want to make their own decisions.
8. Interaction doesn’t lead to better memorization, but it does help attract attention.

OpenX: impressive growth, new software version

A press releases and a software upgrade from OpenX were published almost at the same time yesterday. Almost 1 year after joining OpenX as CEO, Tim Cadogan picked April fool’s day to make some very serious announcements.

The first story was a press release about the phenomenal growth in the usage of the OpenX Ad Server product and the accompanying OpenX Market. A few highlights:

• More than 8,000 publishers have opened accounts on OpenX Hosted, together serving about 5 billion ads per month.
• OpenX Ad Server has been downloaded and installed by more than 35,000 publishers, and together they serve a huge number of ads, estimated at 300 billion per month.
• OpenX.org Ltd is doing very well in the transition from being a developer of open source software into a commercial company offering software, services and monetization opportunities. In spite of the economic climate, revenues are increasing. Even more important in my opinion: the potential for OpenX Market is not just a concept anymore, because participating publishers can tell from their revenues that OpenX is also generating revenues.

Just a few hours later, a major new software release was announced on the OpenX company blog: OpenX Ad Server version 2.8 is now available to anyone. It has some exciting new features and benefits, including the new plugin framework, general availability of OpenX Market, and improvements in the user interface, scabability and performance. More about the new software in my earlier blog post.