U.S. patent application number 14/796942 was filed with the patent office on 2015-11-05 for method and system for dynamic textual ad distribution via email.
The applicant listed for this patent is GOOGLE INC.. Invention is credited to William C. Day, Kevin RJB Donovan, David Bard Hills, Ron McCoy, Christopher Joseph Murphy, Eimear Kathleen O'Connell.
Application Number | 20150317673 14/796942 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32314465 |
Filed Date | 2015-11-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150317673 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Donovan; Kevin RJB ; et
al. |
November 5, 2015 |
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DYNAMIC TEXTUAL AD DISTRIBUTION VIA EMAIL
Abstract
A system and method for providing dynamic pay-for-placement
advertisements via graphics-enabled email that generates a display
of advertisements when the email newsletter is opened so the
advertisements displayed are based on rankings at the time the
email is opened instead of when the email was generated and
transmitted. In one embodiment, a graphical-content email having
one or more embedded advertisement image references is provided to
one or more email recipients. The advertisement image reference, in
one embodiment, may include query string parameters indicating the
context of the image reference and/or portion of the image
reference (i.e., identifying the image reference as being part of a
particular newsletter email), a position of the image reference in
the email display, and the like. A URL reference also may be
included with each advertisement image reference (.e.g., one URL
for each advertisement portion of the image to be retrieved by the
advertising image reference).
Inventors: |
Donovan; Kevin RJB; (White
Plains, NY) ; Hills; David Bard; (New York, NY)
; Day; William C.; (Haworth, NJ) ; McCoy; Ron;
(Doraville, GA) ; Murphy; Christopher Joseph;
(Lagrangeville, NY) ; O'Connell; Eimear Kathleen;
(New York, NY) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
GOOGLE INC. |
Mountain View |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
32314465 |
Appl. No.: |
14/796942 |
Filed: |
July 10, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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13609030 |
Sep 10, 2012 |
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14796942 |
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10647116 |
Aug 25, 2003 |
8311890 |
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13609030 |
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60422844 |
Nov 1, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.52 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0254 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 30/0275 20130101; G06Q 30/0247
20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1-19. (canceled)
20. A computer-implemented method comprising: providing an email
message including a network-based locator of a first advertisement
to a user device at a first time; after providing the email message
to the user device, determining that advertisement rankings for a
plurality of advertisements have changed since the first time that
the email message was provided to the user device; in response to
determining that the advertisement rankings for the plurality of
advertisements have changed since the first time that the email
message was provided to the user device, identifying a
highest-ranking second advertisement of the plurality of
advertisements that is different from the first advertisement; and
upon receiving an indication of the email message being accessed,
providing the second advertisement for inclusion in the email
message instead of the first advertisement.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein initial advertisement rankings
at the first time when the email message is provided to the user
device are different than the advertisement rankings at a second
later time when the email message is accessed.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein program-interpreted code of the
email message does not change between a first time when the email
message is provided to the user device and a second time when the
email message is accessed.
23. The method of claim 20, further comprising receiving a request
for an advertisement that includes the network-based locator of the
first advertisement, and wherein providing the second advertisement
includes providing the second advertisement having a second
different network-based locator.
24. The method of claim 20, further comprising: generating a
preferred advertisement layout in response to receiving the
indication of the email message being accessed, wherein the
preferred advertisement layout specifies where in an advertisement
image to present first content for a first-ranked advertiser and
second content for a second-ranked advertiser; generating an
updated advertisement image according to the preferred
advertisement layout after receiving the indication of the email
message being accessed; and providing the updated advertisement
image to the user device for presentation to a user.
25. The method of claim 20, wherein the advertisement rankings are
determined based at least in part on a bid value of associated with
an advertisement for a specific distribution subject of the email
message.
26. The method of claim 25, further comprising redetermining the
advertisement rankings whenever a new bid value associated with an
advertisement related to the specific distribution subject is
received.
27. The method of claim 20, further comprising: receiving an
indication that a user has selected the second advertisement;
dynamically selecting, after receiving the indication that the user
selected the second advertisement, a target network-based location
of an advertiser without modifying program-interpreted code of the
email message, the target network-based location being a
network-based location of a current first-ranked advertiser
according to the current advertisement rankings; and providing the
dynamically selected target network-based location to the user
device, wherein the user device redirects the user to the
dynamically selected target network-based location of the current
first-ranked advertiser based on the received indication.
28. The method of claim 20, wherein the first advertisement is a
highest-ranked advertisement at the first time that the email is
delivered, and wherein the second advertisement is a highest-ranked
advertisement at a second time that the email is accessed.
