What is an Agency Trading Desks (ATDs) and how they work?

The agency trading desk is an independent arm within a media buying company that work on the buying and optimization of "programmatic" or "biddable" media. Examples include Accuen (ATD for Omnicom), Xaxis (WPP), Audience on Demand (Vivaki). The brands like Accuen, Xasis and Vivaki has become synonym to agency trading desk.

The advertisers started coming to ATD's because ad networks historically took a 50% gross margin. ATD's provide deals to advertisers at much reduced rate. Since more and more advertisers wanted their online media buying to be done via ATD's so ATDs are major growth engines for agencies, who have seen their media buying margins reduced substantially over the past 20 years. By establishing ATDs as  independent units that take a service fee, the agency can "double-dip" on the portion of the fees that runs through the ATD. i.e. The media agency takes their fee, then the ATD takes another fee for managing the spend.

So as we know that the Media planners decide the budget which is to be spend across various offline and online platforms. The job of an ATD starts once the media planner decides and allocates the budget to them. ATD's have contacts with various publishers, Ad exchanges, SSP's etc where to go and purchase the inventory from. In earlier days the ATD's use to provide their tags to ad network and publishers. And when users comes on the publishers website, the ad use to be shown as per the setting being down on the publishers ad server.The impressions are being counted on both the ends. And the billing is being done on the basis of the deal.

Agency Trading Desks (ATDs) also keeps on changing their buying caliber in order to stay competitive.Agencies historically spent tons of media dollars with ad networks, who aggregated online display inventory through direct relationships with publishers. With the arrival of the ad exchanges & associated, agencies realized they could purchase most/all of this media directly through the ad exchanges. But now with the rise of media buying technologies like Real Time Biding (RTB),Private Marketplace (PMP),Programmatic Direct,Automated Guaranteed etc. The ATD'S mainly buy inventory using RTB. Real-time bidding (RTB) is a means by which advertising inventory is bought and sold on a per-impression basis, via programmatic instantaneous auction, similar to financial markets.With real-time bidding, advertising buyers bid on an impression and, if the bid is won, the buyer’s ad is instantly displayed on the publisher’s site.

The companies having real-time bidding capabilities are know as DSPs (demand side platforms). ATD use their platform for their buying activities. DSPs (demand side platforms) are the technology platforms used to manage and optimize these buys. They come in all shapes and sizes, but generally combine reporting and campaign management with media buying and optimization. DSPs typically operate "real time bidders" that make decisions in real-time about what media to purchase, at what price, and which creative to show the user. DSPs are operated by Google (Doubleclick), Turn, Mediaocean, Mediamath, and there are lots of other alternatives.

Importance of Content Management System (CMS)

CMS or Content Management System is an application that allows to publish, edit, organize, delete and modify content from a centralized user interface. It allows easy management of workflow in a mutual environment. CMS are used to run a web portal of Blogs, News and even Shopping portal. The number of websites based on CMS is increased that includes corporate and marketing websites. The best part of CMS is that it avoids hand coding, but truly supports the specific elements of websites.

Extensive Features Of CMS Web Development

Store and organize the files using a content management system. It provides version controlled data access. Though  the features of CMS vary immensely. Simple CMS includes extensive features and huge functionality that prove to be beneficial for the web portal. Its feature includes web-based publishing, format management, indexing, searching and retrieval. It also supports to manage the separation of content and presentation. CMS acts as a central repository that includes documents, movies, images and scientific data. It allows storage, control, revision, semantically enriched and publish documentation.

Benefits of Content Management System India in website Development

Direct Control Over The Website - Keeping the control over the website is beneficial for any business. It allows to keep the website updated as per the business need. CMS offers an opportunity to have direct control over the website content.

Allows Consistent Updates - Website needs consistent updating of fresh contents to attract visitors, active appearance and achieve higher ranking among the competitors.

Based On SEO Tactics - Robust result is achieved, by regularly adding content to the website. Setting up of content management system reduces, makes the uploading of content easier, resulting in higher rankings and building huge opportunities for businesses.

Allows Easy Communication - Communication supports in reaching the targeted consumers easily. Whatever is your aim, whether you are retailer looking forward to build contacts with the customers or small or large business waiting for the big leap. CMS acts a gateway for all, allowing better communication system with the end users.

Adds Security - Content management system stores our information into databases, where access control is applied to control the access of content. CMS provides complete protection to the website content, thus reducing the website attacks.

