Monetization is one of the big, perennial challenges for owners of blogs and other small websites, but a UK startup now has a new solution. Rather than inserting ads on the site itself — thus competing with the owner’s own content — users of
GapAd display them instead when visitors leave.
Now in beta, GapAd is a service that encourages site owners to “mine the gap.” Specifically, when a website’s visitors leave to surf somewhere else, GapAd displays an ad during the few seconds it takes for the next page to appear. Blog owners begin by signing up with the service and installing a simple WordPress plug-in. Then, whenever someone clicks on an outbound link on their website, GapAd inserts a short ad in between the sites while the new page is loading. It’s up to the blog owner to decide how long the intermediate ad is shown. If the surfer clicks on the ad, meanwhile, it opens in a new window. Either way, targeting technology ensures that the ad is relevant to both the source and destination websites; it also learns over time what works best, GapAd says. A
sample ad can be viewed on the GapAd site.
The brainchild of
GetThemIn founder Jay Feeney, GapAd does not compete with AdSense or other online advertising services, the company says. However, it remains to be seen whether these ads can add value without interrupting the browsing experience. One to keep an eye on!
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