There’s been a lot of talk about the new Google beta test of ‘Pay per action’ advertising killing off mass media.
The theory relies on the fact that advertisers will choose this option as they can choose to pay publishers each time they actually make a sale, rather than each time their advert is clicked by a user.
Add in the current vogue for ‘micro blogs’ and ‘micro sites’ and it’s easy to see why people think targeting specialised niches would be the way to go. But I think there are a few questions which haven’t been answered:
* If there are 10 Google ads on a page, how do I know which product is any good? If it’s relevant to the specialist communities I belong to, then that’s fine. If not, will i have to join a new community and spend months building up knowledge before I order the TV I want this week? Or shall i go to a mass media site of a brand I know?
* Brand awareness. Following on from that, it could spell the end for small retailers. With no-one to bring their products to a mass audience, who will be trusting enough to spend money with them.
* If sites get more and more specialised, how do I get an overview of something new? If I’m interested in a new hobby, or a new subject, I want to get an overview of everything about it, before I specialise. I don’t want to be forced to visit 20 sites to compile my own overview, particularly if I’m in a hurry.
* The new Google ads. Currently someone can click on an advert, and I get a small cut. But I can move the ads etc to get better click-throughs, change the design etc.
But what happens if the advertiser is running ‘pay-per-sale’ and it’s their website which isn’t delivering sales to the traffic I send?
* How about the risks to advertisers? If a brand spends millions launching a new website, and there’s a bug in their site preventing sales, for example, how long will it be before every site removes their ads and replaces them with a site that delivers?