Facilitates Collaboration - CMS allows work, collaboration. Collaborative efforts are applied by the team of staffs that includes creation, editing and approval of content.

Instant Tuning Of Website - Stay ahead among the competitors, CMS allows consistent real time changes that improve the ranking, building new prospects for businesses.

Enhanced Customer Service- CMS provides complete user experience and enables direct contact between business and customers. It gives opportunity serve customer service directly.

Cost-effective Website Development Platform - Simple service provided by CMS pays a lot in the long run. Whether you are running a business or an individual working as a sole proprietor, CMS supports all in maintaining and keep updating the website content. It is a complete cost-effective solution for any business.

Today, Content Management System is acknowledged as a perfect application that allows consistent, quick and easy handling of content on the website. Choosing CMS Web development is beneficial for business, individual and Organizations in keeping website up-to date.

33 Basic Online Advertising terms for Beginners

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. I have seen few online line marketing specialists still don't know about such terms like Interstitial, Above the fold, Pacing etc. So I have collected basic terms of Online Advertising that every successful Affiliate Manager must know.

1. What are Impressions?

The number of times a visitor has seen your ad is called impressions. If somebody views your ad ten times it counts as 10 impressions. This is the primary measurement used in online advertising.

2. What is CTR (Click Through Rate)?

CTR is nothing but the ratio between clicks and impressions. Mathematically, The Click Through Rate is equals to Clicks / Impressions.

For Example : If your campaign served 400 impressions, and 10 users clicked on the ad and visited the landing page, it means your CTR is 4%.

3. What is Conversion?

If an user gets registered / buys / downloads when he clicks on a banner is calaculated as a conversion.(depending upon which action is to be considered as conversion).

4. What is Call for Action?

It is a type of campaign where the campaign drives the user to interact with the landing page webite. Usually, Requesting a quote, download a brochure, sign up for a newsletter, and of course- buying a product or booking a room online can be considered as Call for Action.

5. What are CPL ( Cost per Lead) / CPA (Cost per Acquisition)?

The cost spending on the required conversion .

If your ad drew 1000 clicks at 100$, and you achieved 10 Conversions, then you CPL / CPA will be 10$.

The lower the CPL/CPA value , means good is the conversion rate.

6. What is ROI (Return on Investment)?

The best example to understand ROI is :

Let’s say you are promoting your restaurant and the Call for Action is booking online reservation for dinner. You already know that your profit from every guest is 10$. In that case, if the CPA is 8$, which means you spent 8$ advertising money to get a reservation, than your ROI is positive, because you have 2$ profit on every reservation.

7. What is CPM (Cost per mille)?

Commonly used measurement in advertising !!

CPM is also called as CPT i.e cost per thousand , which means we need to pay cost on every 1000 impressions.

Example : If CPM is $5 , it means cost of 1000 impression is $5 .

8. What is CPC (Cost per click)?

Just like CPM , CPC is also a measurement used in online advertising , the only difference is this cost is based on clicks and not impressions . If any user is shown the Ad but he doesn’t clicks on it their won’t be any cost effect as the cost is based on clicks only.

Example : If CPC is $5 , it means every click costs $5 so 20 clicks than it will cost us $100.

*Also , consider a campaign where payment is based on impressions, not clicks. Impressions are sold for $10 CPM with a click-through rate (CTR) of 2%.

1000 impressions x 2% CTR = 20 click-throughs

$10 CPM / 20 click-throughs = $.50 per click.

9. What is CPA (Cost per acquisition)?

It’s another word for cost per action and is used interchangeably with this term. CPA measures the advertiser’s per conversion cost from start to finish, from the inclusion to the search engine results to creating interesting landing pages that grab the attention of the visitor. This means cost per acquisition measures how much it costs in advertising to convert one person from a visitor to a client for the company.

Action can be different for different campaigns , like for some registration is set as a conversion and for some the buying of any product i.e when a user reaches the ‘Thank you page’ or may be downloading anything from the client’s page.

10. What is CPE (Cost per Engagement)?

A new measure of performance in online advertising. After CPM, CPC and CPA we have this CPE which has no relation with impression but only with the engagement i.e when any user engages with the brand content.

This measure actually differentiates between quantity and quality.

Engagement can be defined as a user interacting with an ad in any number of ways, including viewing, sharing, voting, commenting, reviewing, playing a game , etc.

CPE campaigns are mainly video campaigns as it initiates used to engage with the creative.

11. What is CPL (Cost per Lead)?

A lead is the initiative in an action .

