Yes! And our colleagues from MGID have prepared a whole article with 6 compelling arguments in favor of native advertising (according to our partner MGID).

1. We know what your audience needs

First, Facebook actively promotes different native ad formats. Moreover, about 86% of all impressions of Audience Network are native.

But you need to remember that native ad is not just about visual conformity. MGID defines it as sponsored info which fits a site at all points – a visual part, a content and an object of promotion. Facebook shows ads using a very sophisticated algorithm. Native networks offer the same targeting options but allow you to improve the user experience.

2. Long-term plans

You never know when Facebook is going to ban your campaigns. And this is the biggest advertiser’s problem. The situation is exacerbated by the moderation policy and constantly changing algorithms. Even if you find a profitable combo, it doesn’t mean it will work for a long time. Facebook may ban it without explanation.

But if your campaigns passed the MGID moderation, you can relax. Focus your attention on optimization and increasing earnings.
Of course, MGID has its own moderation policy. But if something is wrong, managers will help you to edit your landing pages or creative materials. We think, you will agree, Facebook doesn’t do that. Also, don’t forget that combos that are profitable for Facebook work well for native ads as well.

Obviously, we don’t want you to stop all your Facebook campaigns or something Just remember that Facebook is good for short-term campaigns and native ad works better for long-term ones.

3. Things get easier

Facebook is basically just another ad network that promises you powerful results, but it has its own shortcomings. No postback, their tracking system is not user-friendly, account blocking and campaigns rejection. Also, setting up and running campaigns takes a lot of time and effort. We believe that better use it for split-tests, searching for new offers, creating new banners and landing pages. For the income-generating things.

4. The reliability

Recently there have been many scandals related to disinformation, meddling in the election and the issue of confidentiality. It has damaged Facebook’s reputation. Facebook is constantly changing the “rules of the game”, so it’s difficult to predict which algorithms would be relevant in the nearest future.

The conclusion is clear as day: you just can’t be sure for how long your combo will remain profitable. Because one day, Facebook could decide to change the rules again and suspend your campaign.

5. All that matters is results

Facebook doesn’t really care about you and your problems. You can wait for a response from their support forever. Solving one little problem takes a lot of time. In MGID you have a personal account manager, his job is to monitor the statistics of your campaign, optimize it and answer any of your questions.

6. Push-traffic on Facebook?

You probably have already seen push-notifications on the screen of your computer and phone. Those are requests that offer to subscribe and receive other notifications. If you agree with the suggestion, you will receive short messages on your computer or mobile phone. Very simple. But there is a really good question: is it a good idea to use push-traffic?

Well, yes:

• All devices have access to push notifications;
• Subscribers can control which notifications and what device is used;
• Push is an excellent way to notify subscribers about discounts and hot offers;
• You can check the number of unique visitors of your site as quickly as possible;
• Push notifications work very good with in-app traffic;
• Users better respond to notifications in real time.

But unfortunately (or fortunately, who knows), push is not allowed on Facebook.

7. Native ads are the future

The preliminary appraisal of native share in the global media market will be more than 60% in 2018. And this is the most dynamically growing advertising format on the market. The statistics speak for itself
In addition, MGID uses more than 20,000 websites around the world, so we can easily “catch up” with the Facebook audience on the platforms that it likes.

So, if you feel that your business needs a reboot, then we have prepared a special surprise for you!

All Adcombo users receive a 25% bonus when they top up your balance by $500 and more if they register here.

While Facebook Ads is insane about Ad Accounts and blocks everything it can block, lots of affiliates turned to native ads, as it is still popular to run COD-offers. Native ads have always been one of the most effective ways to promote the so-called WOW-products.

In comparison to Facebook’s insanity, the networks of native advertising seem to be more stable and predictable. One does not need to provide thousands of unnatural actions like account farming, obtaining dozens of credit cards, cell phones in order to start running ads. Facebook ads are horrible.

Before every affiliate started running campaigns via Facebook, native ads were very popular. I believe, everybody knows how it works in native. Information is the secret weapon of native ads. Data is the key! In all cases, a successful campaign consists on: ads + offer + audience. The one, who owns the data about his competitors’ profitable ads, will always be successful.

One of the most important kinds of the tool here is a spy tool. There are plenty of solutions on the market (of course you can find even free options) and networks may use the same resource differently at various times. The essence of any Spy Service is a number of bots that collect the data about active campaigns and then organizes it into a spy database. Access to such a database is often the interface of a spy tool itself. So, the difference between the various Spy Services depends on the number of these bots and the way they collect data.

