Information For Prospective Advertisers
Regular Aardvark readers will know that this site has been an ad-free zone for quite some time now.

Why The Front Page Is Ad-free
I consider the patronage of my readers to be a very important asset and don't wish to alienate them by compromising the load-time or signal to noise ratio of the main page through the insertion of banners or other forms of advertising.

The other reason I haven't been carrying any advertising is that it's really quite a pain to administer. Keeping track of impressions, click-throughs and the like, chasing up debtors, scheduling and rotating banners -- it's simply not worth the hassle given the small size of the local advertising marketplace.

However, in response to the regular requests I get from companies and individuals who wish to promote their products, services or websites to Aardvark's audience, I have created The Marketplace page.

Unlike a banner on the front page -- the Marketplace shows the banners or display ads for all of the advertisers at once.

Who/What Can Be Advertised?
In order to simplify things for me, advertising is only accepted on a pre-paid basis in weekly blocks (Monday through Sunday) and only online credit-card based ordering is supported.

Advertisers can promote just about anything they want on this page (excluding the obvious stuff like spamware, scams, MLM schemes, etc) -- so long as they're prepared to pay for the privilege.

Obviously, given the nature of Aardvark's audience, it would be pretty stupid to advertise items such as feminine hygiene products or the like -- but if your product/service/website is related to the Internet or IT industries then you'll probably get plenty of bang for your advertising buck here.

No Guarantees
There are no guarantees that an ad placed here will turn your business into an overnight success or drive thousands of visitors to your pages -- but it will introduce you to a fair percentage of Aardvark's 2,000 to 3,000 daily readers.

If your product/service/website is any good, and your advert is well designed, then you can expect to see results. If you're trying to flog something that nobody is interested in, or if your ad-copy is really lame then you'll probably be disappointed. I can only offer you the chance to have your message seen -- I can't force people to visit your website or buy your products (no X10-type popups here!).

Who Reads Aardvark?
So who are you likely to reach with an ad in Aardvark's Marketplace?

A good number of the decision-makers within most of NZ's leading ISPs, web design companies, software developers and IT companies are regular Aardvark readers.

Although I haven't performed a readership survey for a while, the previous figures indicated that almost 70 percent of visitors to this site are employed in the Internet or related industries.

Most access comes from NZ points of access, however there is also a strong contingent of ex-pat Kiwis working in the industry overseas who visit regularly.

The balance of readership is made up of keen Internet users -- the type of people who tend to have a high spend on computers and who are early adopters of new technology.

Damned Cheap Rates
Firstly let me remind you that you're not getting a full-blown ad-server managed campaign when you advertise here. You're just getting your ad included on the Marketplace page. You won't get any fancy reporting or clever analysis of traffic generated.

However, you will get a dirt-cheap rate of just $50+GST per week per 468x100 pixel (up to 25KBytes) bock of space (or 250 characters of HTML SIZE=2 text and 50 characters of HTML SIZE=4 text). That's a CP/M (cost per thousand views) that might be as little as $5 -- way below the going price for access to an audience as well defined and qualified as Aardvark's.

Sample 468x100 banner

Sample text banner

ALL THIS AD SPACE FOR JUST $50? Yes, you can buy all this ad space for just $50+GST per week in text or graphic format. No fancy reports, no fancy scheduling -- just exposure to many of the key players and decision-makers in the Internet and IT industries throughout New Zealand.

Instead of wasting $100 worth of your valuable time listening to me, or someone else explain why advertising here might be a good idea -- you can spend half that much and find out for yourself. If it doesn't work for you then all you've wasted is a couple of minutes and a measly $50. If it does work then you've bought yourself some pretty cheap advertising and you can renew for as long as you keep getting those results.

And Discounts For Quantity!
Of course if you want to run larger ads, or run them for longer then there are discounts to be had.

A whole month's worth of advertising can be had for just $150 and double-sized ads (468x200 or 550 character of text) can be had for just $75 per week.

Want To Try Some Innovative Advertising?
On a number of occasions I've complained about the ineffectiveness of plain, one-dimensional, non-interactive advertising on the Web -- yet here I am selling it -- what gives?

Well, as mentioned above, the Marketplace page was created because people asked for ad-space on this site.

However -- if you'd really like to see what Web-based advertising can do and how to go beyond the boring old banner ad, then contact me and we can discuss the range of highly interactive, and infinitely more effective options that the Net allows.

Book Now To Avoid Disappointment
It's first come, first served, so if you want to take advantage of this offer then drop me a line and book now. The number of advertisers will be kept small so that the page remains effective. Once the available space is filled, you'll just have to wait.

Editorial Independence
Note that advertising in The Marketplace will not gain you any brownie points from the perspective of the daily column's coverage of industry news and events. Nor will advertising here provide any immunity from Aardvark's attentions in the event that you make some newsworthy gaffe or screw-up.

This is not an advertorial publication and never will be.