This month’s featured publisher is Matt Davies and his site is Eternalduel.com .

Vince Panero (VP): How did you get interested in web publishing originally? What were those early days like for you?

Matt Davies: I originally became interested in web publishing through browsing through gaming sites - one of my main interests a few years ago. Seeing ways I thought I could do things better, I began focusing on putting together a unique gaming site of my own. Looking back at those early days, I remember the difficulty of spending hours on end working on a site that was barely visited, then watching everything take off as the content began to come together and word of mouth spread.

VP: Can you tell us about your websites? How would you describe your business model? And are there any particular issues exclusive to your site that you had to overcome to make the advertising model work?

Matt Davies: My main website, Eternal Duel RPG, is a text based game - that pretty much means using a dynamic web-based language to interact with a database and create a site which changes differently for each individual, depending how they use it. It was originally just a hobby without a true business model - now it creates its revenue from two separate areas. The first is the site users themselves - though the site and all of its content is free, users can pay to further advance their characters in the game. The other site is publishing advertisements through both advertising networks and individual partnerships with select companies who can post messages on the site and send targeted offers to users: they can then receive incentives for taking a closer look.

VP: Did you get into this with the idea that you would make ad dollars from this site? How did you initially monetize your site? What problems did you encounter utilizing these early methods?

Matt Davies: I didn’t originally see advertising as a revenue stream for the site. Just like many other publishers starting out on new sites though, I did end up trying out Google’s Adsense one day, which did open my eyes to that totally new area of expanding revenue from the site. My initial problem (one that still exists today) was the fact that unlike most sites, which see an average of around 10 hits per unique, I can see anywhere from 100 to 1000 hits from a single IP per day. Advertisers want unique users, who they feel are far more valuable on their first few page visits. I discovered early on that this was not the case - despite being on the site for long periods of time, a catchy advertisement targeted to a user’s interests could get clicked after any number of page views.

VP: Why did you start using Direct Media Exchange as your ad management platform of choice?

Matt Davies: Direct Media Exchange has allowed me to totally change the way I deal with the problem of users staying on the site for long periods of time. Instead of just running two or three networks in a daisy chain, leaving users bored of seeing the “same old advertisements”, I now have a vast supply of inventory. The bidding system means that after a user does see an ad a certain number of times and is unlikely to click again, the value a bidding network places on the impression falls, allowing a more interesting one to appear. By bringing some of my outside networks into the bidding, I’ve been able to better understand the value different networks place on frequency ranges and optimize my bids to take best advantage of my unique situation.

VP: What statistical changes have you seen since you started using it? For example, have your eCPM and revenue increased?

Matt Davies: Definitely. Overall, I have been able to lift up the CPM for my higher frequency impressions, which has lead to much higher revenue, rather than letting the last network in a daisy chain bid practically nothing for higher frequency impressions that my own testing shows are still quite valuable.

VP: What do you like most about Direct Media Exchange? Are there helpful parts of it that other ad management interfaces simply don’t offer? And how does it address the specific needs of your website’s unique niche?

Matt Davies: The linked networks area is of the greatest use to me. It allows me to set a good number of networks to broaden the depth of advertisements I can show on my site, and keeps away the support nightmare of dealing directly with all of them - something that I think puts a lot of publishers off working with many networks at once. I haven’t yet used a free ad management system that makes it so easy to work with multiple networks and update information so easily and quickly, such as network bid rates.

VP: Do you have any tips or tricks that you think others using the exchange might find useful?

Matt Davies: Spend some of your spare time every now and again browsing the community forum: there’s some great information there which is shared by other exchange users. If you’ve had a problem, it’s more than likely that someone has experienced the same issue and you may just find the information you need on the forums. Get to know a few of the people in support as well - even if that means frequently bugging them with tricky questions!

VP: Do you have any final thoughts on this “exchange concept” (network transparency and competition, the utility of having just one login, etc.)?

Matt Davies: The exchange concept is still in early stages. The publishers and advertisers that get involved now are already seeing gains - it’s the loss of monopoly over higher quality traffic that the larger networks are worried about - the exchange concept as a whole will only improve as these networks see the long term benefits of improving the transparency of their systems. The long term gains for everyone are clear and the team at Right Media deserves a huge pat on the back for getting the ball rolling with such a great system and helpful support.

VP: Thanks for being a member of the exchange, Matt.