Twitter® Application Development for Dummies®

Chapter 16. Advertising

In This Chapter

• Joining an Ad Network

• Twitter as a vertical ad network

• Selling your own ads

One of the most obvious ways of monetizing any Web site or application is through advertising. However, just because advertising is obvious doesn't mean it can't earn you excellent revenue.

Many Web site and application owners have built their businesses through advertising, including the mighty Google. I can't promise you Google-sized revenue, but I can show you how to make money through advertising.

Selecting a Traditional Ad Network

Online advertising has been around since the early days of the World Wide Web. The industry has had time to mature and produce numerous advertising networks. Ad networks are companies that bring advertisers and Web site owners together, streamlining the transaction of buying and selling ad space on the Web.

As a Twitter application owner, you can partner with an ad network as a publisher. Your partnered ad network will sell ad space on your site, give you a percentage of the earnings, and keep the rest. This is beneficial because integrating an ad network into your site is usually incredibly easy and instantly starts generating revenue for you.

However, you need to consider the best ad network for your site. Not all ad networks are created equal, and many perform well on one type of site but not another.

Tip

If your Twitter app is a desktop or mobile client, make sure that the ad network you choose allows non@@ndWeb-based applications in the term ...