ListMessenger.net is an online service for e-mail marketing and sending e-mail newsletters

Next to my work as a consultant, I own a business offering an online service for e-mail marketing and sending e-mail newsletters. It’s called ListMessenger.net, and earlier this month we’ve launched a new website. At the same time, we introduced a new pricing model. An account now costs US$ 149 per year.

What is ListMessenger.net?

ListMessenger.net is an online system for e-mail marketing and for sending e-mail newsletters. Every user gets their own online account. Using their login, they can create a newsletter and send it to their mailing list at any time. Mailing lists are built using a complete double opt-in mechanism, making the system compliant with today’s rules and regulations.

ListMessenger.net has been in business since 2003, and many companies and organisation have sent their messages to millions of e-mail addressess.

ListMessenger.net pricing

From January 2010, an account at ListMessenger.net costs US$ 149 per year. This comes with mail credits to send 10,000 e-mails. Customers needing more can order additional mail credits at a price of US$ 30 per block of 10,000 mails.

About the new site

A nice detail about the new site is that it was made entirely using WordPress. This free software turns out to be incredibly simple and effective for website development, and much more than just a blogging tool.

Google Wave may be the way we all communicate and collaborate 5 years from now

I just received my Google Wave Preview Invitation. I’ve been waiting for this for a few months, and exciting started to grow when the first invitations started to be sent out almost a week ago.

It is hard to describe what Google Wave is. Just think what it would be like to explain a micro wave oven to someone living 100 years ago. The people that created Google Wave describe it like this: “this is what e-mail would have been like, if it was invented today instead of 40 years ago”.

The short video below attempts to explain only a fraction of what Google Wave is:

As a user of the Google Wave Preview, I get to invite others too. That’s because there is no real point in communicating and collaborating with just yourself. Now who should I pick to invite …

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.

On large websites with a variety of sections, it can be a good strategy to enable advertisers to place their ads only next to those sections that match their product or service. By assigning a category to each blog post, this can easily be achieved. In my presentation I will demonstrate how the post category can be passed on the ad server, and how the ads can be targeted to the precise category or categories that the advertiser is looking for. That way, the ads will only show up on articles that match the targeting criteria.

There are many advantages to helping advertisers target only relevant blog posts:

• advertisers can target their ads more precisely, and as a result their ad spending will have a higher return on investment
• publisher of a site or blog will be able to sell advertising more easily and find multiple advertisers for a better segmented website
• site visitors will see more relevant ads, which means they will appreciate them more than just ‘random generic advertising’

This presentation is intended for beginning WordPress users with some experience adapting their theme (or a willingness to learn).

More information about WordCamp NL 2009 is on the webite, including a registration form. there are only 200 seats, and they are filling fast, so speed is of the essence!

Truly life changing technology

Perhaps even more amazing: according to Pritchard, it would cost about 8 billion US dollars to hit one of the Millenium Goals of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water. That is a lot of money, unless you put it in perspective: the UK government alone spends 12 billion UK Pound or 20 billion US dollars on foreign aid each year. That money would be sufficient to give every single human being on the planet access to safe drinking water. It would change the lives of 3.5 billion people and save the lives of 2 million children, every year!

The video below will explain it all in just 10 minutes.

This video was filmed in July 2009, at the TED Global conference in Oxford, UK.

Google Website Optimizer helps webmasters and site owners improve their website and increase conversions and sales

When people arrive on your website after clicking an ad or a link, the first page they see is what is known as the ‘landing page’. The purpose of this page is to enable the visitor to buy your product, request a quote, sign up to be a member or receive a newsletter, or whatever action you had in mind.

There are many things that can distract your potential customer from completing that action. Online expert and author Tim Ash presented a webinar on “7 Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design”, for the Google Website Optimizer YouTube channel.

It’s a pretty long video, where the 7 most common problems are presented, including recommendations to fix those problems. In the second part of the video, Tim answers questions from the audience.

If you don’t have the time to watch this video, I’ve made a list of the 7 common problems in landing page design and the fixes that Tim Ash suggest.

