What Makes a Web Site Commercially Viable?

by Neil Monnens (posted 5/1/96)

As I sit here after finishing yet another conversation with a
Web site editor/manager on what it means to have a
commercially viable Web site, I am finally motivated to put
some thoughts on paper, or, in this case, on-line. What a
great segue to the power of on-line publishing, as the Web
allows those who are truly interested in internet advertising
to have access to my thoughts. Yes indeed, the Web has
rewritten the rules of publishing; now anyone can be a
content provider which is a neat thing, yet also part of the
problem, as not every Web site will attract advertising. 

Although it is inexpensive and even exciting to publish
information on the Web, only a few users may truly
appreciate the value of www.myunderwear.com. Now
consider, that my comments here speak only to those of
you interested in learning about the makings of a
commercially viable Web site; the vast majority of Web
surfers may care less about this column. However, there is
an important distinction, as WebRep is not presenting our
own site as commercially viable, and we’re not publishing
this content to attract advertisers but as you will learn from
this detailed column, many factors determine the
commercial viability of your Web site. These thoughts are
designed to answer your questions and stimulate a
dialogue about what it means to position a Web site for
advertising.

What is the Shape of the Web at this Exact, Precise Moment? 

Right now? Right this instant? Can’t answer that. The best
way to describe the Web in mid-1996 is to compare it to a
flea market: if you’ve used a search engine recently, you’ll
agree that with one or two exceptions, users must wade
through piles of junk to find jewels. As the Web continues
to expand and involve a broader audience, its
gravitational pull will attract those users to Web jewels.
Simply stated, the jewels are popular Web sites which
offer fresh unbiased information in an entertaining manner.
The Web is no different than other media in that traditional
business principles will govern what it means to be
commercially viable. Currently there are hundreds of film
sites, yet inevitably only a few will attract ad dollars.
Seinfeld, SmartMoney magazine, and The Disney
Channel, for example, are all commercially viable because
they successfully balance quality content with a certain
level of mass appeal: The Web is no different. 

When asking yourself whether you have a commercially
viable Web site on which you can effectively sell
advertising over the long-term, you must first ask a few
questions: Does your site offer compelling editorial matter
that will keep the user coming back? Does your site offer
a unique perspective on the subject that is covered? Why
will the big advertisers with big ad budgets have an
interest in communicating with your site’s users? 

The Word "Best" does not belong in the Web
Conversation It’s quite entertaining when I hear from a
Web site that they attract the "best" Web audience: Why is
your audience any better than any other Web site's?
Remember, the base Web audience consists of those
who have a job (with access to the Web) or who can afford
a home computer; either way, this is a very attractive
demographic for advertisers. 

Content providers claiming their site attracts the "best
audience" aren't realizing one very important truth about
the web; as a whole, the Internet involves a very attractive
demographic of educated, affluent, and sophisticated
individuals. 

Affinity 
The word affinity best describes the relationship between
a content provider -- be it a magazine editor, TV producer
or Web site and the consumer. It is the strength of the
relationship between content provider and consumer that
is of paramount importance to advertisers. The critics who
contend that no affinity exists between the Web and its
users, are dead wrong. Visiting the flea market reveals
that with each passing day, more affinity is being
established between Web sites and their patrons, yet with
so many jewels, Web users are spending time in many
different areas. If you ask a cross sample of users about
their browsing patterns, those who have been on the Web
awhile will report patronage to a few sites, similar to their
consumption of magazines or television shows; they have
settled upon a regular visitation diet of their favorite ten
sites. This does not mean that veteran users don’t cruise
around looking for new sites, yet they probably rely on a
core group of sites because they have more defined
expectations of the Web. 

However, if users new to the Web are asked about their
browsing patterns, they will tell you that they go to
www.reallycool.com because it is, and to
www.hasgreatjavascript.com because it does. These
users haven’t yet settled down and established regular
stops on their tour. The Web is similar to radio and
television during their infancy: everyone listened to and
watched every show not necessarily based on their
interest level in the content, but because the medium was
a novelty. Part of the Web’s early charm is the pure
entertainment value in witnessing its evolutionary process;
users are experimenting and enjoying the construction
show at the same time. All of us weren’t around when
magazines, radio, and television were built, now together,
we’re building a new exciting medium. 

