Week 4: MK 225 Internet Marketing

Discussion Question:

Select a popular content (news, information) website and identify all of the potential revenue sources that exist on the site. You should identify any forms of sponsorship and banner advertising. You should also address whether the site employs keyword or commission advertising strategies and whether the site has any unique online revenue from a product or service that could not otherwise exist. Choose a website that another student in this class hasn't already posted about for this unit.

Discussion Answer:

I selected the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com) for the purpose of this discussion question. The site seems to use multiple avenue when it comes to their advertising. On some pages, there are multiple ads from the same company (sponsored), while their are single ads for different companies (commission). All or most products (fashion clothing, services, etc.) advertised on Huffington Post can and likely do exist elsewhere online.

Assignment Question:

Go to a news web site such as CNN's or MSN's sites. Explore the site. Walk through the possible closed loop marketing steps for various advertisers on the site. In a one page summary, assess how many revenue sources you can identify on each site. You should be looking not only for obvious sources such as banner advertising, but also try to determine whether the site has sponsorship revenue, keyword advertising or potential commission revenues. Next, click through some of the obvious revenue sources – a banner ad is a good starting point. Are you directed to the product home page, or to another promotional site? Are you asked to register with the site? What other methods might exist for tracking the customer contact but are not evident?

Assignment Answer:

I selected the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com) for the purpose of this assignment question.

To start off, the way Huffington Post presents their advertising is not invasive. There is a advertising banner on the top of each page (except the home page) above the header that promotes a product or service that may have a connection with the content presented via keyword advertising.

As I move down the page, the next example of advertising I see, is a featured link to AOL Music, Engadget, MovieFone, or TechCrunch, depending on the page. These sites are all from AOL, so I would assume they are all sponsored advertising links.

The next advertising spot on the Huffington Post website is a square banner on the right side of the website, under the main headline photo. Much like the like the header advertisement promotes products that may have a connection to the content. On the home page, the ads are for very general product though like Living Social, automobiles, insurance and hotels.

The final advertising spot that I located on the page is about farther down the page on the left side that is the same size as the other square advertisement and has the same or similar content as the the other square advertisement.

When I click on the ads, the majority of them connect directly to the websites, except for the insurance ads offering quotes. These insurance links bring you to a form to fill out your information.