It is usually a free registration or filling of the form on the creative like mobile number , email Id or name , etc.

Once the user fills the detail , a lead is counted !

12. What is Ad Dimension?

The size of a creative measured in pixels. e.g. 728×90 ; 300×250 ; 160×600 etc.

13. What is Ad Space?

The space on a Web page reserved to display advertising.

14. What is a Banner?

An online advertisement in the form of a graphic image that typically runs across the top or bottom of a Web page, in the margin, or other space reserved for ads. i.e the Ad Space on the respective web pages.

15. What is Pop-Under?

A window that launches automatically behind the current browser window. It is a type of advertisement like expandable , video Ads are also type of advertisement .

16. What is Pop-Up?

A window that launches automatically in front of the current browser window.

17. What is Affiliate?

A type of advertising system based on the CPA payment method whereby web sites run advertiser’s banners for free but get paid on any sales or registrations that result from visitors that click on the banner.

18. What is an Agency?

An organization that provides a variety of ad services for advertisers, including helping them design creative and locate the best place to run their advertising campaign.Today there are number of agencies in market , e.g Exponential , Zedo , Eye Blaster etc..

19. What are Cookies?

Cookies are small files that are sent from a web server to the local user’s computer to store information unique to that user.Often used by advertisers to keep track of the number and frequency of advertisements that have been shown to a visitor or by sites to help them determine the number of unique visitors.Cookies can also be used to target advertising, such as targeting advertising based on an individual’s user profile on a site.

20. What is Frequency Capping?

A term used to describe the number of times the same advertisement is shown to the same visitor during a particular session or time frame.Frequency Capping is a popular method for ensuring that a single user does not see the same ad too often.

21. What is Geo targeting?

Geo targeting is the practice of targeting ads to web users based on their physical location , e.g. If i want to show to Ad only to US citizen i can target the Geo only to US so no other user at different location can see the Ad .

22. What is Interstitial?

An particular type of advertisement that loads between web pages, requiring a user to look at it before getting to the page they meant to go to.It is one of the closest things on the Internet to television commercials.

23. What is Post Click Tracking – PCT?

This is used to track if a user performs an action after clicking on a banner, such as completing a registration page or purchasing an item. It is done with the use of a cookie placed in the browser that is read by a tracking pixel on a page (such as an order confirmation page or a “thank you for signing up” page).

24. What is RON tag?

Run of network (RON) means a banner will run on all the network i.e it has the potential to appear on any page of any site that is part of an ad network.This type of buy is not targeted to any specific choice, it tends to be the least expensive type of advertisement that can be purchased.Custom targeting is quite costly than RON.

25. What is Leaderboard?

Leaderboard is a standard size of an online banner ( advertisement ) of size (w) 729 x (h) 90 (in pixels).

26. What is MPU ( Mid page Unit )?

MPU (Mid Page Unit) or medium rectangle is a banner (advertisement) size of (w) 300 x (h) 250 (in pixels).

27. What is Skyscraper?

Ad Dimension 120×600. Commonly used on the side of pages.

28. What is ATF – “Above the fold” of a web page.?

29. What is BTF – “Below the fold” of a web page.?

30. What is Insertion Order?

It’s a formal contract binding between both the buyer and seller of inventory.

31. What is an Ad Tag?

HTML code produced by your ad server that displays the corresponding creatives.

32. What is Pacing?

Pacing is how fast the purchased impressions are delivered , like if the pacing is AGGRESSIVE , it means the impressions are to be delivered in a fast pace while if the pacing is GOVERNED , it means the impressions are to be delivered in some pattern and also in slow mode.

33. What is Out-clause

Out-clause is the amount of time you have to cancel an insertion order.

what u do when u have to do keyword research for a particular site.Exact match or broad match???

It depends on the purpose of your Keyword Research. Like SEO or PPC.

If you are going for Organic SEO then you can consider Broad match search volume. When you work with a particular keyword in Organic SEO you get the benefit of its variations too.

In case you are trying to calculate projected ROI you can then take Exact Search Volume in consideration to be in safe side.

So in Organic SEO, create strategy and work considering the Broad match search volume and while Projected ROI calculation take the exact match search volume of those keywords.

SEO Best Practices for Android Apps

How often do you think about your App Title, Landing Page and Meta Tags?  Maybe you review it every time there’s an app update, maybe less often. At the end of the day, it’s fairly difficult to tie landing page characteristics to search rank and downloads, so why bother?! Ahem, sorry, wrong answer! Especially when you’re talking about Android...

