Should you offer self-service advertising on your website? (part 3)
                     Should you offer self-service advertising on your 
website? (part 3)
John Z
Writes on ad hosting, involved with AdSpeed adserver 
software & ad server solutions.
Self-serve advertising is a do-it-yourself solution designed for advertisers to 
create and publish their ads with minimum effort from publishers. It helps 
website owners to handle many advertisers instead of just a few large 
advertisers without spending too much of their valuable time for ad serving 
tasks. Their time is better allocated to new content and growing the site. Self-
service ad serving requires you to make a decision to build your own or 
subscribe to a suitable ad server for your website. With a good ad server, you 
can have total control of your ad inventory, price, payment, authorization and 
approval of ads on your site. Your advertisers will also enjoy the ability and 
flexibility to publish their ads on their own schedule and tweak them as 
needed.
Select an ad server
First, you need to evaluate your requirements and criteria. The more 
you understand your own requirements, the easier it is to choose an ad 
server. Separate absolute requirements from nice-to-have features 
because you cannot proceed without certain functionality but you can 
live without many extra features that some other publishers might 
need. Also, you do not want to pay for the extra features that you will 
not use in the near future.
Second, you need to find an ad server that meets those needs. Things to consider 
include strong reputation, comprehensive features, affordable cost, easy-to-use 
interface, quick integration with your site, and knowledgeable customer support. 
Typically, you pay a monthly fee to subscribe to the service and customize it to your 
own ad program. You can set up the ad placements, set the ad rates and open the 
media kit up for potential advertisers very quickly. Initially, you need to have place 
holders at the available ad placements so that viewers know that they can publish 
their own ads there. It is also important to set a well-defined approval process for 
incoming ads and communicate them with potential advertisers promptly and clearly.
On the other end, the third-party hosted ad server has their own technical team with 
extensive knowledge in ad serving and ad operations so you do not have to worry 
about those tasks. Their team is responsible for fixing bugs and releasing new versions 
on a timely basis. This arrangement is a win-win situation for many publishers that 
look to sell ads directly to their advertisers.
Set ad prices
After you have decided on an ad server that is capable of self-serve ads, you need to 
set up the ad rates for your placements. The most effective way to approach self-
service advertising is to keep it as simple as possible for your potential advertisers. The 
goal of self-servicing is to enable the users to go through the whole workflow smoothly 
without interruption. Therefore, it is critical to make sure your pricing model is clear to 
potential advertisers so that you are not consistently fielding common clarification 
questions. Accept all popular payment options so your clients can pay you easily for the 
ad spaces. You need to know and present all your traffic’s metrics and the quality of 
your audience in order to gauge your own value and know what you have to offer. 
You must also research your competitors and their pricing before you can set 
a solid value proposition that works for you and also your advertisers. You 
want to set ad prices that are attractive to advertisers but also high enough so 
that you are making a good profit that will help the website grow over time.
Part 1 - Maintain control and earn more ad revenue
Part 2 - Build your own vs. buy/subscribe to a third-party ad server
About Adspeed
AdSpeed ad server is a reliable & powerful ad serving and ad 
management solution that serves your ads, tracks impressions & clicks 
and reports ad statistics in real-time. Driven by the latest ad serving 
technologies, the goal of Adspeed adserver is to provide a reliable 
platform that can help in executing online advertising strategy more 
efficiently. 
Thank you for spending your precious time in reading this article.