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.”

Phonezoo.com is our new featured publisher for Direct Media Exchange.

“…extremely easy to use, saves me several hours a week and generates substantial incremental revenue for Phonezoo. It makes business better and that makes life better.” - Jim Mansfield, Phonezoo’s VP of Marketing

Can you think of anything cooler than creating your own ringtones on the fly, then having a service help you download them to your cell phone? This is the essence of Phonezoo–a cornucopia of sounds, graphics and more to make your cell phones sing…literally. Jim Mansfield, Phonezoo’s VP of Marketing, answered our interview questions. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all gotten past another Winter–more or less–and Spring Equinox and the Easter holiday is already over. Like the seasons, change is a constant in the world of online advertising–so it’s smart to be open to it. With that, here are some quick changes you can make to “Spring Clean” your Direct Media Exchange account:

1) Update those 3rd party placements! The eCPMs of your ad partners change from day to day, but we give you the option to control them. Compare your ad partners eCPMs and the current bids you’ve set for them in the ‘Manage’ tab, then reset them to the eCPMs you see in your ad partner’s accounts. Also, feel free to read more about other strategies like Frequency Capping and Geotargetting in our Direct Media Exchange support center (account needed).

2) Review your Media Guard settings. If you originally throttled back on the types of creatives you allow on your site, re-examine these. Remember that the more creatives that are available, the more opportunity you have to have other’s ad campaigns run on your sites–which brings more opportunity to generate revenue. For more information on this, check out the DMX ‘Community’ Tab, where you’ll see forums and FAQs on Media Guard and ad filtering strategies.

3) Link! Hey, did you know that from time to time we add new ad networks to our family of DMX internal networks? Your inventory may be just the right fit for them! Visit the ‘Link’ tab in DMX and see who’s new on the block; read their descriptions and try out a new network or two.

Here’s to your revenue blooming in 2008, on Direct Media Exchange.

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: Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday marked the completion of our third breakfast series, appropriately titled “Eggs and Exchanges,” and our second training class for both potential and existing customers. It was an exciting time for both Right Media employees and clients alike as we connected with business partners, met new people, and learned more about our product in our offices here in NYC.

Wendi Sturgis, our Client Services Director, started off the day with a conversation about the growth of the Exchange and the exciting future of Apex (Yahoo’s new advertising technology platform currently under development), while everyone enjoyed their breakfast. Clients and Right Media employees were given the chance to mingle for a couple of hours before the training session began, encouraging the relationships and community we strive for on the Exchange.

After breakfast, training began and covered three topics: Passing Age and Gender Data, Remarketing, and the Sales Enablement Program. Jacob Ross and Jeanne Hwang kicked off with an overview of the Professional Services Group, a team that provides consulting services and advanced Exchange-enabled solutions based on specific client objectives and needs. The Age and Gender training focused on the benefits of Age and Gender passing and how to utilize it in the Exchange while Remarketing, presented by Andreas Vagelatos, focused on utilizing segment pixels to remarket campaigns to particular audiences. Jacob Ross then went on to discuss the Sales Enablement Program, which provides opportunities for revenue growth by enabling sales teams with tools and strategies to succeed in selling the Exchange.

If you would like to access the presentations from this valuable event, please check them out in the Community Forums, located under the “Community Tab” in Yield Manager. If you have any questions about the material, or would like to explore some of the topics introduced in these trainings, please feel free to contact your Account Manager.

And to answer that age old question, the Eggs came first and they were delicious! See you at the next breakfast.