In a recent study of search rank on Android, Fiksu has revealed that search is the primary means of organic discovery on Android (more than browsing the charts) and that search rank & discovery can be heavily improved through a better understanding of the factors involved.

Search Matters

On the Android platform, about 75 percent of “organic” downloads come from search. And of these, about 50 percent come from searching for a brand title. What’s more, users who find your app are 50 percent more likely to become loyal app users in the long term. So stop focusing on your chart rank for browsers, and start focusing on your search rank for keywords.

App Title

The 32 characters of your App Title are the most important real estate you have on Android, so use it wisely. Inclusion of a keyword in your title can make 80-100 places difference to your search rank for that keyword. But don’t try putting the keyword more than once—unfortunately this makes no difference!

App Description & Promo Text

Within the app description, keywords should be included at least 5 times to make 10-20 places difference to your search rank. Similar keyword are grouped together (e.g. consulting & consultant are treated the same, but consult is considered less similar). Many other factors make no difference to your search rank at all (e.g. keyword stuffing > 5 times), total word count of description and placement of keyword in promo text vs description.

Summing it all up, here’s 10 Steps to Follow to improve your organic discovery from search on Android.

1.    Define keywords that are relevant to your app (Use Google AdWords Traffic Estimator to help you prioritize)

2.    Include top keywords in the App Title (and consider removing your App Name from the title, in order to make room for these).

3.    Include App Name + all other keywords at least 5 times in description

4.    Make developer and bundle name relevant to the app (these also contribute to search)

5.    Make app logo descriptive of App Name

6.    Parasitic: Consider using competitor keywords & app name

7.    Geo-specific: Consider putting city and country names if geographies are relevant to your app

8.    Measure search rank for all your keywords

9.    Measure traffic from search on keywords over the period of a week

10.  Change keyword mix in title and repeat steps 1 - 9!

Via www.fiksu.com

How online platform helping Life Insurance companies to Grow? Real example of Why online presence is important?

The life insurance sector is witnessing a slowdown, but at least one segment of the industry is growing in leaps and bounds. Sales of online term plans are booming, with nearly 55,750 term policies sold in the past six months. During 2011-12, roughly 49,500 plans were sold in the entire year and the figure is expected to more than double this year.

On an average, every five minutes somebody buys an online term plan in India. Insurance portal Policybazaar.com gets almost 2,600 enquiries for term plans every day. The portal has sold about 33,800 online term plans (60% of the total) in the past six months, averaging more than 140 policies per day. The average cover is 72 lakh, which is 35 times larger than the average cover for all insurance policies sold during the past six months.

Aegon Religare Life Insurance, which pioneered the online sale of life insurance nearly two years ago, is the largest player in this segment. It is followed closely by Aviva India. Snapping at their heels is HDFC Life, which launched its Click2Protect plan in January this year. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and Kotak Life Insuranceare the other active players in this segment.

While other big players such as Reliance Life Insurance and Bajaj Allianz have also jumped onto the bandwagon, Life Insurance Corporation has shelved its plans because of its powerful agent lobby

The article has been taken from leading newspaper The Economic Times.

Books I will read in next 30 Days!

Ageless Body Timelessmind	Deepak Chopra	Rs 715
In Search of Excellence	Thomas J	Rs. 595
Fish	Harry Paul	Rs. 120
Power Shift	Alvin Toffler	Rs. 315
The Naked Ape	Desmond Morris	Rs. 306
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People	Stephen R	Rs. 1122
Small is  Beautiful	E.F.Schumacher	Rs. 602
I 'M ok -You' Re OK	Thomas J	Not available (Author is different)
The One Minute Manger	Ken Blanchard	Rs. 120
People Watching	Desmond Morris	Rs. 422
The third Wave	Alvin Toffler	Rs. 291
The god of Small Things	Arundhati Roy	Rs. 188
A Briefer History Of Time	Stephen R	Rs. 411
Future Shock	Alvin Toffler	Rs. 252
The Discovery of India	Jawaharlal Nehru	Rs. 359
Execution	Larry Bossidy	Rs. 615
Iacocca	Lee Iacocca	Rs. 252
Snap shots from hell	Peter Robinson	Rs. 360
You Can Win	Shiv Khera	Rs. 266
The 33 Strategles of War	Robert Greene	Rs. 321
My  Years with general moters	Alfred P	Rs. 824