Key Points

  • Ad monetization strategy makes the difference between stagnant ad revenue and ad revenue that builds your business.
  • But you have to build a strategy that works for your unique content, audience, and platforms.
  • Playwire builds custom strategies for web, mobile app, and desktop app publishers who want to smash ad revenue records.

Monetizing your content without a defined and purpose-built strategy is like running a race with your eyes closed. You may get to the finish line eventually, but you could have gotten there a lot faster if you had just opened your eyes. Building a website, desktop or mobile app monetization strategy is how you open your eyes.

No matter how the web publisher or app developer next to you may treat it, ad monetization is not an item on your to-do list. It's not even a goal. It's a strategy - one that never ends and requires a lot of thought, planning, and optimization. There are plenty of ways to do it wrong, and only one way to do it exactly right for your unique website or app.

Here's how to build the perfect ad monetization strategy for you.

Want some help boosting your ad revenue? Why not work with ad monetization experts who are known for being true partners to publishers like you? Contact Playwire to get started.

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Ad Monetization Pillar

Guide to the Complete Guide to Ad Monetization

Slow and Steady

If you're like us, you get excited when you start thinking about advertising strategy. Why wouldn't you get excited? This is how you're going to boost your revenue. But it's important not to get so eager that you jump the gun and change everything all at once.

Why? Because your users need to recognize that they are still engaging with your content. If you change everything overnight, you're likely to upset or even lose some users.

You can't please everyone, of course - some people just don't want to see ads at all. But you can take a slow and steady approach. For example, if you're not running any ads at the moment, try just running ads in one or two spots on your website. Or, if you're only running display banner ads, don't add every video ad or additional banner ad unit you can find under the sun in a single day. Try out just one new unit at first.

See how your engagement and traffic metrics look after each change and then think about adding more slowly.

Build on What's Working

With time, you will develop a pretty solid process for determining what's working and what isn't when it comes to your ad monetization strategy. This advice is simple but surprisingly elusive when you're bogged down with data and publishing concerns: If something is working well, do more of it.

If you're noticing that your video ads have crazy high completion rates and viewability but your side rail banners are doing very little for you, think about doing more video and less in the side rails.

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Ad Monetization Resource Center

The Complete Ad Monetization Resource Center

But Try Something New

Don't get too stuck on the first thing that ever worked for you, though. Make sure you are always willing to innovate and experiment with your ad monetization efforts.

For example, if you are seeing your revenue at relatively high but stagnant levels, don't be afraid to try a new type of ad unit or ad placement. Maybe a premium unit like a flex leaderboard or interstitial ad would take your revenue to the next level. You will never know unless you try.

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Understand Your Users

Your users, viewers, readers, visitors - whatever you like to call them - are the reason you make any money at all from your web or app ads. Without them, you don't get ad impressions to sell. So, always put them first and take the time to truly understand your user and why they interact with your content.

Imagine, for example, the worst-case scenario: You find out that your users really don't like seeing ads when they're trying to read or view your content. 

This knowledge empowers you to assess the entire user experience that you are providing so you can meet your users where they are by offering them something in return for seeing ads on your site; perhaps you can offer rewarded video ads or simply create a premium subscription model or paid app option that allows for the removal of advertising.

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In other words, listen to your users. They will tell you everything you need to know to build a winning ad monetization strategy.

Done-for-Your Ad Monetization Strategy

Ultimately, your ad monetization strategy has to be unique to you. It can't be the strategy you see your competitors using, although you may want to recreate aspects of those approaches. Only you have your unique users and content. So, you need to create an ad monetization framework that fits you and only you.

That's going to be a lot of work, and there's no end date. Web and/or app monetization strategy never stops - at least not when you're doing it in a way that will ensure maximum revenue. Fortunately, Playwire is here to help. We're prepared to build, implement and optimize a winning ad monetization strategy based on decades of experience, the latest data, and what we've seen work for countless publishers like you.

Ready to get started? Contact us.

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