7 Deadly Sins In Landing Page Design

7 common problem in landing page design and how to fix them

1. Unclear call to action

Question: What does this website want me to do?
Solutions:

• Call to action should be clear & draw the eye
• Placement of call to action should be above the fold
• Competing calls to action should be de-emphasized

2. Too many choices

Question: What should I do next?
Solutions:

• Don’t present details too early in the process
• Group choices in a small number of categories
• Use visual shortcuts to reduce reading

3. Asking for too much information

Question: Is this information absolutely necessary to complete the current transaction?
Solutions:

• Ask only for absolutely required information
• Collect additional information at a later date
• Shorten labels and unclutter form layout

4. Too much text

Question: Do you really expect me to read all this?
Solutions:

• Use clear headlines and (sub) headings
• Put the important information first
• Do not write in complete sentences, use bulleted lists
• Ruthlessly edit and shorten your text

5. Not keeping your promises

Question: Is this the page I expected from clicking a link or an ad?
Solutions:

• Repeat the ad text or keywords on your page
• Provide clear access to the information that was promised in the ad

6. Visual distractions

Question: Where am I supposed to look?
Solutions:

• Make the page more boring
• Don’t let the design of the page compete with the call to action
• Remove colorful page elements and animation/motion
• Replace generic photos with specific relevant images

7. Lack of credibility & trust

Question: Why should I trust you and buy from you?
Solutions:

• Borrow & solidify trust
• Feature well-known trust symbols prominently
• Use client logos, brands or media coverage as ‘badges’
• Remove anxiety with generous policies & guarantees

More information

The presenter of this webinar, Tim Ash, also wrote a book called “Landing Page Optimization“.

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).

What is an ad server used for?

When managing a website, or perhaps even multiple websites, there can be a lot of work involved in putting advertisements on the site and removing them again, especially when this is done by entering the ads directly into the site’s coding. It takes a lot of time and it reduces flexibility. An advertising server (usually shortened to ad server) like OpenX can provide a real solution in this scenario.

How does OpenX work?

Websites and zones
In the OpenX Ad Server, one can define websites, and also one or more zones for each website. A zone represents a space on the webpages where ads are supposed to be displayed. For every zone there is a little snippet of HTML code, which must be placed in the site, at the exact spot where the zone should go. This forms the integration between the site and the OpenX Ad Server. It is a one time job, that will take little time for an experienced webmaster or developer. The word ‘zone’ is a term in OpenX, other systems refer to it as ‘location’, ’spot’, ‘placement’ or ‘position’.

Advertisers, campaigns and ads
One can also create advertisers, campaigns and ads in the OpenX Ad Server. Those can be internal campaigns or campaigns from direct advertisers, but also ads from external ad networks like Google AdSense, from affiliate networks like Commission Junction, or from advertisers and agencies that use systems like DoubleClick.

Targeting: the right ad at the right spot
The final step is to link the right campaigns to the right zones, effectively determining which ads will appear where. This can be combined with various forms of targeting, matching the display of ads to specific situations. OpenX Ad Server can handle targeting based on date, day and time, geographic are (country or city, and more), web browser used by the visitor, and language set by the visitor, to name just a few. There are also advanced targeting options, using known information about members or customers (like their gender, education or age range), or from known details about the site’s content and structure (for instance: display the ad only in the ‘news’ section or anywhere but the ’sports’ pages).

Statistics: to measure is to manage
The OpenX Ad Server measures how often ads are displayed and clicked, and has reports for these numbers plus ad revenue for the publisher, advertiser and webmaster. It also has functionality to measure conversions, leads or transactions on the advertiser’s website that occur as a result on a click on a banner that was displayed on the publisher’s site.

Starting to use OpenX: hosting and scalability

OpenX Ad Server is a free open source application that can be installed on a publisher’s server. It was developed in the PHP programming language and stores data using the MySQL database, both of which are also open source software. Except for time and hardware, there are no additional costs, and no license fees. Another option is to hire a specialized hosting company to handle the technical aspects.

The OpenX Ad Server can be utilized by small and large websites. The system has been designed to enable installation on a cluster of web servers, allowing it to grow alongside the growth of the sites. There are companies that display in excess of 1 billion ads per month using OpenX Ad Server. That does involve quite a bit of hardware of course.