A Race Against the Clock; Time is the Competition. 
Think about how you consume media: you can probably
afford to subscribe to more than one newspaper, you can
probably afford to go to more movies, and most definitely
you can afford to watch more television because they are
advertiser sponsored. The restraint on your media
consumption is time. Keep this in mind when publishing
content because you are competing for an individual’s
time. With an abundance of information and entertainment
choices already offered through established media, your
job of attracting and maintaining someone’s attention is a
challenge. 

When do we get to Sell Some Ads? 
The Web is a mix of every other established media. Given
the Web’s unique characteristics, you can imagine the
challenges it presents for the typical media planner/buyer
at an ad agency. The responsibilities of media planners at
advertising agencies are to evaluate and efficiently buy
media on behalf of their client. The average media buyer
is bombarded by scores of media reps pitching radio
time, tv spots, magazine space, billboard real estate, and,
yes, even signage on a scrolling courtside banner at your
nearest basketball arena! Every media salesperson must
convince the buyer of the unique media value offered by
his/her product. The Web is no different, but maybe more
challenging due to the enormous choices available for
buyers. 

Although Each Passing Day Brings New Challenges, A
Strong Marketing Plan is a Must! "Do you have a
long-term marketing plan, including promotional plans
designed to attract new users and keep them coming
back? What will you do to distinguish your site versus your
competitors?" 

As you may now appreciate, compelling content can keep
users returning to your site, but a strong marketing plan
must be in place to guarantee the attraction of new users
to your site. Much like magazines which are constantly
fishing for new readers and subscribers, your future should
include a "user acquisition" plan to grow your audience.
The larger your audience, the bigger your potential
advertising revenues. 

A strong marketing plan must also include the use of
promotions targeting media buyers in order to gain a
competitive advantage in the advertising community.
Regardless of promotional endeavors executed by
WebRep on behalf of its sites, it is ultimately your
responsibility to promote your site to ad buyers. Currently,
most media buyers view most Web sites as commodities,
therefore it is imperative to embark on a program which
will distinguish your site in the crowded marketplace. 

You Want the Banner Served When? 
Providing a compelling editorial message and having a
proactive marketing plan do not guarantee advertisers will
come and stay. There’s one particular characteristic with
advertisers that makes them quite unique: they want it
done yesterday. The service economy was invented for
the ad business (and so, too, were the fax machine,
Federal Express, etc.). There is nothing more sacred than
a company’s advertising execution, and whether it’s
product-specific or corporate branding, you can bet many
people spent many hours building a media plan while
others haggled over the creative execution. You can also
assume other people, including the CEO, were quick in
offering unsolicited opinions on every little detail ("Hey, I
took an ad class in college, let me take a look at it and I’ll
tell ya what I think"). By the time decisions were made, a
lot of people had a hand in the creative execution, which
probably saw many, many changes. 

Consider the media planner: the assignment finally comes
down to find the best media for the ad. While execs are
haggling over where to put the picture of the CEO in the
ad, the media buyer is negotiating with sales reps to place
the ad. The buyer will always tell the sales rep that there is
a limited budget and room for only so many magazines,
TV shows, Web sites, etc. (fill in the blank). The fact is, the
media buyer has incredible leverage because his door is
being beaten down by every media sales rep in the world.
Even though the media buyer’s mandate is to find the best
value in magazines, radio spots or Web sites on which to
advertise, competition is always fierce because there is a
huge selection for the buyer. 

The media buyer often has to execute a media buy under
severe pressures as a company is trying to capitalize in a
timely manner on a piece of news, a special promotion or
a product launch. Advertisers are excited about the Web’s
immediacy and will use this new medium for specific
purposes and for specific strategic periods of time; as a
result, advertisers will expect sites which sell advertising
to offer a high level of service including immediate
banner-serving execution as well as results reporting. 

Media Buyers Don't Like Excuses 
When a media buyer places an order to buy advertising
on behalf of the agency’s client, the buyer expects
execution will be perfect; after all, the advertising is being
bought for a specific purpose as the buyer is now
accountable for its placement. When execution is anything
less than what was represented to the buyer, sales reps
catch the wrath. Sometimes a full make-good is proper
restitution for the buyer, but execution deficiencies are
extremely problematic as the buyer had certain objectives
that will be unrealized. This ultimately makes buyers look
bad and buyers don’t like to look bad to their superiors,
and most importantly, their client. Credibility is everything
in advertising and media sellers lose big when they can
not provide what they originally proposed. 