Unfortunately, not every service can provide useful information from native ad networks. Some of them use out-of-date information (you can hardly make money with the old offer in CPA), other ones have just a lack of information (and provide false data).

Among the many Spy Services we would like to recommend you AdPlexity. This is the main service for anyone who runs native traffic. Why? It has all the functions of all the others services combined. Moreover, there is a tracking of creative materials in all top networks with COD-offers. Information is taken from:

• RevContent
• MGID
• Content.Ad
• Yahoo Gemini
• Taboola
• Outbrain
• AdNow

And the best part is, all the ads pieces are collected in multiple languages. COD model is very popular in Asia these days. And AdPlexity does really great there. You can combine Vietnam, Thailand and even the Philippines (which is extra cool for COD).

Another bonus is an opportunity to track not only ads but the whole campaign. The service empowers affiliates to learn more about all the elements: a sequence of redirects, all landing pages that use that creative material and vice versa, all creative materials for this particular lander. Well, there you got everything you need to start your own campaigns.

The service has so many settings and filters, that you can analyze your rivals campaigns down to every exact click. So if you are already sick of Facebook Ads with its bans (definitely you are) – switch to AdPlexity and go conquer Outbrain and Taboola (bans there happen more and more though).

Price is the only bad thing about AdPlexity. But here, too, we provide a solution. Our affiliates receive a pretty good discount! If they follow this link the price will be:

• mobile $149 instead of $199 (25% saved)
• native $169 instead of $249 (32% saved)
• desktop $149 instead of $199 (25% saved)

We, with AdPlexity, will give away 2 free month subscriptions among those ones who have purchased any of the subscriptions above. Winners will be announced at the end of the next month.

We’re not arguing that you may find some more discounts and bonuses. But we are pretty sure that our offer is the best one

Nowadays, it is not a secret anymore that native ads are one of the most promising tools for sales and content monetization. However, that leads us to a major disadvantage of native advertising – a high level of competition on the market. To overcome that competition rate native ad campaigns usually require a significant amount of investment. With that in mind we can draw out a conclusion: NATIVE ADVERTISING CAN’T BE DEFINED AS BEGINNER FRIENDLY.

I understand that after such a disclaimer we lost a huge amount of the audience, but for others who are still here, let’s talk about what budget Media Buyer should have to succeed with Native Ad Networks.

First of all, let’s discuss the role of budget in native ad campaign. The logic is pretty simple: the bigger budget you have, the more tests you can run with your banners. And the better banners you have, the more quality traffic you attract.

On the contrary, the smaller budget you have, the lower chances you have for success. Small budget can even lead to а complete disaster when not experienced Media Buyer can not only lose all of his investments but also he won’t gain any experience. So, bear in mind old but gold saying: «If you buy cheaply, you pay dearly.»

Secondly, there is no definite answer to what amount of money beginner Media Buyer should have in his pocket to start a campaign on Native Advertising Network. Usually that number will be between $5,000 and $20,000 depending on where you are looking for relevant information. That’s a huge gap you may say, well, it is, but we can say what campaign budget depends on:

1. The number of spots the Native Ad Network has;
2. The amount of banners you use;
3. Spy tools you use;
4. Payment per Lead and the difficulty of conversion.

all of it you should take into account when forming one’s budget.

Now let us discuss how budget strategy is formed. Researching the market will save you a significant amount of resources and time. You’d better use the spy tools you have access to. They are perfect for monitoring your competitors’ advertising strategy and can save you a lot of money. Don’t rush here and take your quality time to analyze market, because you should have the information about what targeting options are best to use, as well as what banners are most suitable. Trustworthy ads are usually those which are having the majority of views and are being run for a minimum of 7 days. Out of those trusted ads, choose landers and the offer to test.

As Picasso once said and then Steve Jobs repeated: «Good artists copy; great artists steal.»

Once you’ve completed that stage, you should start forming the blacklist and the whitelist. You should decide on the spot prices and make a list of sites with positive conversion rates. Only those sources will have a good potential for your native ads. For example, with a payout of $20 for each lead, like AdCombo has, we strongly recommend to spend only 80% of that sum on your campaign ($16 in our case). That’s how you hedge your risks. So, if there is no conversion at all, you will lose only $16, but if there is at least one lead your gross profit will be $4. To make it clear, with two leads you will earn $24, with three – $44 and so on. Unfortunately, we all understand that at the beginning you should lose some money to get experience but for the sake of future profits add those unprofitable spots to the blacklist to avoid them next time.

