I thought I would share some stats from the recently sold 300×250 Google ad spot. Since the spot no longer runs Google AdSense, I am under no contract to keep stats about the spot a secret.
The 300×250 ad spot was purchased by Ryan Stewart of eleven21.com, who is now trying to flip it for $1,500. After the information I’m about to reveal, he may just do it.
Ryan’s ad has been running for only two days and already it has generated 26,395 banner views and sent 820 visitors to Ryan’s site for an amazing 3.1% click rate. If these stats hold up, Ryan will receive over 12,300 clicks to his site (assuming he doesn’t sell the spot). That works out to a CPC of only 8 cents. However, I would imagine the clicks will level off as the days go by. These stats doesn’t include all the traffic Ryan received from my blog post about the sale.
The 300×250 Ad Shows Up In The RSS Feed
An unexpected bonus to Ryan (and Bidvertiser next month) is the 300×250 ad shows up in the RSS feed. The reason for this is my ad software served both Javascript and non Javascript codes. Javascript can’t be read by RSS so the ad server sends the non Javascript version. The end result is Ryan is advertising to my blog PLUS the 7,000+ who read this blog from RSS. That effectively doubles the number of ad views the spot was expected to produced.
Expect a Big Price Increase
300×250 ad spot on the blog AND the RSS feed for $1,000. I think Ryan and Bidvertiser pulled down the ad deal of the year. Don’t expect to buy the spot for $1,000 when it goes on sale again.
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{ 39 comments }
A lot more exposure to the ads I see. Are you planning on making it the same price as Ryan’s or even higher?
Sounds like higher.
That is a great investiment!
I know, right? I am kicking myself for not buying it!
Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Not that great, unless you are pushing a product.
The RSS factor helps a ton. That’s the first thing that popped in the head after I was 5 hours late to seeing your $1000 offer.
This is definitely a win-win situation.
I’m super jealous!
Yeah, sucks to be late on offers like this.
I’ve used up most of my budget this month, If I hadn’t I would have jumped at the chance to advertise there. It’s the most prominent ad position in this blog and the one which will give a site the most exposure.
I also hope to advertise here
Another thing to note is that employers often block adsense and other ad networks. Also, a lot of people have adbloking installed on their browser. The current ad spot is no longer blocked.
Flipping is probably the best first move. The new owner should use a re-direct for the ad and host the image on their own server to test out other offers.
AdSense may not have been the problem it was probably the offers that just didn’t fit.
BeachBum
He’s already got a 255 bid on ebay not to mention the huge traffic boost, his alexa rank looks like an L.
Yeah the alexa stats show a huge boost. At first like i said on a comment I thought it was a bad idea simply because he was taking people to a rubbish landing page if nobody bought it.
Worked out well though
For what it’s worth, I don’t see the ad in my feed reader. I’m not sure which feed readers do or don’t but I use Bloglines and I don’t see the ad.
It shows up in Google Reader, which owns the biggest share of RSS readers for this blog.
Yeah, I’ve been thinking of switching over to Google’s as well. Just figured I’d mention it. It still appears to be a bargain, especially since Bloglines doesn’t have nearly the market share as they used to.
Showing in Google Reader
I assume you are using bloglines?
“His alexa looks like an L”
Well, the ad sold. And the buyer got a heckuva deal – so did I.
Look for more good stuff from eleven21 – I’ve gotta capitalize on this traffic and link love.
BTW John, It’s Ryan StewarT – no worries though.
Oh snap.
Congrats. Maybe you should have put it at $2000. 
I thought that’s what he put it at but decreased the price by $50 for every day it didn’t sell.
No it was $1500 not $2000
Hm, for some reason the title tag is screwed up on this post.
300×250 Ad Stats or Why ,000 Was a Steal | John Chow dot Com
^ it cut off $1,000 and changed it to just ,000
Just a heads up
I am anxious to see how much you sell this space for the next time around!
I think it’s safe to say it will be significantly above the initial offer price.
I still think the best way to go would be an auction for the ad space.
Hey John I sent you an e-mail hope you received it, thanks.
John,
I just saw your homepage and apparently the ad was sold, as I’m no longer seeing the original ad, I wonder how much profit your buyer of the ad did
Regards
Hector Sanchez
$400 profit not to mention the number of visitors and links to his site he got for his outside the box thinking.
Not a bad return for about a weeks work!
If you’re going to pay for the spot, you should rename the ad image in a way that circumvents Adblock. I don’t see it either.
What’s the best way of circumventing Adblock?
My knowledge of ad blockers is pretty sparse but as this could potentially have a large impact on revenue streams I would be interested to know more about how they work?
I like the idea of selling the ad but I’m not sure about having the same ad on the main page twice.
At 8 cents per click, Ryan is a very happy man! Oh wait, he sold it already. Technically Rich4life.us paid him for all the traffic to his site!
my thinking is that maybe the purchaser should be allowed to supply 2-3 different box designs, that way it is different images a few times instead of the same one?
An advertiser can supply as many creatives as he wants. The ad software will rotate them. However, I’ve only received one creative.
John I must say, you have a knack for promotion and sales. Congrats on the extra $$ / month.
Gets decent traffic, very nice. But you have posted a lot about it. Not sure if it’s be so nice next month.
That is lot of money for one spot.
Hi John
I think there is a little problem with this ad in the Thunderbird RSS-Reader. I could see the ad but if I click on that I only get a blank site from the techzone.com http://www.thetechzone.com/neoads/adclick.php?n=afe648a4
Not being under google gag order contract is nice!