Saturday, May 12, 2007

Earn Money with Poll Widgets - Vizu Answers

Vizu Answers is a ad network that allows you monetize your website by including interactive poll widgets that provide targeted content to your audience. Now the question is how does this work? Well after registering for an account and choosing a poll template that fits your website, simply copy and paste the code for the widget on any place on your website. You’ll make money on a CPM (cost per thousand page views) basis. Here’s something you don’t expect: As a publisher, you’ll get to set the minimum CPM price for each poll you put up on your web page. More details below:

How do you get paid?

Payments are made monthly subject to a minimum of $50 in accrued earnings from paid research polls served. Their section on ‘Prohibited Uses’ states that publishers cannot directly or indirectly induce their readers to participate in the poll. It basically functions exactly like Adsense: You can’t ask your readers to click and participate in the poll.

CPM Rates and Ad Placement

One poll widget is allowed per page and Vizu advises that you base your CPM rate on factors such as the placement of the Poll Zone. Polls placed on a prominent position on your page can be priced higher than Ads near the bottom of the page. Visu suggests that high-performing sites may have their CPM rate automatically increased.

Poll Size & Design

The polls are usually between 150 and 300 in width and 300 to 600 pixels in height. Note however, that the actual height of the poll zone depends on elements of the poll itself, such as the number of answers required. Therefore you should try to put the poll in an area that allows it to expand if needed. According to Vizu, clients will pay more money for additional graphics so the taller the poll, the more you’ll stand to earn. Content in polls are usually related to your website, although this might not always be the case. You have the additional option of removing specific polls that you find objectionable. Here is an screenshot of a poll widget:

Setting up a Poll Zone

I registered for Vizu Answers and was accepted immediately. There are no prerequisites to fulfill and basically any website will be approved on the spot. Setting up a poll was pretty easy. You’ll just have to submit the URL and description of your site, along with some keywords which advertisers can use to find your website. You can then coordinate the color and size of the widget to fit your website. It’s pretty much like how you set up a MyBlogLog readers widget.

After completing the customization for the first time, you’ll be given a script to copy and paste onto your blog or website. If this is your first time running a poll, it’ll take up to 4 days for your Poll Zone to be become active and available for purchase by Vizu’s clients. In the meantime, Vizu will run basic polls to characterize the site’s audience and demographic (age/gender/income) in order to make your Zone a better fit for their clients.

What’s Cool.

Adds additional element of interactivity for users
Ability to set your own CPM price
Easy to blend widget with site color theme

What’s Not.

No guarantee that advertisers will choose your website
Sites might go without a poll for a long time.
Visitors might not take well to demographic mining polls
Payment is only made via Paypal.

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