If you're new to promoting your website through banner ads, you probably have some questions. These are the ones people usually ask first.

How does banner advertising work?

We display your banner ad on our site where it can be seen by our site's visitors. If someone is interested in your product or service, they click on the banner and are transferred automatically to your site where you can tell them more, and hopefully, get them to make a purchase. We sell you advertising space on our site on the basis of how many times your banner is seen, a measurement called CPM.

What does CPM mean?

CPM refers to "cost per thousand" and is used by the advertising industry to describe how many people have viewed the banner ad ("page views" they call it), or received an "impression" by seeing the ad.

What does "click-through" mean?

When someone is interested in your banner ad, they click on it, and are transported to your website. Every time someone clicks on your banner, it is called a "click-through," and the "click-through rate" is expressed either in per cent or clicks per thousand.

How do you decide where my banner shows up?

Our lower rate is for "run of site" (ROS), which means that your banner appears randomly throughout the site throughout the month. Our banner-serving software allows us to evenly spread your banner ad "deliveries" throughout the month, and mix them with banners from our other advertisers.

How can I find out how well my banner is working?

We are in the process of developing a tracking system that will keep track of all details of your ad. In the mean time we will email you reports whenever you like.

What kind of click-through rate should I expect?

Ours is a fairly targeted site, attracting people who are interested in music or Guitars in general. You can expect a 1% to 2% click-through rate, or higher if your banner is very compelling. It all depends on your banner's message and catchiness. We often see banners that run at 3% and sometimes even higher.

How can I get a higher click-through rate?

We also allow advertisers to "own" a position on one of our Web pages where their banner shows exclusively. Let's say you manufacture guitars, and you secure exclusive rights to the top banner on our main page. If your product is a strong match with the topic of the page. You should get an even better click-through rate.

Why are some CPM rates higher than others?

Typical rates range from $5 CPM to $150 CP10M (Click Per 10 Thousand) The more targeted the site, the better match between the visitors and the advertiser's product, the higher the rate. Not only is the click-through rate likely to be higher, but also the percentage of sales you make is likely to be higher.

How much will this cost per customer?

Perhaps a better question is How much does it cost me to get customers? Every business tries to calculate how much it costs them in advertising to get a customer to walk through the door. After a while in business, they can also estimate the average sales per customer who walks in the door.

Here's one way to look at the actual costs per customer.

	"Run of Site" (ROS)
Rate (Cost per thousand page banner views referred to as "CPM")	$10 CPM
Average click-through rate (CTR)	1.0% to 2.0 % (projected)
Click-throughs per Thousand	10 to 20
Cost per click-through (CPC)	$0.50 to $1
Percentage of click-throughs who purchase from you. (Conversion rate)	10% Your rate may be higher or lower, depending on your site. 10% is quite high.
Cost of advertising per purchase (CPP)	$.75 (CPC average) / 10% (conversion) = $7.50

Do you have any minimums?

Yes, our minimum monthly "run of site" is 5,000 page views, or $50. If you plan to purchase 50% or more of the available page views on any section of our site, we will require a contract with a two month minimum, and a 30-day notice. This protects us from having a major part of our advertising income disappear without a chance to fill it up again.

What size banner can I use?

We have 3 different sized banners that you can use: a small banner ad is 115 pixels wide X 60 pixels high. This banner is suited for the middle part of the main page or the side bar. Next we have 213 pixels wide X 60 pixels high. This can be placed on the main page in the center. Our biggest ad is 449 pixels wide X 86 pixels high. This is the top banner and you can either "own" this on the top of the page or share it with other advertisers.

Do you prepare banners?
Yes. We can design custom banners to fit our site. Our staff is experienced and very detailed oriented. We charge $100 if you already have a concept and artwork in mind. If not we charged $150 and can make you a static banner or $200 for an animated banner.

Can I advertise my porno site or my off-shore gambling site?

No.

Can I advertise my cookbook on your site?

Yes, but why would you want to? Our site is fairly well targeted on guitars. For cookbooks, I'd recommend something else.

Do you cooperate with ad agencies and media buyers?

Yes. Of course, the word "cooperate" really means: Will you allow an ad agency to pay 15% less for bringing their client to you? We like to work with ad agencies, since once they learn about our site, they may bring other customers. We also recommend that you consider working through an ad agency, since you have nothing to lose (it's our 15%, not yours). Of course, if you have a small budget, an ad agency probably won't be able to serve your needs, but we'll be happy to work with you.

Can you serve banners through third parties?

Yes. We can set the HREF and IMG tags in our banner serving program to a URL on their site, and surfers are "passed through" seamlessly. We can also set "datestamps" for "cache-busting" techniques.

Can you serve HTML and Java ads?

Yes.

What's the next step?

Why don't you begin by purchasing 10,000 or 20,000 page views on our site and see how it works for you. You can e-mail us or pick up the phone and call our advertising sales staff at (408) 863-0004, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm Pacific Time. We look forward to helping you make your business a success.