1. Not allowing competition
Often, I hear from publishers who have become frustrated with Adsense or their other ad networks. They feel that their site should be making much more, and they are not getting compensated fairly.
Publishers put a lot of time and effort to make their sites the best that they can be. It’s only fair that they should be rewarded for all their hard work and time. No one likes making less than they deserve. But in life, we never get what we think we deserve. Instead we only get what we have the leverage to negotiate!
Publishers need leverage and competition to get the best prices. If you let ONE entity control the inventory on your sites, you will surely be ripped off (in some capacity).
That’s where the ad exchanges comes into play. In ad exchanges, different ad networks are allowed to bid on your inventory in real time. Therefore, advertisers who want to pay more will, but they will have to pay more than their competitors! This environment breeds competition, which drives up the price of your inventory, and makes all these ad networks compete for YOU, instead of the other way around.
2. Staying too complacent
Right now, everything may be going great for you. So why change a good thing?
The thing is, we know that the online landscape is constantly in flux. User preferences change, not to mention the technology! It seems that every day there is a new phone out there, or a new operating system update.
In order to maintain your site’s success, not only do you have to be up to date, but you have to be aware of the what’s coming next! For every success story out there, there are even more people who came up short doing the same thing. This isn’t necessarily because they were bad at what they did. In fact, it’s probably the contrary. The real problem was that they didn’t remain “fresh”.
If you don’t stay ahead of the curve, you are sure to be left in the dust!
3. Not letting the experts do their jobs!
Some call it stubbornness, but that seems harsh. Let’s just say, some people can be difficult. You know the person. They know can do everything better than you, and they know everything about everything.
However, in the online advertising world, I can see why some are like that. A lot of publishers have built their sites from the ground up. They got no help from others, so when someone comes along looking to “ride their coattails,” they are skeptical (and rightfully so).
But there comes a point where it’s time to hand over the keys to someone else. In intro economics classes, you learn about the idea behind specialization & delegation. Sure, you can do everything yourself, but when isn’t it worth it anymore?
If your car is broken, do you try to fix it yourself, or take it to a mechanic? What about if your pipes are clogged? Do you call start messing with things them yourself and try to learn “on the job”?
Maybe it’s time to just focus on what you are good at, and let others do what they are good at! You may want to have a person who works specifically on the code of your site, and another person who works with the advertising. There are skilled and qualified individuals out there who can actually help; you just have to let them!
For more check out the Google Certified Publishing Partner page.