29. A system comprising: one or more computers and one or more
storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when
executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more
computers to perform operations comprising: providing an email
message including a network-based locator of a first advertisement
to a user device at a first time; after providing the email message
to the user device, determining that advertisement rankings for a
plurality of advertisements have changed since the first time that
the email message was provided to the user device; in response to
determining that the advertisement rankings for the plurality of
advertisements have changed since the first time that the email
message was provided to the user device, identifying a
highest-ranking second advertisement of the plurality of
advertisements that is different from the first advertisement; and
upon receiving an indication of the email message being accessed,
providing the second advertisement for inclusion in the email
message instead of the first advertisement.
30. The system of claim 29, wherein initial advertisement rankings
at the first time when the email message is provided to the user
device are different than the advertisement rankings at a second
later time when the email message is accessed.
31. The system of claim 29, wherein program-interpreted code of the
email message does not change between a first time when the email
message is provided to the user device and a second time when the
email message is accessed.
32. The system of claim 29, further comprising receiving a request
for an advertisement that includes the network-based locator of the
first advertisement, and wherein providing the second advertisement
includes providing the second advertisement having a second
different network-based locator.
33. The system of claim 29, wherein the operations further
comprise: generating a preferred advertisement layout in response
to receiving the indication of the email message being accessed,
wherein the preferred advertisement layout specifies where in an
advertisement image to present first content for a first-ranked
advertiser and second content for a second-ranked advertiser;
generating an updated advertisement image according to the
preferred advertisement layout after receiving the indication of
the email message being accessed; and providing the updated
advertisement image to the user device for presentation to a
user.
34. The system of claim 29, wherein the advertisement rankings are
determined based at least in part on a bid value of associated with
an advertisement for a specific distribution subject of the email
message.
35. The system of claim 34, further comprising redetermining the
advertisement rankings whenever a new bid value associated with an
advertisement related to the specific distribution subject is
received.
36. The system of claim 29, wherein the operations further
comprise: receiving an indication that a user has selected the
second advertisement; dynamically selecting, after receiving the
indication that the user selected the second advertisement, a
target network-based location of an advertiser without modifying
program-interpreted code of the email message, the target
network-based location being a network-based location of a current
first-ranked advertiser according to the current advertisement
rankings; and providing the dynamically selected target
network-based location to the user device, wherein the user device
redirects the user to the dynamically selected target network-based
location of the current first-ranked advertiser based on the
received indication.
37. The system of claim 29, wherein the first advertisement is a
highest-ranked advertisement at the first time that the email is
delivered, and wherein the second advertisement is a highest-ranked
advertisement at a second time that the email is accessed.
38. A computer program product, encoded on one or more
non-transitory computer storage media, comprising instructions that
when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more
computers to perform operations comprising: providing an email
message including a network-based locator of a first advertisement
to a user device at a first time; after providing the email message
to the user device, determining that advertisement rankings for a
plurality of advertisements have changed since the first time that
the email message was provided to the user device; in response to
determining that the advertisement rankings for the plurality of
advertisements have changed since the first time that the email
message was provided to the user device, identifying a
highest-ranking second advertisement of the plurality of
advertisements that is different from the first advertisement; and
upon receiving an indication of the email message being accessed,
providing the second advertisement for inclusion in the email
message instead of the first advertisement.
39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein initial
advertisement rankings at the first time when the email message is
provided to the user device are different than the advertisement
rankings at a second later time when the email message is
accessed.
40. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein
program-interpreted code of the email message does not change
between a first time when the email message is provided to the user
device and a second time when the email message is accessed.
41. The computer program product of claim 38, further comprising
receiving a request for an advertisement that includes the
network-based locator of the first advertisement, and wherein
providing the second advertisement includes providing the second
advertisement having a second different network-based locator.
42. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein the
operations further comprise: generating a preferred advertisement
layout in response to receiving the indication of the email message
being accessed, wherein the preferred advertisement layout
specifies where in an advertisement image to present first content
for a first-ranked advertiser and second content for a
second-ranked advertiser; generating an updated advertisement image
according to the preferred advertisement layout after receiving the
indication of the email message being accessed; and providing the
updated advertisement image to the user device for presentation to
a user.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to a provisional patent
application, U.S. Patent Application No. 60/422,0844, filed Nov. 1,
2002, entitled "Method and System for Dynamic Textual Ad
Distribution via Email," still pending.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to systems and methods for providing
dynamic graphical or textual advertisements via email or other
stored electronic documents in pay-for-placement or similar
advertising systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] One form of targeted advertising often used in electronic
media is a bid for placement in broadcast emails targeted to a
specific group of recipients having one or more interests in
common. For example, newsletter emails on a specific topic (e.g.,
parenthood) often include a number of Uniform Resource Locator
(URL) listings to websites of advertisers catering to the specific
topic (e.g., a toy store's website), whereupon the recipients of
the newsletter email can "click" on the link to view the advertised
website via a web browser (an event herein referred to as a
"click-through").
