GPSworld.comis a publication web site of Questex Media Group, a global business-to-business integrated media provider serving a variety of industries - technology, beauty, travel, hospitality, leisure, home entertainment, industrial and specialty services. A major initiative for the company is to deploy a range of enhanced web offerings to complement its well-established, market-leading publications, events, interactive media and integrated marketing services. Questex properties include 23 trade publications, 50 websites, 25 conferences and tradeshows. The company has more than 400 employees in offices throughout North America, South America, Asia and Europe.To succeed in business-to-business marketing, Questex complements traditional print publications and in-person conferences with websites featuring rich content and interactivity. A major advantage for Questex is its ability to implement across delivery channels in an integrated way that reaches extremely targeted markets.
CHALLENGE: Dana Fisher, Group Publisher for Questex Media's technology group, spotted an immediate opportunity to reach highly targeted audiences with spot-on messaging, content and ads on its property www.GPSworld.com, a website for GPS (global positioning satellite) users ranging from the military and construction industry workers to consumers who are outdoors enthusiasts. The site averages 430,000 page views and approximately 115,000 unique visitors per month.To launch the site profitably, Fisher wanted to build revenue by running relevant advertising throughout the GPS World web pages. She knew that contextual advertising using Google AdSenseTM would provide content matching the site, promoting a community feeling and increasing the site's usefulness.
The quote well said by
Troy Peterson
Web Operations Manager:"AdSense has become our standard means of generating immediate revenue as we develop site content and richness."
"It takes time and dollars to move websites into production and build a robust platform for our mainstay advertisers," says Peterson. "AdSense has become our standard means of generating immediate revenue as we develop site content and richness. And once other advertising takes off, AdSense continues to deliver a steady stream of income."
RESULT:Sushko reports that Google AdSense "blew other contextual advertising networks out of the water." Google immediately began filling his ad space efficiently, without fail, and without any effort on his part. He was impressed with the revenues that came streaming in, but even more important for Sushko, his users didn’t realize they were looking at advertisements. "AdSense ads are extremely well targeted and non-invasive to my visitors," says Sushko. "They’re more like supplementary content than ads, which makes them useful for visitors."In addition to running ads on content pages, Sushko runs AdSense ads on his discussion forums, where he notes that the ads are easily visible but do not interfere with the user experience. He optimizes his revenue by ensuring that the ads match the color of the site and by trying out ads in a variety of locations. He notes that adjustments are easy to make and that even small changes can yield a significant increase in daily revenues. He’s now looking forward to running video ads to attract attention and keep users entertained and informed.
For Questex, the AdSense campaign for GPSworld.com is only the beginning. The company is also using AdSense to enhance revenues on other web properties. Fisher says, "The AdSense model makes perfect sense for reaching customers in a cost-effective, unobtrusive and relevant way. Whether we are talking about pest control or computer-aided design, it's a wonderful opportunity for web publishers."