As we discussed earlier, the more money you have, the larger variety of sites you will be able to test. If there is a thousand sites and you spend again $16 per every spot (but then you see that there is no conversion on all of them) – you will lose $16,000 but eventually your blacklist will gain 1k new sites. And then, based on it, you will set a new campaign with an already existing blacklist.

However, if after reading this article you are still willing to experiment and take a risk, feel free to contact us on Skype. We will recommend you most profitable offers as well as best landings. Just don’t hesitate.

Cheers!

Always yours,

AdСombo

In 2016 native advertising was arguably the biggest buzzword in digital advertising. Coinciding with questions surrounding the future of display, the looming threat posed by ad blockers and a need among publishers to get creative when monetising their content, its upward trajectory and ability to carry the display baton could not have arrived at a better time.

Regardless of what we’ve seen so far, its rapid rise to prominence last year is only the start. Native placements – effectively ads that form part of the environment on which they sit – are expected to represent even bigger business as advertisers and publishers look to capitalize on formats that resonate with today’s audiences.

In the US, for example, the Interactive Advertising Bureau tips native to represent 74% of all spend on display by 2021, up from a mere 56% in 2016, equating to a total of $36 billion.

Similar studies show Europe following the same trend. Enders Analysis has the continent’s native spend at €13.2 billion ($13.9 billion) by 2020, representing 52% of all display ad spend, rising from €5.2 billion ($5.5 billion) in 2015.  

Yet, despite native shaking up the display ad economy as we know it, a familiar process dictates how this inventory is acquired and sold. Networks provide the easiest way for publishers and advertisers to connect with each other, and now the market is crammed with platforms dedicated to the trading of native ad space.

Here are some of the key considerations for linking up with a native ad network from both an advertiser and publisher standpoint.

Selecting ‘the one’

Recent growth in native means there is no shortage of platforms ready to take on new users. The first obstacle is the sign-up process, which can be stringent on networks which pride themselves on being able to offer a premium service to advertisers.

Some platforms will broadcast their relationships with big-name publishers like CNN and New York Post, require good levels of traffic from the sites they use (sometimes over tens of thousands of impressions per week), and that’s before their own checks on the suitability of each site and advertiser.

With networks like AdNow, publishers managing even a modicum of traffic can get started within five minutes courtesy of a short form and a selection of ready-made widgets. The network still offers a safe environment for advertisers and publishers to connect, but with a much easier point of entry than some of its competitors.

Advertisers are often required to fill in basic details about their company before uploading creative, again, with background checks taking place on certain networks to ensure quality on their platforms.

For publishers, the first steps are to list their domain, location, language, and traffic, with some networks requiring more of a deeper dig into things like audience demographics, content types and their subjects of interest.

Choosing the ‘right’ network rests on the specific criteria demanded by advertisers and publishers alike. If you’re an advertiser with a premium offering, less emphasis will be placed on a network’s figures for impressions and users as well as the length of the sign-up process, with much more of a focus on the quality and profile of publishers at their disposal.

Being able to target specific geos and link up with publishers based on their audience demographic is useful, but things like local language support should not be underestimated by advertisers who are targeting foreign markets.

As for publishers, strong CTRs (anything around 1% is a good barometer), the option of connecting with well-known or specific types of brands, a guarantee on safe ads as well as the frequency of payment and support of popular terminals like PayPal are key things to bear in mind.

Otherwise, it pays to look into online reviews from both sides of the trading process, which can unearth useful verdicts on things like customer service: an asset of great significance for someone trying native for the very first time.

Campaign types

Although most people associate native advertising with content discovery – occasionally guessing as the ‘related articles’ you sometimes find at the end of a piece of editorial – there are plenty of other formats to choose from.

In Europe, for example, Enders Analysis has witnessed growth in native being driven partly by videos placed within streams of content. This is part of the same ‘in-feed’ family as social native: the format adopted by social networks like Facebook and Twitter, who use sponsored posts to monetize a largely free-to-use offering.

Each native ad network has its own list of supported formats, but while it’s fair to say that content discovery is the dominant option, many platforms do offer the sort of in-feed inventory that allows publishers and advertisers to showcase their content on a large scale.