[0004] Advertisers may place a bid on the amount of money to be
paid for any "click-through" resulting from the placement of an
advertisement included in the targeted email. In fact, several
advertisers may bid against each other for placement, with the
highest bidder given priority over other bidders. For example, the
highest bid for a newsletter email may be listed first and other
bidder's advertisements can be listed in descending order based on
their bid. Accordingly, as the cost per click-through (e.g., bid)
for the advertising company increases, the closer that company's
listing is to the most visible or prominent part of the newsletter
email (e.g., the top of the newsletter email). Higher placement of
the advertisement in a newsletter email often leads to more
click-throughs for that advertisement and thus, more traffic to the
advertiser's target web site.
[0005] While such pay-for-placement email advertisements provide
benefit to advertisers seeking targeted advertising mechanisms, the
email provider often does not experience the full revenue potential
possible from the pay-for-placement advertising in the emails.
Common pay-for-placement email advertising systems typically do not
take into account variations in the relationship between the
advertiser, the email provider, and the content of the newsletter
emails. To illustrate, advertisers continuously change their bids
for advertisement placement, relationships with new advertisers may
be developed, relationships with advertisers may be ended, new
advertisements may be available, etc.
[0006] While the relationship between an advertiser and the email
provider may be fluid, a newsletter email typically is persistent,
being delivered to recipients' mailboxes typically within minutes
of being sent. The newsletter then may reside in a recipient's
mailbox for an unknown period of time (e.g., for minutes, hours,
days, weeks, months, etc.) after it was originally delivered before
the recipient views the newsletter email. During this variable time
period, the relationship between the newsletter email provider and
the advertisers having advertisements listed in the delivered
newsletter email may have changed. For example, some or all of the
listed advertisers' accounts may have been depleted of money, some
or all of the listed advertisers may no longer have a relationship
with the pay-for-placement email provider, the relative ranking of
the bids by advertisers may have changed in the duration, and the
like. Accordingly, the arrangement of the advertisement listings in
the original newsletter email when sent may not reflect the
arrangement of advertisement listings that is most advantageous to
the email provider at the time that the newsletter email is opened
by a recipient.
[0007] To illustrate, an advertiser, based in its bid, may be
listed in the most prominent position at the time of transmission
of a newsletter email. In the time period between the transmission
of the email and the viewing of the email by a recipient, however,
the advertiser terminated its relationship with the newsletter
email provider and, therefore, no longer has a paying relationship
with the email provider. Accordingly, any click-throughs to the
terminated advertiser resulting from the recipient clicking the
terminated advertisers listing in the newsletter email is, in
essence, lost revenue for the email provider since the terminated
advertiser receives these click-throughs for free. In a similar
manner, any changes in the bids or rate of click-throughs for the
advertisers since transmission would not be reflected in the
advertising listings in the email as transmitted. As a result, the
email provider may not realize its full revenue potential had the
advertising listings in the newsletter email reflected the optimum
advertising listing arrangement at the time the email was viewed by
a recipient. Other drawbacks exist with current techniques for
targeted advertising via email.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] Embodiments of the present invention mitigate or solve the
above-identified limitations in known solutions, as well as other
unspecified deficiencies in known solutions. A number of advantages
associated with the present invention are readily evident to those
skilled in the art, including economy of design and resources,
greater system flexibility, cost savings, etc.
[0009] At least one embodiment of the present invention provides a
system and method for providing dynamic pay-for-placement
advertisements via graphics-enabled email that generates a display
of advertisements when the email newsletter is opened so the
advertisements displayed are based on rankings at the time the
email is opened instead of when the email was generated and
transmitted. In one embodiment, a graphical-content email having
one or more embedded advertisement image references is provided to
one or more email recipients. The advertisement image reference, in
one embodiment, may include query string parameters indicating the
context of the image reference and/or portion of the image
reference (i.e., identifying the image reference as being part of a
particular newsletter email), a position of the image reference in
the email display, and the like. A URL reference also may be
included with each advertisement image reference (.e.g., one URL
for each advertisement portion of the image to be retrieved by the
advertising image reference).
