Technology & Innovation — November 15, 2011

Third Party Links & the Future of Online Ads

Move away from the idea of getting people to click on ads and learn from sites which have generated a huge amount of loyalty online—like Drudge, Reddit, Techmeme and Fark.

bigthinkeditor

What’s the Latest Development?

In the ad industry, everyone wants to know the future of online advertising. Felix Salmon’s advice is to move away from the idea of getting people to click on ads. Instead, he says, learn from sites which have generated huge loyalty online—such as Drudge, Reddit, Techmeme, or Fark, “or any number of other aggregators and curators with enormous followings.”

What’s the Big Idea?

Why do millions of people love these sites and visit them with astonishing regularity? Because they send them to fantastic third-party content, says Salmon. Creating an ad unit which is primarily links to great third-party sites gives people a reason to look at the ad and even click on it. “That click won’t take them to your site—but it’s still a great measure of engagement. And they will love you for sending them to great content.”

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