What you need to know about the new direct marketing guidance note
Nadine Mather and Chloë Loubser
More bucks for your widget
Online shopping service Mpire has introduced WidgetBucks, a new e-commerce advertising network that is said to help publishers, affiliates and bloggers earn three to four times more money compared to traditional ad networks.
WidgetBucks serves web publishers who are looking for better-performing online ads and ways to make money from the exploding widget market. In August 2007, 239 million widgets were used by Internet users in the US, where it is estimated that nearly half the online population — over 87 million people — use widgets, according to comScore.
Jim Kukral, veteran online marketing consultant and award-winning blogger, said, "The challenge for website publishers has always been to find high-quality monetization solutions they can use to drive revenue for their efforts. Up until now, the options were Google AdSense and a handful of others. WidgetBucks delivers a new kind of monetization widget driven by everyone's favorite online activity... shopping."
Using patent-pending technology called MerchSense™, WidgetBucks (http://widgetbucks.com) displays contextual shopping widgets in publishers' advertising space. Additionally, WidgetBucks is the first ad network to support general web publishers, as well as be offered as an ad unit within popular social networking sites, such as Facebook.
Over 2,000 publishers and partners, including InfoSpace, RockYou, SixApart, Whateverlife, BuddyTV, WidgetBox and ePage, as well as content partners eBay and Shopping.com, have tested WidgetBucks during the recent private beta period.
"WidgetBucks gives publishers and bloggers a business model for widgets on their sites and ads that deliver three times more money than traditional online ads," said Matt Hulett, president and CEO of Mpire. "WidgetBucks helps Mpire further push its strategy of distributing our shopping analytics across the web."
News facts about WidgetBucks
* Automated, scalable ad units complement other networks such as Google AdSense and Yahoo! Publisher Network
* Product offers from 30,000 merchants, including top brands such as Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, NewEgg, Macy's and Gap
* Publishers and bloggers earn money every time consumers click WidgetBucks ad content on their sites and are linked to a merchant's offer
* MerchSense™ automatically matches products with editorial content, meaning consumers receive more engaging, meaningful and relevant ads
* Flash-based widgets, presented in part as top 10 lists, cover 100 different categories, 300+ configurations and buying trends of 100 million online shoppers
* Constant monitoring auto-optimizes widget rotation based on success rate
* Publishers and bloggers receive a $25 sign-up bonus, and affiliates also earn a 10% referral fee based on the commissions earned by the people they refer. The 10% commission lasts 12 months from the new publishers' sign-up date.
Source: eMediaWire.com
