This Wednesday a few members will set out to rep for the DMX team at Twiistup. The unique conference is held in Santa Monica at the swanky Viceroy Hotel and it features influential bloggers, investors, techies, and fellow industry pros. We’re excited to be a sponsor and we’re looking forward to rubbing elbows with some of our publishers and network friends.

If you’re a publisher, a Right Media Exchange client or friend, or simply in Santa Monica and want to learn more about DMX, then we want to meet you! Shoot me an email at kkitchel@rightmedia.com.

For many years now, I’ve been working on a publisher product, Direct Media Exchange and acting as a publisher advocate for Right Media working to help maintain the Internet as an open, transparent and evolving ecosystem.

That’s why I was glad to see that the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced a new effort to broaden the coalition of publishers on the web who are shaping industry standards. I encourage all publishers to check out this opportunity to join this important organization (and get some nice membership benefits along the way!)

As the 4^th of July draws near, we find ourselves preparing yet again for a day of exciting, somewhat wholesome, good American fun. You might be planning a picnic or a barbeque, or getting out of town, or waiting to be invited to a party, or planning a nice night in with the family. Here in Eugene we have great firework shows at the local baseball stadium, we’re stocking up on PBR (not only is it delicious but the cans are red, white and blue) and some of us are making the pilgrimage north to the great state of Washington where a seedy store called Blackjack’s sells fireworks that aren’t legal in Oregon.

Beyond all the festivities, though, there is one major topic that I know each one of us really reflects on this time of year: Frequency Capping.

Here are some tips from the Direct Media Exchange team:

Cam says: “Make sure to cap! It helps increase your fill rate from outside third-party networks. It stops sending them the impressions that they would normally send to default. And don’t forget to stick a feather in your frequency cap!”

Joe says: “Find out when your impressions are defaulting and set them appropriately— don’t just put caps on arbitrarily. Adjust your frequency caps and see how your fill rate is affected. For example, if your cap is set at 3 per 24 hours, and you’re still getting defaults, you should adjust the cap to 2 per 24 hours. If you’re getting no defaults, you should raise the daily number.”

Chuck says: “Use the reporting tools in your 3rd party accounts to determine several pricing points based on frequency, then use DMX frequency capping to create multiple placements at those price points. For example: rather than 1 placement capped at 5 per user per day set at $.20 eCPM, you might have a placement at 1 per user per day at $.60 eCPM, another at $.20 eCPM at 2 per user per day, and a third at $.10 at 2 per user per day to more accurately reflect the pricing at your third party.”

I say: “This might take some practice, because frequency capping is an art, not a science. The DMX forum is a great place to go for community support, and remember that the DMX team is always here for you too.”

You are reading my first official blog for the exchange. I’m excited to take this role on and also a little nervous to be filling the shoes of the legendary Vince Panero. Until now my focus has been on account approvals—an entertaining and sometimes shocking job.

I was sifting through some of Vince’s old blog drafts that were never posted, and found one summing up an interview he did with me about the approvals process. I thought it might be a good choice for my first entry.

“So imagine that you’ve just created a smoking hot website. The next thing you could do is submit your new website to different advertising partners to be part of their programs. Then you can generate some revenue from your hard-earned, organically grown traffic.

But then the reality of the approval process sets in. Sometimes you’re accepted. Sometimes you wait forever–and then get accepted. And sometimes you’re just outright denied. How do you make it easier on yourself (and the approvers)?

Well, I don’t know everyone’s rules and regulations regarding approvals, but I do know the head ‘approval’ person here for DMX. Kelly K. is her name and approvals (and denials) is her game. Let’s see if we can get the skinny on this whole sticky subject of approvals…

Vince Panero (VP): You do approvals, right?

Kelly K.: Yep, I’m doing approvals.

VP: You know it’s a tricky subject; people like to think they’ll always be approved by the partner they’re applying to, but there’s always ‘content guidelines’…

Kelly K.: I go by the guidelines for approvals. It pretty much covers everything to my knowledge.

VP: What are some of the things that keep potential DMX ‘pubs’ from getting your stamp of approval?

Kelly K.: Well, the most common reason that I deny a site that could otherwise be OK is ‘adult content.’ It’s so common because just ONE inappropriate picture makes their whole site deniable. Another one is that the publisher ‘contact and sign-up’ information doesn’t pan out—there’s something fishy or odd about their site/sign-up info, so I email them and never hear back.

VP: What else?

Kelly K.: Copyright violations—usually with music and movie download sites. Another is poorly-designed sites with too many ads, no original content, etc. That’s a big DMX guideline: ‘Be clean and professional in design with quality content.’

VP: So, for publishers, what can they do to fast track their approval process?

Kelly K.: They can start by referring to our content guidelines to make sure they make the cut. Another thing off the top of my head is that they can register with an email address from their website domain.

Here’s an example: if I see ‘joeschmoe@xyzmail.com’ registering with a great website that isn’t ‘www.xyzmail.com’, I often have to go through the process of emailing them to verify that he/she owns their sites.

Now, if they register with joeschmoe@greatwebsite.com, (the same domain that they are registering) then I don’t have to take that extra step (most of the time). It saves me work, but it also just gets them on board a lot faster.

VP: Well, Kelly, we collectively appreciate your efforts over here. It’s tough to cycle through so many publishers.

Kelly K.: Hey, thanks. But it’s fun to see all the cool people coming to join our exchange. It rocks.

VP: Thanks K!

Kelly K.: Don’t mention it V.
…and if you’re ready to get your site approved for Direct Media Exchange, click here.”

So imagine that you’ve got a smoking hot web idea. You create your website…then users show. Once you’ve got a healthy amount of traffic to your site, the next thing you could do is submit your new website to different advertising partners to be part of their programs. Then you can generate some revenue from your hard-earned, organically grown traffic.

But then the reality of the approval process sets in. Sometimes you’re accepted. Sometimes you wait forever–and then get accepted. And sometimes you’re just outright denied.

People like to think they’ll always be approved by the partner they’re applying to, but there’s always ‘content guidelines’. How do you make it easier on yourself (and the approvers)?

Well, I don’t know everyone’s rules and regulations regarding approvals, but I do know the best approaches for getting your Direct Media Exchange account approved quickly.

Why People Get Denied

The most common reasons that our approval team denies a site that would otherwise be OK is: (more…)