I have a love-hate relationship with ads on the web. As a blogger, I understand how important ads are to keeping websites afloat. It’s what allows many websites like to continue offering free content to users. Sometimes, ads simply intrude when you least expect it, disrupting your natural workflow.
A recent trend in the web advertising sphere has been growing in recent months with companies hoping to bring greater quality ads to a site near you. Ad networks like Yoggrt, The Deck, and Carbon follow a principle whereby just a single, highly relevant ad is served. Visitors to the site benefit because now ads are more focused and closer aligned to their interests, thus increasing the ROI for the publisher.
Problem with these ad networks is that they tend to only target publishers in the web design and development field. In addition, they are usually invite-only (Read: if your site gets a lot of traffic, we will come knocking on your door).
Which leads me to Influads, a recently launched startup based in Copenhagen, which identifies itself as “an Ad Network Providing Quality Ads for the Quality Web.” Unsurprisingly, one of their main goals is delivering the highest quality ads to readers, while producing results for publishers.
Influads, however, is different in one crucial way: they are a crowd-sourced ad network. What this means is that publishers in the same niche collaborate together to build their own network. Then, advertisers are attracted to highly focused networks and pay premium prices to have their ad posted to their sites.
Comparing current ad networks. From left to right: Yoggrt, The Deck, Influads
For advertisers, the price for serving ads on any given network can range from $400 to $1000, depending on the size of the network. There are a couple of ad models at the moment but one of them allow advertisers to serve their ads across the network of publishers for 1 month.
If you are a publisher interested in joining Influads, you have two options: 1) submit a request to join or create your own network 2) be invited to an existing network. What they are looking for are publishers who produce high quality content relevant to a certain niche, regardless of how much traffic your site gets.
Although Influads recently launched their private beta, they’ve actually been in existence for 16 months. During that time, they’ve garnered over 200 publishers including Venture Hacks and David Airey in niches ranging from startups, architecture, and travel.
Got a tech blog? I have an invite for you!
When I heard about Influads last week, I jumped on the opportunity and submitted an application to create a technology network for LonePlacebo. This morning, I received an email from Anibal Damiao, founder and CEO, inviting me to launch the first technology network on Influads. I immediately responded accepting the offer, and now I’m excited to work with Influads.
Since Influads is powered by its publishers, I have 10 invite codes to giveaway and help grow the newly established ad network. So, I’m making a call to all tech bloggers who are sick and tired of Google Adsense, or frustrated with monetizing their site. If you believe that you produce high quality content relevant to tech and deserve to be a part of this network, I want to hear from you.
Interested? Here’s how you can obtain an invite code:
Leave a comment below providing the following: a) your one-sentence elevator pitch b) a short paragraph explaining why you deserve to be chosen c) a link to your site, Twitter, Facebook accounts
The criteria for being chosen will depend on the quality of your pitch, your site’s content, and the number of likes your comment receives. Feel free to try alternative methods like sending me a tweet or an email. I look forward to hearing from you.
