New Advertising Network in Beta

I’m proud to announce our new advertising network  is opening its doors to the internet, and before launch I would like to  informed everyone that we are running a signup for our beta program before we open up. We called our new service Tranquility Ads, and offer something a little “Different” than most other publisher / advertiser platforms. I did a mock interview with Greg, one of our developers in order to showcase some of the questions you may have about our new service and why what we offer is any different than existing platforms (Ie, Adsense, Adwords, AdBright, Technorati, just to name a few).

Me: So ca you tell everyone what is the premise behind Tranquility Ads?

Greg: Well you approached me with an idea for a new type of ad network, and after being a blogger myself, we realized that while advertisers are the life blood of any ad network but the publishers are the heart. Most of the services I’ve tried treated publishers quite poorly. I’ve found that support usually isn’t even an afterthought, much less implemented in any form. So we developed a platform that is both, versatile, easy to use, and provides an unprecedented level of support for any ad network out there.

Me: So is support the most important thing in an ad network?

Greg: No, of course and it’s not the only thing that sets us apart, actually, it’s just one of many things that is different. By versatile I ment that we already have Android and Iphone apps to monitor your stats and funds directly from your phone. We have also reconsidered the whole ad format idea that many other adnetwork use. Most are outdated and only fit older websites. We have HD advertisments, that webmasters and advertisers who design ads for 960px wide and fluid layout sites will love. We also call our matching system “Organic Advertising”

Me: Organic advertising? Sounds like your trying to sell expensive food, lol no offense…

Greg: Lol well you came up with it …  Well we feel that “Organic” ads in this sense, that they naturally place themselves in appropriate places. We use a special system of categorization to match advertisments with publishers. It uses a matrix of categories and ratings that ensure publishers and advertisers are matched accurately. We love Google, but some things that they do we simply can’t, and won’t do. Their ads have a tendency to “Follow”  you around on the internet. That’s because they are tracking you, with a complex system of  IP recording, cookies, and algorithmic search patterns. We respect everyone’s privacy, and feel that if you are on a website about “Cameras” then Ads relating to camera are the only thing that makes sense there. You should see ads for guitars, just because you searched for some tabs a few minuets ago. When you are looking at that camera site, right then, you are not interested in guitars. Even worse is when unrelated ad matching comes into conflict. Like that recent newsite covered a story about a bear attack, and the advertisement was for camping in Alaska to see the bears.

Me: I remember that bear story, I think I saw it on reddit. Lets move on to protecting advertisers. There are many bad guys out there who would love to try and cheat, how do you provision handling incidents like that?

Greg: Well, obviously I can’t say too much about our methods, but fraud protection is extremely important to us. Click fraud is an uncomfortable topic with any ad network, but I can tell you that we have a rollback system, where if fraud occurs, the publisher (and website) is blocked forever, and all clicks and transactions are rolled back. We also use a verified funds system where all clicks are verified before they are confirmed. We have enlisted the help of 3rd party companies that also aid in the detection of fraud clicks, so the experience is there as well. Advertiser safety is a primary concern.

Me: And now the question I know everyone is thinking… What is the % you payout to the publisher?

Greg: Heh, well I don’t think I can divulge here and now, but it will be higher than any other network currently offers. We are giving our beta testers 90% for helping us find problems and for being patient while we trace out the last bugs in the system. This is a huge added value for advertisers as well, because their dollar goes further. We’re not sure how many beta testers there will be, but we are going to control it with a dual control invitation system. We will invite webmasters we think will benefit in growing our base, and then give them invitations that they can share with others in their circles. The other part is that after they are invited, we will still need to approve their website.  There will be a signup form for beta testers on our website very soon.

Me: Ok, when I asked you about the interview, you mentioned some suprises?

Greg: Oh yeah, our system provides another service for publishers. If you’re familiar with “House Ads” blanks, or Public Service Announcments, with other ad networks, or if you don’t know, these are the ads that the network provider displays when there are no ads for your website. With our system, we categorize our sites using a similar matrix to our advertisers, and we use this to display “Fliers”. A Flier is like a coat-of-arms for your website. Your banner gets displayed on similar publishers. So if you run a camera blog, and Fred runs a camera blog too, both of your visitors will see the related blog on the other site. For all the visitors your site generates for other sites, your site becomes stronger in the network, and more traffic is sent back to you.

Me: Wow, ok that’s different alright, but why couldn’t an advertiser just do that?

Greg: Well in a way they could, but the flyers are much more limited in how they can display compared to an ad. Fliers have a set size, like 125 x 125 px squares on a blog. So one adbox may show 4 fliers when it normally only shows 1 ad. That divides that space’s value, but many bloggers recognize the button banners. It’s really a good way to build traffic to your website if you’re looking for more readers, subscribers, etc.

Me: Ok, that’s really neat, I’m eager to see how this is going to all work out. Do you have any concerns about getting started?

Greg: I think if we do a quality execution and continue to provide an experience unlike any other (Trying badly to not sound like I have better than thou attitude) then success will find us. We know from both sides of the fence that there isn’t a perfect system out there. We think we have found an untapped and powerful resource in ourselves and the love of the blogging community that will keep us alive for quite some time.

Me: Well you sound really confident, I think I’ll give your network a try if I could get a beta invite *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*

Greg: *rolls eyes* I’m sure we can work something out… lol
Tranquility Ads is the brain child of Jason Green and Greg Wiggleton. Jason works out the design, structure and interface functionality, and Greg writes the backend, API, and database schema. We are both committed to creating a fantastic service and experience for advertisers and publishers alike.

I’ll try to get some screenshots from the beta and I’ll post some updates in the near future.

Thank you Greg for the [mock]  interview. We’ll get some beta invites when they open it up and hand a few out.

Here is a link to subscribe to the mailing list, and a link to the facebook page.

We’ll try to post info in both places, but you may want to subscribe to both, just in case you miss the first message.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tranquility-Ads/258507007494625

Feedburner: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TranquilityAds

Comment if you want a beta invite, and be sure to include your website URL!!!

example: www (dot) example (dot) com