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Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

emberads.com

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Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#51

Post by rahoulb »

chmodd wrote: post #46
rpm4321 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I meant in such a way where a successful conversion couldn't be hidden by the advertiser. They could very easily serve up a completion page with the ad network script missing half the time.

This is known as "shaving" among affiliate marketers and it mostly doesn't matter. E.g. when you are choosing among 10 offers to monetize your traffic, you split test and keep the one that brings you most money, regardless of whether advertisers are honest or not.

We try to do this automatically. If a product attracts clicks but doesn't convert then we disable it temporarily, to give other products a chance to be shown in their spot.

So if the retailer is cheating, then their products should not be shown very often - and products that do convert should be shown in their place.

Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#52

Post by thehodge »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #50
thehodge wrote: post #2

Hey HN, We've been working on EmberAds for a few months now and I think we are ready to get HN using it, The idea is you paste two lines of code, we match to your content and show ads. We've over 10,000 retailers in our system and work mostly in the UK + US (other countries are coming soon). Instead of being paid per click like adsense, you get paid per action (such as a signup or purchase) we've found this works bet…

does this serve international website owners, non-English and Ajax?

At the moment we have no "none english" inventory but we are working on it :)

Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#53

Post by kmfrk »

Maybe I am running some kind of ad-blocker, but I don’t see any example ads, when I cycle through the different ad size options. If this is not just me, could you include an example?

I think it would aid conversion, if you had more examples and perhaps mentioned some websites that use your ads

Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#54

Post by thehodge »

kmfrk wrote: post #53

Maybe I am running some kind of ad-blocker, but I don’t see any example ads, when I cycle through the different ad size options. If this is not just me, could you include an example? I think it would aid conversion, if you had more examples and perhaps mentioned some websites that use your ads

sure

http://thehodge.co.uk http://eighteensixtyfive.co.uk http://missgeeky.com

Are all running EmberAds

Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#55

Post by rahoulb »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #50
thehodge wrote: post #2

Hey HN, We've been working on EmberAds for a few months now and I think we are ready to get HN using it, The idea is you paste two lines of code, we match to your content and show ads. We've over 10,000 retailers in our system and work mostly in the UK + US (other countries are coming soon). Instead of being paid per click like adsense, you get paid per action (such as a signup or purchase) we've found this works bet…

does this serve international website owners, non-English and Ajax?

The code is built for non-english and international sites - if you visit from the US, we show US-relevant ads, if you visit from Germany, we show german-relevant ads - and the matching is language agnostic.

But, inventory-wise, we have concentrated on UK and US adverts so far (with some German and Swiss adverts too). This is just a matter of time - getting hold of the feeds and importing them - rather than any technical issues.

Lastly, we can't deal with AJAX sites yet - but if the system can access the content that will eventually be shown (by doing the same GET as the AJAX request) then there is a way round it - rahoul@emberads.com if you'd like to know more. Getting AJAX working properly is something we have on our roadmap, but we've not had time to look at it yet.

Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#56

Post by larrys »

thehodge wrote: post #2

Hey HN, We've been working on EmberAds for a few months now and I think we are ready to get HN using it, The idea is you paste two lines of code, we match to your content and show ads. We've over 10,000 retailers in our system and work mostly in the UK + US (other countries are coming soon). Instead of being paid per click like adsense, you get paid per action (such as a signup or purchase) we've found this works bet…

"UK + US"

Not seeing any US advertisers (except Staples) that I recognize.

"you get paid per action "

A quick look at your marketing doesn't make that apparent. It was a question that I had.

In order to get the US market, you will need to brand a site and show examples using US dollars.

You also should point out in your marketing exactly why you are "an alternative to adsense". That isn't appearing anywhere, once again from a quick look, which is what most busy potential customers will be doing.

Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#57

Post by netfire »

A few things bug me with the site design

- The header background at the top of the page seems strange, not exactly sure what it is (wood logs?). It makes the white text harder to read and doesn't seem consistent with the feel of the rest of the site.

- The vertical whitespace between the different elements on the site seems off. Different heights and smaller towards the top, with a lot more whitespace between elements further down on the page.

Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#58

Post by shell0x »

Seems like adblock got a new entry in the list. Seriously guys, aren't there any alternatives to ads? I just used a PC without adblock yesterday and the browsing experience was horrible. Popups, which hide the content and have no close button(appears after 10 seconds), blinking ads, flash ads and other colorful ads. I'd never buy any product just because it was advertised somewhere. Thats the reason why I still stick with adblock and noscript!

Re: Show HN: an alternative to AdSense

#59

Post by billirvine »

RobAley wrote: post #22
billirvine wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't see how the ad network could audit conversions with certainty, unless they were also processing the payments. A ping script, from the ad network, on the transaction completion page is all that's needed. Pretty straight forward.

You still require honesty from the advertiser. Whats to stop the advertiser omitting the script on every nth completion page to reduce their outgoings? Maybe omitting it for high value orders as test orders are likely to be low value, whitelisting the ad networks known ip ranges etc.

> You still require honesty from the advertiser.

Yes. And full-circle dishonesty is inherent in upstart/third-tier ad networks (not necessarily the network, but their advertising clients typically).

But in the semi-perfect world of advertisers really trying to sell product, and ad networks with code optimized to make that happen, it works well. If product "A" from retailer "X" is converting well, the system should promote that over products that aren't converting -- and the only way to automatically know is the action-complete ping.

But yes, deception is one of the primary reasons content publishers avoid CPA networks.

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