FAQ on Gasta white label solution

FAQ on Gasta white label solution

How will our branded site receive traffic?



a) Case 1 - A new domain with no existing traffic or index on Google



· As a Gasta Partner you will be connected with 200 active sites on the Gasta Network that have over 110,000 indexed pages in Google

· Our network will cross promote you internally across all our sites (http://gasta.com/ads/adnetwork)

· Gasta serves between 250k to 500k searches a day <-- We will push you domain

· You domain will be picked up and indexed on Google within 24-72 hours of launching

· Case example Gasta.cn <- when initially launched it was index with over 12,000 pages on Google with 6 weeks



b) Case 2 - Existing domain



· You can bring in an existing domain



· As previous applies.



Will we need to SEO the site our selves



· No, our sites are completely SEO optimised using our platform. The only thing we start out doing is creating a dictionary of keywords that describe your site (see - baroneracing.com HomePage) - this leverages and helps search engines both understand and create an index for you site.

· Our system takes care of the rest - for example Google SiteMaps, Meta Titles etc.

· We can provide you with a complete admin interface that allows you to tweak and add keywords and SEO mark-up or we can care-take this for you.



Who will host it?



· We can will host it - however we can offer to install the site on your own server if you wish.



Can we customize the links on the home page





a) Standard implementation (eg. baroneracing.com or gasta.com)



· Yes, the home page is completely customisable.

· The standard layout will allow you to change the keywords (tabbed directory) and ALL text on the home page.

· This is controlled from your admin area, or care-taken by our support team.



b) Custom implementation



· We can 100% create a customised homepage for you - alternative designs or new features as you request



Will there be adsense ads in our result page



· You can turn ads on and off via the control panel.

· If you wish to have adsense (or any other simliar third party ads) you can control them from you control panel.

· Your ads, your revenue, your option.



Note: On Ads



· The Gasta White Label has it's own version of adsense built in. We call these 'InstantAds' and 'SearchMatch'.

· Using the example http://gasta.com/Search/casino

o Draw you focus to the top left logo and the grey bar - directly below this is 'SearchMatch'.

o Now to the right column and at the top - notice your ad - this is 'InstantAds'.

· You can control the number of ads you wish to display in each unit via the admin.

· Both ad types can cross pollinate with each other.

· The Ad scope (this is how the system decides what ads to be displayed) can be set to 'exact' or 'universal'

o 'exact' is a direct keyword or contextual match

o 'universal' - display an exact match first (if available) and always display 'ad stock' regardless.



In addition



· You can sell you ad space if desired directly.

· You can create your own network of related sites.

· You can export you ads to existing sites (similar to Google Adsense)

· We can sell ad space for you.

· Turn the feature off.



I would suggest that the ads system be filled with a library of your corporate and associated network services and set to universally be displayed.

Gasta white label solution comes in three partnered solutions.

Basic

· We retain control of all Ads and Revenue including Google, SearchMatch, InstantAds and other third party campaigns

· Only the logo and keywords can be customised

· Branding and Copyright remains as part of the Gasta Network





Partnered

· As part of the Gasta Search Network all advertising revenue sold to third parties via your domain is split evenly on SearchMatch & InstantAds.

· All third party advert revenue (eg. Google Adsense, Trade Doubler etc.) on your site is 100% is retained by your company.

· You will receive a 50% discount on all adverts you place across the entire Gasta Network.

· Ad revenue sharing is completely optional. You may turn the ad system off.

· Initial set-up cost





Dedicated

· 100% Control of Ad system and 100% retained Advertising revenue

· 100% Branding as Your Company

· Create your own Exclusive Ad Network and Ad Content.





In addition we can provide you with a completely bespoke design. We can offer to redesign the home page or results page to suit your company needs.

Gasta web 2.0

About Gasta
Started in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1998 Gasta is a global search engine and web directory. Translated into six Languages, Gasta has now launched search engines in Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, French, & German,


Gasta has now launched SearchMatch paid inclusion programs for all 400 of its search engines and sees paid listings as the future of Internet marketing enabling and empowering advertisers to bid on niche contextual Keywords and phrases that are directly related to their business. Gasta organic growth of traffic extends the long tail of keywords and adds added value to all our client campaigns.

