We're also setting up an ad exchange for our small press people, which I think will be quite productive. I love the idea of print ads in online venues and vice versa...
I really should walk away from the computer for a bit, though. Going to the gym to do weights now, will shower there and continue onwards to spend the late afternoon and evening at Borders downtown, I think. Studying Spanish and reading whatever Sri Lankan history they have there. Tomorrow, I think I'll go into campus with Kevin and spend some time in the U of I library. To write that second story, I need a stronger understanding of social dynamics during the '83 riots and the time immediately afterwards...
I think that classified ads are a good way to go, but why charge by the word for an online ad? (would make sense if they are going to also be printed offline).
Online why not just charge by features and time – i.e. so much to be up for a quarter, so much for a month, so much for a year. Extra to include bold, or photos etc.
An ad exchange also sounds like a good idea – if you can bundle together an audience on and offline and position it more strongly, it becomes that much more attractive to an advertiser. I’d think you’ll need to see what numbers various advertisers want, and how they want to pay/be charged – but it certainly sounds good. If nothing else, it also could mean less work for each small press if the ads can be delivered and managed in a standard way – less editing/layout/design work needed on the part of each press.
Shannon
I agree, charging for time and visual effects makes sense. you could set it up like CraigsList so the individual entries could be as long as they want without running all the other entries off the screen, each linked from the main listings page.
Another view…
Charging by the word will prevent someone from posting a long rambling ad which will bore people and possibly prevent them from reading the rest of the ads. If this happened, it would reduce the effectiveness of the ads overall, and thus reduce their popularity with advertisers.
Part of my thought was that I’d rather the ads be uniform, so that someone looking for services could scan them quickly, get the info they needed, make a decision. And since these are all writing-related, someone’s ability to convey information effectively in a short space is worth assessing. 🙂
I’m guessing there are tons of freelance copyeditors out there, for example. If I’m looking to hire someone, I want to get the pertinent info quick, and then have a link back to a web page for more info if I’m interested.
I waffle about allowing more features for more money. It goes a bit against my socialist ideals, I think. 🙂 I.e., a big company would presumably have lots more money to spend on ads and such, but wouldn’t necessarily do a better job — and wouldn’t need the work as much. So if we standardize all the ads and limit the features, they stand or fall on their own merits alone…