Far more cut and dry are the rules and regulations for any advertiser or publisher wanting to use native for their own benefit.

Networks conduct routine inspections on publishers to ensure they are not posting content considered ‘spammy’, with the worst offenders banished. Sites also need to keep an eye on how they are positioning their content, as failing to highlight the presence of an ad or sponsored editorial can result in an even greater penalty via groups like the FTC in the US and the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority.

Citation is also triggered by advertisers and publishers found to be promoting adult or inappropriate content, as the network will always aim to avoid bad PR and customer complaints where possible.  

Each network will have its own criteria on what is and isn’t acceptable, with this often outlined either during the sign-up process or within their on-site FAQs.

Getting started

Once you’re signed up, the next step is to get native working for you as well as it does for your competitors.

For publishers, it all starts with content. Whether they’re gunning for social shares or using SEO for maximum benefit, catering for an audience with a catchy headline and topical subject matter is where the conversation starts.

In the case of content discovery, the baton is then passed to the advertiser, who will often use another article on their site to continue the conversation before directing the user to a product or service. Publishers on native advertising networks will often get paid on a cost per click, so their job is done once an impression or engagement is completed.

Then, akin to the workings of other performance-based channels like pay per click and display, it’s up to the advertiser to convert the users they pay for.

Of course, the process doesn’t always follow the aforementioned route. It could be that publishers charge their advertisers on a cost per mille; cost per action (CPA) is an option on some networks, much like in affiliate marketing, along with cost per install (CPI) for the benefit of app developers.

Generally speaking, native is a highly effective way of directing a user from one site to another, which is why paying for clicks is so popular when venturing down the network route.

The cost of a click on a network can range from around $0.05 up to $5 and beyond according to competition, the amount of content you submit, as well as the perceived quality of the publisher and their inventory; running in line with the rule that some sites will re-direct a higher quality of user.

The trial phase should see bids floating around the $0.25 mark; enough to highlight the correct strategy going forward.

Bidding best practice can vary according to each platform, but experts have been known to suggest a high budget against a low bid when starting out. This allows advertisers to capitalise on a drop in demand towards the end of a day, thus getting them seen at less of an expense. If targeting on a CPA, this may even be seen as a coup due to typical conversion times on certain products or services.

Targeting specific users is another action that can bring the bidding rate up. It’s easy to see how zoning in on an iOS-using millennial in Germany with a propensity to spend with a specific type of advertiser can come at a cost. This is why it pays for advertisers to keep things broad at the start of using native before they know that targeting certain profile results in a good outcome.

For monitoring and optimising a campaign, setting a minimum of what to expect in terms of a click-through is one of many ways to weed out ads that are are not performing. The same approach of setting a minimum goal on different metrics also makes sense when attempting to drive for a specific objective, like awareness, traffic or engagement.

To recap, here are the five golden rules for working with native ad networks, applicable to publishers and advertisers:

1. Choose the network for you – Whether you’re a publisher only managing small amounts of traffic or an advertiser looking to build huge awareness in a short space of time, you should pick a network which answers your specific criteria. Native is a competitive arena and you should find a platform which offers your requirement as a USP.
2. Be wary of safety – Publishers should watch out for referring to sites that might do their brand more harm than good. The same applies to advertisers, largely due to recent issues with click fraud.
3. Be truthful – Networks expect the sites they use to be transparent about their audiences and how they’re using native. They have ways of finding out where users are being deceived, so it’s best to remain truthful.
4. Respect the format – Advertisers paying for clicks towards a landing page ridden with pushy sales messages will only risk a bad performance. Native can allow a much easier, more seamless tie from content to sale, but only if care is taken in doing so.
5. Bid smartly – Optimisation is the key word when starting with any network and the same applies to native. Advertisers should keep things broad at the start of their journey and build from there.

As we move forward with a new year filled with new possibilities, it’s important to examine where the affiliate marketing industry is headed. By staying on top of the new trends of 2017, you can make sure that you don’t get left behind.

1. Influencer Marketing

While it is still perfectly viable to earn a very healthy living as a mostly anonymous affiliate marketer, a lot of money is moving toward the realm of influencer marketing. Brands, companies and advertisers are increasingly recognizing the strength of so-called online celebrities, because of their natural, organic reach and increasingly enthusiastic audience base.

Trying to get through to prospective consumers through more traditional means of advertising is getting harder by the day. Internet users might not respond to traditional advertising the way they once did, but they will fervently follow their favorite personalities on social media.