Platform
Gasta is written in MVC Asp.net, C#, and XML, Jscript,

Social Marketing Services
Gasta now offers the ability to share web search results, videos, news items, images, and Blogs with your chosen social networking partner site, Gasta now has social marketing links with FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Bebo, and Digg. This service not only offers an added value to our users but also greatly assists our advertisers with their social marketing and brand awareness campaigns.


Geo Targeting
Gasta automatically includes effective Geo Targeting of advertising across regions so the user searching in Dublin receives adverts from Dublin and UK Regions and the user searching in New York receives inventory from USA regions.

More than 97% of gasta.com users live and/or work in the regional search areas the index is aimed at. This offers an extremely focused way of targeting prospective customers. Localize to globalize. With Gasta.com you the advertiser only pay for the traffic you receive. Gasta.com has a unique featured Site scheme allows you to directly gear expenditure to traffic. This is the most cost effective method with no wasted clicks.

Diverse User Base

Gasta.com search results are rendered by a network of Search Partners ranging from major Internet brands to organizations who specifically address the Region. Gasta has also implemented social marketing tools on all search results to share video, news, images, blogs, and web results as well as the actual SearchMatch ad itself. A unique service for a search engine.
Gasta.com has a more focussed appeal because it is targeted directly to a local audience

Ad Management
24/7 Ad Campaign Management access your account and manage your listings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with the gasta.com Management and bid System

Gasta white Label solution
The Gasta Hosted white label solution can be launched in a matter of minutes and offers a variety of solutions and ad platforms to Partners. These search engines can start earning revenues as soon as they are launched with a variety of monetisation features such as preloaded Google Adsense and SearchMatch and InstantAds platforms. Gasta has now launched white label partner sites in India, USA, and Australia. We are currently seeking regional partners in China, Singapore, and Latin America.

Partners
Gasta partners include:
Services: Microsoft Bing, Google, Miva, ABC Search, Adify, BT, Mirago UK, Admeld, Adconion,
Social Marketing: LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, Digg, Stumbleupon, Bebo,
Content : BBC, Irish Times, Irish News, Belfastmedia group, FlashSeek,
Francis Higgins
bizz@amiwired.com

Gasta Marketing: Big Players take online maketing 'In House'

At a high level, many in those in the performance marketing space fall under the general umbrella that is affiliate marketing, i.e. acting as commissioned agents promoting a third-party product. But, are those in our space really affiliates? If we look at a vast majority of dollars flowing into the cpa networks, we would argue that their affiliates aren't affiliates. They are different. They are risk takers - seekers of media opportunity who look for an offer not because they run a site which needs it but because they have access to traffic where that offer could turn a profit. (It was that distinction which motivated our piece, "Affiliates are from Mars. Arbitrages are from Venus.") Affiliates and arbitragers occasionally overlap, one that comes to mind is a site like PlentyofFish, but the risk tolerance and risk seeking behavior profiles differ so greatly that each has a different type of company to service it. We could just as easily say, Affiliate networks are from Mars and CPA Networks are from Venus. An account manager from Commission Junction or Linkshare would find their head spinning if dropped into a similar position at one of the leading CPA Networks. There is a downside though of this distinction and the risk taking that drives it, and it shows itself in the number and types of advertisers that work with each company.

As we mentioned in our article two weeks ago, take a look at the top advertisers at an affiliate network, compare that to a cpa network, and don't be surprised when no overlap exists. Risk is not for everyone. In the arbitrage world, publishers aren't the only ones who take risks, advertisers do too. The risk publishers take can at times come at the expense of the advertiser. Making money arbitraging traffic often requires a maniacal focus on data and the profits, when successful, can lead to those running them to put blinders on. So, while the high performance marketer is at one level aligned with the advertiser - being paid on performance - that doesn't imply actual alignment. Take our favorite example of a diet continuity program, one that understands the nuances of the high performance marketing space. The balance they must face is having a high price point to pay the "affiliates" as well as how to make money off customers who enter with low intent and a below average lifespan. A less sophisticated marketer would work on paying a competitive rate but not have the insight to prepare operationally for the different type of customer they will receive. They would assume that those marketing the product would have their best interest at heart (customers who signed up with a definitive interest in the product with an intent to stay subscribed) as opposed to marketers taking a purely transactional view that has them trying to get as many signups as possible, regardless.

