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| Advertising with OpeningBands | |
Advertising with OpeningBands
OpeningBands advertisers: click here to view your statistics or submit a new ad
Banner advertising is now available on OpeningBands.com at affordable rates for any budget. We have just a few basic guidelines:
- Ads should be unobtrusive (i.e. no excessive annoying animation, blinking text, etc)
- Ads will be a standard 468x60 pixel banner saved in either JPG or GIF format - whichever is smaller
- Impressions are only counted when a real browser views a page. Google's crawlers, for example, will not run up your count.
- Not a designer? We can create an ad for you! A small artwork fee may apply.
- Don't have a website to link to with your ad? We can create a small page for you right on OpeningBands if you like.
For rate info, please contact:
Still need more information? Below is the OpeningBands Advertising FAQ:
OpeningBands Advertising FAQ:
Q: What format should my ad be in?
A: Currently, we support 468x60 pixel banner ads in JPG or GIF format. We prefer that you give us whichever format will be smaller. For "line art" (i.e. art with very few colors and simple shapes like text, etc) - a GIF will be smaller. For art with many colors such as photos, drawings, etc - JPG will usually be smaller.
Ads should be professional looking and unobtrusive. We reserve the right to refuse ads with obnoxious flashing text, excessive movement etc that distracts people from reading our site. We want your ad to be visible - but we don't want any ads to make viewing our site an unpleasant experience.
Q: How much do you charge for ads?
A: Please contact
for ad rate information. We sell our ads on a standard "CPM" basis, which stands for Cost Per Mil (thousand). You pay X number of dollars for your ad to show up 1,000 times. We will work with you to establish a rate that is fair for both parties.
To be bluntly honest - yes - this means that different groups may pay different fees for ads. The truth is that according to research we've done, our ads are worth a considerable amount of money due to how closely targeted they are to our advertisers' demographics. We feel it would be unfair to ourselves to sell them too cheaply - but we also feel it would be beneficial to smaller organizations like local bands if we could provide them a more inexpensive advertising rate.
We ask that our clients consider their particular rate information confidential to minimize any misunderstandings about our pricing model.
Q: How do I pay for my ads?
A: You have two options, currently:
Option 1 is to pay online - we use a PayPal payment mechanism, but they have a new feature where you can pay via PayPal without actually having a PayPal account - so if you don't have one, don't let that discourage you! It is worth noting that if we send you a referral email for PayPal, and you sign up for an account through us - each of us gets $5 for free!
Option 2 is to send a check, payable to Steve Sobel. Contact
for further information.
Q: Do you offer banner trading?
A: Currently we do not, but that doesn't mean it's not something we're willing to consider. Contact
and let him know what you have in mind!
Q: So if you sell by number of impressions, how long will my ad last if I buy X number of impressions?
A: The important thing to understand here is how the ad system works. When a page with space for an ad is loaded, the server randomly selects from the list of ads, and displays whichever ad gets randomly picked. That counts as one impression.
As of the time of putting together this FAQ (May, 2005) we get roughly 130,000 page loads per month on pages where we will be displaying ads. So, if we have 13 ads out there, then 10,000 ad impressions would last you roughly 1 month. At the time of purchase, we will try to give you an estimate on how long the ads will last you, but cannot promise a specific figure.
While we are getting off the ground with this - OpeningBands will create several self-referential ads to fill up the number of ads we have so that if you purchase a small number of ads (i.e. 5,000) they're not all gone in a day.
Q: Your site is indexed by a lot of search engines - won't those hits run up my ad count?
A: No! Our ad system specifically filters out hits from most search engine crawlers. We don't believe you should be charged for an ad impression when it's not being viewed by a pair of human eyes. We tend to think you'd probably agree.
Q: What if my ad runs out and I want it to start appearing again?
A: We are in the process of programming an online renewal tool where you can pay via PayPal (note: PayPal has a new feature where you can even pay via paypal without the need for an account) and your ads will be instantly sent back into rotation. In the meantime, you can pay via paypal manually, and we will activate it as soon as a human sees your payment and has a chance to reactivate your ad.
Q: What if I have a show coming up, you've got 10 ads out there, and I really want my ad to rotate heavily so that the impressions do get used up quickly?
A: We can make a special arrangement where you buy two or more ads at once - it will cost you the same amount of money, but instead of having a 1 in X chance of displaying, it will have a 2 or 3 or 5 in X change of displaying. We will need to handle this on a case by case basis if we get more than one such request at the same time.
Q: Do you allow Flash ads?
A: We do not currently support Flash ads, though we may in the future. However, if we do - we will enforce somewhat strict standards on how "busy" or "distracting" a flash ad can be, and reserve the right to refuse it. We don't want to detract from our users experience viewing the site.
Q: How about pop-ups or pop-unders?
A: Under no circumstances will OpeningBands.com ever support pop-up or pop-under ads. They're annoying, distracting and frankly a scourge to the internet.
Q: Can my ad have monkeys on it?
A: Yes. We encourage monkeys. If the monkeys are extra cute, we may even give you a discount.
Q: My friend, we'll call him "Bob", told me he's paying $X for ads, but I pay $Y - what gives?
A: Step 1 - see question above regarding rates. Step 2 - give us Bob's real name and address so we can send our crack team of ninjas (or is it our team of crack ninjas?) to pummel him. Rates are meant to be confidential, and are tailored to the type of service you offer and the type of organization or business you are advertising for. Targeted advertisement is very valuable, and openingbands ads are targeted both geographically and demographically, which places them at the top of the list. As a result, we feel that charging a comparable market rate to most businesses is totally fair. This is why rates are determined on a case by case basis, and may vary from client to client. We respectfully request that you please do not discuss what you pay for ads with anyone else.
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