Is the link-banner model dead? posted: 05 Jul, 2010
Still very prevalent among the escort industry (which often is a way behind in certain areas due to the amateur status of most designers) the 468x60 banner both as a concept and as an marketing medium I believe is, if not dead heading that way..
Firstly lets deal with the concept fuelling the system… historically it worked like this, escort swaps a profile on a directory in exchange for placing a simple web banner on the “links” page of her site. Escort receives a profile on a directory, of which there were few, so relatively easy to find in search engines, directory gets content and possibly a paid advert if the escort goes for a featured spot.
For the directory the “business” model (although most were and are amateur ventures) is that the more content, the higher the potential search engine positioning, and the more content that generates, some of which may choose to pay for a listing. The most successful example probably being punterlink.co.uk
Over the past eighteen months though small and relatively low traffic directories have become greedy, insisting on a front page banner and providing bloated code (for which can seriously slow down load times on a site purely to benefit the directories SEO strategy). Let’s be clear on this, a large and garish front page banner is simply an invitation not to enter the site but to click away to a competitor, and this should be seriously considered before agreeing to any front page banner. This model benefits the directory far more than the escort who can quickly become lost in a mass of perfect and airbrushed pictures while the directory benefits from a back link (or many given some of the code being used) for SEO purposes.
Specialist escort directories have also mushroomed in recent years, being seen as a easy money earner, most provide little traffic and are populated often either with the same few faces who go everywhere or with stolen content, in the forlorn hope of generated paying listings. Most in my opinion should be ignored, the exceptions being sites such as Eros.com Vixen, london escort guide etc, in other words sites which actually produce business for the escort.
Secondly banner designs have stood still.. the humble 468pixel web banner has long since vanished on the general internet, being replaced by flash animations and more and more frequently video adverts addressing the potential client directly. In addition the standards in respect of advert sizes has also moved on. The Internet Advertising Bureau defines several acceptable sizes, ranging from wide banners 728pixels wide, through rectangular 336x280 (ideal for video) and skyscraper banners 600pixels high and 160pixels wide, plus the new overlay formats seen on certain sites.
Why then does the escort industry seem stuck in a time warp? Innovative advertising gets noticed and ultimately generates business, boring banners do not, most directories can not even cope with animated flash banners, although with the current spat between and apple and adobe meaning that flash will not display on iphones these may be less important in the future.
Until directories understand this and find alternative marketing strategies independent sites will continue to get bogged down both visually and in load time with garish and often irrelevant front page links. The escort industry needs to revise its thinking, directories if they wish to survive need to innovate, independent escorts need to evaluate the benefit of front page links and look beyond the traditional directory model outlined above.
Next time I will give you our take on the way forward…
Richard