The feedback loop isn't quite perfect, and part of the challenge in the system is the value that cpa networks provide and the position of strength that the elite high performance marketers command within those organizations. Speaking to the first point, the cpa networks offer more than access to advertisers. They act as cash flow float machines for their biggest partners - paying on a weekly basis and ensuring their biggest spenders can keep sending the traffic. Two plus years ago before this became common place a large arbitrager might have to shut down the traffic because they hit their limit on the credit cards. Once funds would clear at the end of the month, they could pay off their credit cards and start traffic again. By receiving money before they reach their limit, they can manage the balance (literally and figuratively). Doing that means that the majority of networks with affiliates like this aren't in the dark about their activities. They maintain plausible deniability but not complete ignorance, and they face tough headwinds when trying to promote change. A liquid marketplace for that marketer's traffic exists, so if the network wants to restrict the publisher's activities, several other networks wait in the wings to take the traffic. And, it's not just flogs of which we speak; that's just a more extreme scenario.

An interesting thing has started to transpire as a result of this risk - a new breed of consolidation. The skills needed to navigate between arbitrager and advertiser mean that only the strong can play in this higher risk environment. Others can't make the balance work, losing either the advertiser or the marketer. The rules of the game have changed. Only a smaller number of people can find scale, but that same level of sophistication hasn't reached all networks. More and more find themselves not prepared for the challenges of managing the network. They either aren't prepared or find the balance not well suited to their own risk thresholds. So, what have they done? More and more have decided to try and do it themselves. Affiliate Fuel is just the latest. Here is what they sent out to affiliates March 26, 2009:

Dear Affiliates:

Experian Interactive Media, who owns Affiliate Fuel, has decided to take a different direction with our affiliate network. We are changing our focus from an affiliate network to an internal marketing channel.

Therefore, effective 4/1/09, we will unfortunately need to suspend our business relationship with you. If there are fees owed to you, you will receive your final check on or around 4/15/09. Please note: As of 4/1/09, your Affiliate Fuel login will no longer work and your account will not be credited for any activity as of this date.

We would like to say thank you for your business and good luck in your future endeavors.


There has long been the notion of a private offer, but now we are finding the creation of a private network. To the outside world, the offers they source they also place. It's not that dissimilar from a display ad network. The display ad network buys traffic from third-parties, but the third parties have only limited control over how the ads get placed. There is also a financial reason for taking things in-house, especially if your network struggles to compete on the big stage - profit. A network that can buy its own media can operate at a higher margin than one who must operate on generally razor thin margins to maintain competitive. This isn't to say that all smaller networks will change or that opportunity doesn't exist for them. But we are entering a different landscape, one more polarized than before where risk is becoming an ever increasing factor. Some choose to take on risk with publishers. Others are now trying to take the risk in-house.

Gasta Advertising:The new fundamentals of digital engagement

Long, long ago, way back in 2005, engagement was the cause du jour of mediaologists and media metricians.

Enthusiasm for the concept was so great that, for a brief period, agency and marketing personnel had "engagement" added to their titles: Chief Engagement Officer became the new meaning of "CEO."

By April 2006, the Advertising Research Foundation issued its official definition of engagement -- "Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context."

Find that definition unsatisfying? You are called legion, for you are many.

Since then, agencies, advertisers, and research companies have taken stabs at just how to measure engagement.

A new book published this year attempts to lay out not just a definition of engagement as it pertains to the digital space, but how to accomplish it. Written by Leland Harden and Bob Heyman, two of the earliest pioneers in the online advertising space, "Digital Engagement" could be seen as a follow-up and update to their book "Net Results.2," which itself was an update of "Net Results: Web Marketing that Works" -- a book I look to as being the first real textbook on web marketing.

To call "Digital Engagement" a follow-up, however, would be unfair. Instead, it's a whole new "how-to" playbook for planning and measuring online advertising. It also expands its scope, looking beyond banners, keywords, and websites to include examples of virality, mobile marketing, PR, blogging, widgets, social media, affiliate marketing, and more.

In this book, Harden and Heyman are not articulating the principles of what motivates behavior (like Martin Lindstrom's "Buyology") or exploring the philosophy of media and culture (Theodor Adorno's "Culture Industry"). These guys want you to know what others have done, what the outcome was, and how you might go about doing it yourself.

The book is replete with case studies for each tactic they cover. For example, what are the things to consider when optimizing your website?

