Extend the life of native ads
Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash
When making a sales pitch, it’s important to be prepared for concerns. One concern advertisers have about native advertising is that content published in your website’s feed doesn’t stay in the top position for as long as they would like, as new content appears.
The good news is this concern can be addressed and lead to an upsell.
First, resolve the concern: Native advertising must behave like the content surrounding it. If you have a top-down content stream, the native article should flow down the page with the other content. Readers are more likely to pay attention to sponsored content that flows with editorial articles, than content that is static.
Next, pitch the upsell: Digital advertising offers many ways to extend the life of a native ad, and an advertiser can pay an additional amount for any of these. Here are a few ideas NativeAdWorks clients use that work well:
A view of the Brandview tab where advertisers have paid for a dedicated landing page.
A view of the Brandview tab where advertisers have paid for a dedicated landing page.
Create a landing page for sponsored content, with a header for it on the home page. One client calls its sponsored content program “Brandview,” and the Brandview tab leads to a page with all the sponsored content articles from advertisers that pay for this feature. Not only does this page extend the life of the content, it generates six percent of page views for the articles. Visitors to the website have learned that clicking on the Brandview tab leads to valuable and interesting content.
Insert a widget in each posted article (not just sponsored articles). One NativeAdWorks client does this in place of a 300 x 250 display ad. The widget cycles through recommended articles – mostly sponsored content, mixed with editorial – on a rotation, displaying an image, article title and the first couple of sentences. This feature extends the life of the article and increases content performance.
Give suggested reading at the bottom of every article. A NativeAdWorks client has three spots for recommended articles on rotation, offering a mix of news stories and sponsored content. Advertisers have found value in this feature because it to drives page views and engagement. This feature should be used at the bottom of any content on your website.
These are just a few ways NativeAdWorks clients see success in taking advertisers’ concerns and turning them into upsells. We recommend using these and other ideas to extend the life of your sponsored content.