SEM Tycoon

**AtoZ** · 02-27-2008, 06:21 PM

I sell the majority of my CPM advertising directly to clients. I fill in the rest with BURST and Tribal Fusion and have a little bit of adsense in other areas of the page.

This is my problem... I usually have around 5+ clients I'm dealing with each month and I have trouble planning and scheduling available inventory. I currently have everything in a spreadsheet, but it's really hard to do especially when I have some people starting and ending mid-month. The spreadsheet is so simple I can only put in my total expected impressions for the month and then I deduct what I've sold to come up with what's left. I start running into problems with overselling/underselling if I can't find an accurate way to do this. I've oversold a few times, but I now usually end up underselling as to not end up with clients who are angry that I wasn't able to fully deliver the campaign.

Are there any software programs that you know of to assist with this? Any ideas for making this easier?

**john546** · 03-01-2008, 01:54 AM

Seems like you are doing it all wrong and if you go by your own stats this way you are likely to either give some advertisers more impressions than you should and others less. If you are using Awstats or something like that to track then you are giving them far less than what they should have as Awstats also includes some robots impressions and some other nonsense.

You need to find a ad software solution. There is one that is very good and free but I have forgot what it was called. Actually I think it's called openads.

If you are charging CPM, then all you should be doing is adding CPM banners to a software/script via a control panel and then input the amount of impressions they want and then submit it and that's it, the ad should then stop showing after its reached the amount of impressions.

**AtoZ** · 03-01-2008, 02:05 AM

I've been using an ad server for close to 10 years. I am currently using AdvertPRO. My problem deals with planning/scheduling available inventory, not with serving the ads.

Let's say I can estimate there will be 6 million impressions served in an upcoming month for the leaderboard and skyscraper. The rectangle unit might serve around 600,000. I enter these totals into a spreadsheet. As insertion orders are signed and space is reserved, I enter each client's totals into the spreadsheet. It deducts from total impressions available and I can see how many impressions are remaining. Then I can write proposals for other potential clients based on what has not been sold. However, a lot of clients start or end mid-month and it causes problems with the availability since space may be available only in the last half of the month, for instance. I really need a program that allows you to enter the dates and calculates what is available for a more specific time period. Or I am open to better ideas. I've grown out of using a simple spreadsheet, but I can't seem to find anyone else with my problem or software that will help make planning more efficient. I also have clients that plan up to 6 months in advance so the spreadsheet starts to get overwhelming.

**john546** · 03-01-2008, 02:49 AM

I personally not sure why you are doing all them workings out in excel, although it's good to keep some stats and accounts.

What I would do is use an ad server so that all you have to do is keep getting advertisers where they insert something like $25+ into their account and then show their ads where each time their ad gets shown their account balance drops accordingly. Now all the CPM ads will show on your site randomly meaning that everyone will get their fare share of your ad space. Once their account balance runs out then their ad stops showing and therefore other advertisers impressions for their ads will increase unless you get more advertisers. Keep getting advertisers and only worry about your full rate once you have got to many advertisers and each ad is not showing enough per month, that's when you can stop getting them. When the impressions for each ad increases a good amount or you don't have as many advertisers, then start finding them again. This way you will always have 100% full rate of your ad space that's if you can get the advertisers.

**AtoZ** · 03-01-2008, 03:35 AM

Thanks for trying to help, john294. That sort of set up wouldn't really work for me. All of my clients, including many ad agencies, have strict budgets and time frames. They spend $2000-$10000+ at a time. They request proposals and then follow up with an insertion order that is written in stone (the impressions HAVE to be delivered in said time frame). Therefore I need to be able to schedule and plan available inventory accurately for at least 6 months in advance. When I respond to the RFP (request for proposal) I need accurate data. That's why I'm looking for some sort of software solution that is made for planning and scheduling.

**john546** · 03-01-2008, 04:07 AM

I thought you may have had advertisers that want x amount of impressions in x amount of days. If you had many smaller advertisers then I guess it would be a different story. Sorry that I couldn't help.