2. Big Opportunities for Smaller Fish

It may be true that influencer marketing isn’t completely new, but what you may have noticed in the past year and a trend that will continue through 2017 is that brands are reaching out to small and medium-sized publishers and influencers too.

Rather than spend their entire budget pursuing one larger influencer, they may spread the marketing budget across a larger number of smaller influencers. That’s great news for so-called “small fish”. The reverse is also true, as smaller companies and advertisers are really starting to recognize the opportunities that affiliate marketing can provide an increase in their incremental revenue potential. It’s not just big brands anymore.

3. Cross-Device Tracking

Internet users are accessing the web on an increasingly large number of devices, from their laptops desktops, smart TVs, smartphones and their tablets. They might start looking for information on a convertible PC at home, continuing on a traditional desktop PC at work, before completing the buying decision on the phone during the commute home on the train.

Conventional tracking might view that process as three completely separate sessions from potentially three completely different individuals, but we know that’s not actually the case. Advances in cross-device tracking will continue to improve through 2017, creating new opportunities for improved user targeting and ensuring that all affiliates get credited for all the leads they generate.

4. Mainstream Acceptance

For years, affiliate marketing existed under a shroud of secrecy. Unless you were an active participant yourself, either as a publisher or as an advertiser, you may not have even known of its existence, how it works, or just how prevalent it is on the web.

That’s changing. Now, more and more “regular” users of the Internet have a better fundamental understanding of affiliate marketing and they are more regarding it as a legitimate form of monetization. They may have been more skeptical in the past and that’s getting a lot better.

5. Continued Growth of Video

Just as websites overcrowded with nothing more than giant blocks of text typically do not perform very well, Internet users are demanding more in terms of rich media content. Pictures and animations still have their place, but to ignore video can be a lethal mistake.

A video format is more accessible than ever and it is taking on a myriad of different forms. Native, embedded videos — like tutorials or reviews — can do great on landing pages. Leveraging networks like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook are also going to be huge in 2017.

6. Mobile App Installs and DLC

To assert than an increased focus on mobile is a new trend for 2017 would be terribly misleading. Of course, we all already know that more and more people are spending more and more time on their mobile devices and it is positively prudent for affiliate marketers to go where the audience is. Your website needs to be mobile optimized or, better yet, offer a fully responsive design.

Where there has been some movement is in the realm of the mobile apps themselves. Publishers are seeking new and more engaging ways to monetize their apps, not only through straight purchases but also through add-ons and DLC, as well as through promoting app installs from other publishers.

7. Native Advertising

As traditional advertising continues to be less effective, advertisers are seeking new and more engaging ways to reach their prospective customers. A quickly rising trend that doesn’t show any sign of slowing down is native advertising.

In the context of affiliate marketing, this also integrates seamlessly with the upward trend toward influencer marketing and longer term partnerships, collaborations, and brand ambassadorships. Readers seek authenticity and native advertising can be a channel to achieve that.

8. The Value of Free

As much as things might change over time, some things will remain the same… only slightly tweaked, adjusted and optimized. A prime example of this is the notion of giving away free products on the Internet. A free report, a free e-book, a free online course, these all provide opportunities for publishers to work in a value-add proposition.

Let’s say, for instance, that a blogger publishes a free e-book to give away to his readers. The e-book itself may be free, but it includes affiliate links and coupon codes, a web hosting provider, a web design company, an SEO company, a branding expert, e-courses to learn more… the list goes on and on.

9. Focus on Non-Compliance

Especially for publishers based in the United States, but still applicable to international affiliates, the increased focus on disclosure and proper compliance will increase through 2017. The FTC guidelines and regulations are expected to be enforced more stringently.

This is important for both advertisers and publishers to note, as it can affect how certain offers are promoted and whether or not they would still be reasonably effective.

10. Local Going Global

The Internet has this tremendous ability to level the playing field. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, young or old, everyone can have much of the same opportunities. This refers to geographic restrictions too.

Instead of or in addition to working with more globally or nationally-oriented offers, affiliates are moving more and more toward localized niches and localized offers, because these can provide far higher click-thru rates, conversion rates, and ROI.

What’s even more intriguing here is that more “out of area” affiliates are focusing the majority of their efforts on localized niches. The New York affiliate may be experiencing his greatest growth marketing in Belarus, for instance. Leave no stone unturned. Think global, but focus locally.