First, you get a rule: If your site launched more than a year ago, it's time to dust it off and give it a work-over. It might need a lot, it might only need a little. But to find out, read on.

Harden and Heyman give us a list of some analytics tools that make your site optimization job easier. Then there is a list of best practices. Then questions to ask yourself at the outset -- answers that will determine which of those practices are best for you. After that, they provide tactics for communicating with your marketplace about your changes.

Throughout the book are brief descriptions of what some companies are doing with their sites -- good or bad -- and finally, a brief case study (the chapter about making over your site is a case study for Tommy Hilfiger).

The best thing about the book is that there are so many examples of what companies are doing with the full range of digital tools and tactics available to them.

Some of the play-by-play can seem rudimentary at times. The brief review on why online video is important, or the examples of what online video might cost, seem more relevant to an audience reading two or three years ago. But a list of video-sharing sites is a welcome quick review resource. Or a proposed formula for measuring success from TubeMogul, the online video analytics and distribution company, will appeal to quants who are looking for a way to prove the effectiveness of a video campaign.

As a media nerd, something that stood out most was the formula for calculating a total engagement index (TEI), contributed by Eric Peterson of WebAnalyticsDemystified.com. There may be other variables for defining and determining engagement, but this is the first time I've seen anyone use something beyond just, say, time spent, as a method for articulating engagement.

Click depth x Loyalty x Recency x Duration x Interactivity x Subscription / 6 = TEI.

All of these variables have to be assigned by whomever is doing the measuring, which means that the formula can mean whatever you want it to mean. And that means that engagement remains an amorphous designation. But at least it is an attempt at definition and determination that no one else is offering.

Harden and Heyman are offering this and other things they've found in their examination of today's practice of the online advertising discipline.

At the outset, the book participates in some of the usual "traditional-media-is-doomed" predictions common among the digerati's more zealous advocates ("newspapers, magazines, and television went down in flames in 2007").

The biggest problem with books like this, however, is the same thing that afflicts all bound volumes dealing with digital media, marketing, trends, culture, and the rest as their subjects: By the time the information is recorded, edited, re-edited, printed, and bound, the world the text reflects has changed. Certain companies called out as either examples or resources will no longer exist; forecasts for spending or usage are outdated almost as soon as they are released.

But the fundamentals of "how-to" and "what-to-do" put forth in "Digital Engagement" should hold steady long enough to make the book a good guide for the digital marketer starting out today or wishing to make the change from just buying banners and keywords (though there are good suggestions for doing both).

You don't have to read it straight through. The chapters are clearly listed by tactic ("Search Engine Marketing," "Public Relations 2.0"). Go straight to the chapter relevant to what you are considering and review it.

At the beginning of "Ogilvy on Advertising" (still the greatest advertising book ever written), David Ogilvy quotes: "When Aeschines spoke, they said, 'How well he speaks.' But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'Let us march against Philip.'"

What this means is that it doesn't matter how much you like the advertising, what matters is that you buy the product. "Digital Engagement" is an excellent lesson plan for getting that done using digital and emerging media.
By Jim Meskauskas
March 31, 2009

Gasta Opinion: Cheap is top reccession keyword

"Cheap" is not a dirty word
Old school best practices for writing brand marketing copy have included the omission of terms that may reflect poorly on a company, including the term "cheap" to describe a product or service.
But is this practical in the world of SEO? In these seemingly dire economic times, search volume for phrases that include the term "cheap" has spiked. In an iMedia article published last May, Craig Macdonald at Covario cited comScore research (from December 2007) indicating the search phrase "cheap airfare" alone is worth about $8 million.
According to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, the average monthly search volume for the phrase "cheap insurance" typically amounts to 673,000 queries. Last month, the number of queries for this term rocketed to 2.7 million. Likewise, the average monthly search volume for the phrase "cheap car" is traditionally about 1 million queries. Last month, the volume exceeded 3.3 million.
So, as you consider incorporating adjectives such as "affordable," "budget," "inexpensive," "low-cost," and "thrifty" into your SEO strategies, consider this: There is a growing number of brands weaving the keyword "cheap" into their on-page SEO elements. Many are even incorporating this term into their marketing copy
Take a look at some of the brands that are capitalizing on the word "cheap" in their SEO strategies. Could your organization benefit from giving this previously taboo word some renewed consideration?