Nowadays one can also open an account on OpenX Hosted, on offer by the OpenX.org company. This is free of charge up to a volume of 100 million ads per month. For anything above that, there are paid enterprise accounts.

OpenX Market: an advertising market place

Giving away an open source system for free obviously isn’t generating any revenue for the developers. In April of 2009 the OpenX.org company launched a new product that is going to take care of that: OpenX Market. It is effectively an extension to the ad server. With any campaign defined, the ad server can contact the OpenX Market in real time, looking for an ad that has a higher bid than a floor price that is determined by the publisher. Advertisers are bidding against each other, and the highest bidder wins the ad position. If there are no bids that exceed the floor price, the publisher’s own campaign will be displayed. For site owners, this provides a risk free way of testing the open market for higher ad revenue. The OpenX.org company makes money from the OpenX Market through a 15% markup on the floor price, as part of the bidding process.

The features I mentioned above are in fact only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more advanced features and use cases.

Advanced applications and extensions

With the release of version 2.8 of the OpenX Ad Server software, another important feature was released for the first time: the plug in architecture. This enables developers to change or extend the functionality of the core system without having to modify that same core directly. This is an approach that has proven to be highly successful in other open source software like blogging tool WordPress or web shop system Magento.

More information about OpenX?

There is a lot of information about the system and functionality on the www.openx.org website. The software is available for free download there, but one can also open a free account on OpenX Hosted.

Consulting and Support for OpenX

OpenX Ad Server is a large system, and it will take a bit of effort and energy to get acquainted with it. One can get external help too, since there are a number of independent consultants around the world, and I’m one of them. The OpenX.org site shows my profile, reviews and references. I work for clients from all over the world. I have a page on my site that lists which services and support options for OpenX I have on offer. There is also a request form to contact me about OpenX consulting and support.

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.

OpenX closes $10 million Series C Funding

On Tuesday, May 26, 2009, OpenX announced that it closed it’s third round of funding. This Series C funding of US$ 10 million brought the total sum invested in the company to almost US$ 31 million.

More information can be found in the company’s press release and blog. The news was also covered by technology news blog TechCrunch.

OpenX originated about 10 years ago as a typical open source project, back then it was known as ‘phpAdsNew’. It was actually the brainchild of the creator of phpMyAdmin, the tool that is still being used today to manage many MySQL databases. It went through a few incarnations, including ‘phpAdsNew 2′, then OpenAds and in the past year the name OpenX.

Developing a free open source ad server can hardly be considered a money making opportunity. That’s why I was thrilled back in the fall of 2007 when OpenX co-founder Scott Switzer told me about his idea for an open advertising market place. It seemed like a smart plan, and one that could bring in serious revenue because it is based on the enormous traffic that the combined OpenX users around the world generate. This idea is what we now know as OpenX Market, opened to the general user community in April of 2009.

In the current economic climate, investors are not as keen as they were a few years back. So the fact that in the middle of a downturn OpenX is able to close a third round of funding can be considered a tremendous achievement. I congratulate the OpenX team on this and wish them all the best. This also brings them a huge extra responsibility to spend the money wisely, for the investors but also for the OpenX user community.

Update May 28: OpenX blog now also carries this news, linked added.

I know you can buy bread in bakeries, shops and supermarkets, and there are household appliancies that will make the bread for you, but I bake it from start to finish. There is a mill close to where I buy the flower. I have little packets of yeast. And every morning before starting to work, I make a dough, wait for it to rise and then put it in the oven. The result is that at lunch time I have a very fresh bread, still a bit warm. The satisfaction from eating your own bread is a great feeling, both physically and psychologically.

Today I watched a video that explains what happens when baking bread. The metaphors are truly awesome.  Bread is the staff of life, but in order to make it you first kill it (harvesting the wheat), then you bring it back to life (adding the yeast) and then you kill it again (the backing process).

Peter Reinhart is a master bread maker. He can present this tale with much more passion than I ever can. Enjoy the video, and your daily bread!

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.