What is Product Listing Advertising (PLA)

Product Listing Ads (PLA):

 

PLA is a pay per click (PPC) form of advertising. This form of advertising is carried out through Google’s Shopping Tool. Upon a relevant search query from a customer, Google will show up placed ads first. In this shopping tool, Google will include

“richer product information such as product image, price and merchant name” (Google 2013)

PLA

The  search to the right shows the results for the search “bicycle helmets”, where placed ads are shown first. The fact that these ads are paid for, is only revealed when you click on the link “why these products” which explains that these are placed ads, as highlighted in the image to the right.

 PLA is another form of PPC where the advertiser only pays Google after someone has actually clicked on their ad. The advertiser and Google will have agreed a set price for every click on their ad. The advertiser can also set a limit on how much they are willing to spend each day, ie:

Razor is willing to pay 50c for every click on the advert for their helmet. However they are only willing to spend €5 per day, so after 10 people click on their ad, the ad will be taken down until the next day. (There are options to choose when the ads are displayed or to spread the display over a period of time). They will also agree the amount of time the ad will run for, which can range anytime from hours to years.

Why use PLA?

 Cost effective advertising:

With PLA you are only paying for people who click through to your site, a concept which has high rate of return on investment (ROI). At Webresults, we can help you arrange a pricing plan for your proposed ad

 

Place high on the list:                            

With PLA you will appear high on the search results with people seeing your product first

 

PLA weans out lesser competitors:       

Google’s Shopping tool’s main appeal to customers is that it shows the best options first. Google users don’t have to thralls through pages to find what they want. Your products are seen at the top of their respective search      

When it comes to PLA, it pays to pay!

 

For more information and advice on PLA, contact us! 

Online advertising up 12.3%

IAB Ireland recently carried out a survey on 29 leading publisher sites in Ireland, focused on advertising spend which is reinforcement of what we are hearing in relation to businesses spend online in Ireland.
This IAB PwC Online Adspend Study just released shows growth in online for the first half of 2010 with ad revenues of €53.9 million in the January to June period in 2010 compared to €48 million in H1 2009.

The automobile category was the biggest spender on online advertising at 22% followed by the combined category of
property/recruitment at 19%. This is a reversal of the first and second ranking categories in terms of adspend in H1
2009.

The key drivers identified by IAB that are growing online adspend.
-More people online – According to Comreg’s Consumer ICT Survey Q2 2009 2,943,138 were online (66%) this grew to 3,442,439 in Q2 2010 (77%)
-Greater time spent online – The average hours spent online each month increased from 15.6 in H1 2009 to 19.4
hours per week in H1 2010 (Comscore)
-Increased broadband connection – Comreg recorded an increase in Irish household broadband connections from
63% in H1 2009 to 67.9% in H1 2010

Advertising formats
-Display: Display advertising accounted for 29% of online adspend in H1 2010 compared to 25.7% in H1 2009.
-Classified: Classified accounted for a 26% share of the market in H1 2010 compared to 27.6% in H! 2009
-Search: Paid for listings was the largest single format with a 45% share of the online market. Search accounted for
46.6% of online ad revenue in H1 2009.

Online Advertising Spend In Ireland - Search Marketing shows largest spend in Ireland H1 2010

Positive Indicators for growth in 2011
– PwC Entertainment and Media Outlook predicts 17% online adspend growth in 2011.
68% of participants in the IAB PwC study predicted growth or strong growth in online adspend in the next 6 month period.
29 leading publishers participated in the study. Adspend revenue is calculated on the basis of actual figures provided by study participants. Total advertising revenue is reported on a gross basis (including agency commission)

Digimedia.ie – Irelands first blind network

Last night Michelle O’Keefe from Digimedia.ie gave an excellent presentation on Effective Digital Media Strategies at the Dublin City Enterprise Network for Womens monthly event.
It is really encouraging to see specialist digital marketing businesses in the Irish Market.
Michelle highlighted the importance of using a mix of activities in your web marketing activity plan. For some businesses, search marketing isn’t going to bring in quality visitors, if the products or services they are providing are not known, or if poeple don’t think to search for them. In this case display advertising can be very effective in getting your business on front of the right target market.
Digimedia.ie is Irelands first blind network focused on display advertising. Digimedia.ie connects advertisers to web sites (publishers) that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is aggregation of ad space supply from publishers and matching it with advertiser demand. A blind adnetwork buys inventory that would otherwise remain unsold, at a lower price. This enables advertisers broad reach at a cost effective price. The placement of the adverts is not be disclosed in order to protect the publishers rates. The available inventory varies from month to month and ad blind ad networks negotiate or broker deals depending on the level of unsold inventory.
This approach generally suits businesses who are targeting a broader market. Check out Digimedia.ie.