For example, if a commercially viable Web site proposes
to serve 100,000 ad impressions for an advertiser over a
one-week period, it had better be able to serve the vast
majority of those promised 100,000 ad impressions. It
may not be enough to serve only 40,000 impressions and
then say to the advertiser, "Ooops, sorry, well, how about
we just keep your banner up on the site until we get to
100,000?" The advertiser had a specific objective of
buying 100,000 impressions over a seven day period, and
if the Web site can’t execute, then it has lost credibility
with the advertiser. 

Can you accurately predict how much traffic your site is
getting? More importantly, can you get the ad banner
served on all of the impressions that you predicted? Can
you serve an ad banner on your site within a couple of
hours after receiving it? Can you report important data to
advertisers such as how many actual ad impressions
were served for them? How many transfers went into the
advertisers site? Can you report all this data weekly? 

How Much Are You Really Able to Invest in Making
Your Site Commercially Viable? 
Should the advertising community decide tomorrow that it
won’t spend another dime without an audit, every Web site
that can have advertising will have to spend money to
audit its audience. If advertisers demand real-time
confirmation of impressions and transfers during an ad
campaign, are you willing to pay for the software? If
advertisers want to change their creative execution every
24 hours, can you accommodate them? How much are
you willing to spend to enhance the marketability of your
site? 

Your ability to publish unique, objective, compelling
editorial still does not guarantee commercial success if
marketers decide they will advertise only on sites that offer
A, B and C. Although you have probably not thought of an
investment in your Web site beyond an editorial staff, IS
managers, etc., you may find it necessary to make
additional financial moves to position your site for
advertising. Advertisers may very well ask for services
and levels of accountability that will weed out and qualify
commercially viable sites. However, when considering the
enormous costs that go into producing a television show
or a magazine compared with what it takes to produce a
high quality Web site, the investment you may have to
make for advertisers is relatively tame. How committed
are you to doing what is necessary for advertisers? 

Although the issue of affinity was touched on earlier, the
relationship between your site and your audience cannot
be emphasized enough. This bond will become the most
important point of distinction in your competitive battles for
ad dollars. As this column referenced previously, affinities
between Web sites and users is being established as you
read these words; however, none of us are able to
effectively substantiate the quality of the relationship.
Advertisers will demand more information about the
patterns of your users, why they come to your site, why
they come back, what they do when they’re in your site,
etc. Although you would never bring it up with advertisers,
why users don’t come back to your site may be important
to know as well (especially if they’re suddenly fleeing in
droves to one of your competitors). Will you be willing to
invest in the necessary tools, be it software, surveys, focus
groups, etc., to prove to advertisers the value of your user
relationship. To not just compete but win as a
commercially viable site, you should commit time, energy
and money to the evolution and promotion of your site; a
very worthy cause if advertising expenditures on the Web
grow as fast as some predict. 

Conclusion 
As you can now appreciate, calling an ISP, locking-up a
domain name, and creating a Web site are only a portion
of what you need to compete for advertising revenues. As
this column suggests, it is not easy to determine the
commercial viability of a Web site as many factors will
dictate your success. The good news is that if you have a
smart marketing plan, an understanding of the advertising
process, and the resources to commit to the commercial
presentation of your site, then you may profit handsomely! 

If your site is what WebRep is looking for, we can help you
develop your strategy as our company has extensive
experience in the advertising business from the buyer and
seller sides of the desk. Believe it or not, there is much
more to the commercial viability issue than what is
included in this column. WebRep's criteria includes many
key factors which help determine the long-term
commercial viability of a content provider. In that light,
WebRep encourages you to contact us to pursue the
issue further. 

Neil Monnens co-founded WebRep, an independent
representation firm specializing in online advertising
sales. Neil started his career in Los Angeles working for
advertising agencies DDB/Needham and Bozell before
returning to San Francisco where he worked at Oracle
Corporation and most recently he worked for Microsoft's
ad agency, Anderson & Lembke. Neil can be reached at
(415) 776-4866 or e-mail nmonnens@webrep.net.
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