[0010] When the email is opened in a graphics-enabled email client,
the email client interprets instructions in the email to request
the one or more referenced advertisement images from a
advertisement system. The advertisement system, in one embodiment,
is adapted to determine a preferred advertisement layout in
response to the image request. The advertisements included in the
preferred advertisement layout may then be based in part on the
current relationships (i.e., at the time the email is opened)
between the content provider and its pay-for-placement advertisers,
the placement of the advertisement in the email display, or a
combination thereof. The advertisement system then provides the
email client with advertisement images that correspond to the
preferred advertisement layout at the time the email is opened. In
addition to providing the advertisement image or images requested
by the email client displaying the transmitted email, the
advertisement system also can be adapted to store a browser cookie
at the email client, where the browser cookie stores a reference to
the particular advertisement layout displayed in the email.
[0011] A referenced advertisement image in the email can include a
graphical image, a graphical representation of text, or a
combination thereof. Further, two or more advertisement listings
can be grouped together under a single image with certain portions
of the single image being associated with each of the advertisement
listings using, for example, an HTML image map.
[0012] Upon receipt of the advertisement image(s), the email client
displays the email content along with the supplied advertisement
images as directed by the email. Should the email recipient "click"
one of the displayed advertisement images, in one embodiment, the
email client sends a request for the website referenced by the
associated URL reference. The browser cookie reference to the
particular advertisement layout may be included in the request.
Upon receipt of the website request, the advertisement system
directs the email client (or a web browser of the email recipient)
to display the content of a corresponding advertiser's website. In
one embodiment, the advertisement system identifies the
corresponding website using the browser cookie reference included
in the webpage request from the email client, a position indicator
associated with the selected advertisement image, and the like.
After the email client (or web browser) is successfully directed to
the corresponding website of the selected advertiser, the
advertisement system may record the "click-through" for billing
purposes.
[0013] One embodiment comprises a computerized advertisement
distribution and delivery system for dynamically delivering
advertisements for inclusion in an electronic document delivered to
and stored at a recipient system. The computerized advertisement
distribution and delivery system comprises an advertisement image
generation module that generates an image containing a plurality of
advertisements related to a specific distribution subject based on
a relationship between those advertisements and storing that image
in association with a network-based locator as being the up-to-date
image for the specific distribution subject. The system may also
include an advertisement relationship determination module
intermittently determining relationships between advertisements
related to a specific distribution subject and if an existing
relationship between advertisements related to a specific
distribution subject changes, initiating the advertisement image
generation module to generate as modified up-to-date image stored
in association with the network-based locator and specific
distribution subject.
[0014] In addition, the system comprises an electronic document
transmission system that creates and transmits an electronic
document containing content related to a specific distribution
subject and a network-based locator associated with the image
generated by the advertisement image generation module for the
specific distribution subject. An advertisement image transmission
system then receives a request for the image located at the
network-based locator specified in the electronic document
transmitted by the electronic document transmission module and
transmitting the up-to-date image stored in association with the
network-based locator at the time the request is received. All such
systems may cooperate with an advertisement input receiving system
for receiving at least one advertisement associated with a specific
distribution subject and a bid representing an amount to be paid
for click-throughs by end-user recipients to a target site
associated with the advertisement.
[0015] In these systems, a variety of advertisement relationship
determinations may be employed to determine which advertisements to
provide in the image(s). In one iteration, the advertisement
relationship determination module evaluates a grouping of
advertisements based on the effective revenue efficiency of the
grouping compared to other potential groupings of advertisements
provided by advertisers for the specific distribution subject and
determines the relationship for generating an image using the
highest revenue efficiency grouping of a predetermined number of
advertisements. More specifically, the system may generate a
ranking of listings as a grouping, the grouping comprising the
ranked list of advertisements with the highest effective cost per
thousand impressions. Also or alternatively, the revenue efficiency
value may be calculated by multiplying the number of click-throughs
over a predetermined number of impressions times the bid amount for
the advertisement. These relationships may be re-evaluated whenever
a new bid is received (either a new advertiser or a modification to
an existing bid) or when revenue efficiency calculations are made
(e.g., every thousand impressions).
[0016] Moreover, the electronic document may include a target
network-based locator for each of a plurality of advertisements
included in the image and the system may thus provide a redirection
server for receiving a request at the target network-based location
and redirecting the request to a location associated with the
advertisement associated with the target network-based locator in
the electronic document.
[0017] One embodiment of an electronic document (e.g., email
newsletter in HTML format) may comprise program interpreted code
for instructing a recipient program to present content related to a
specific distribution topic in a page when the electronic document
is opened by the recipient program, to retrieve an image from a
source network-based location and present that image in the page
with the content related to the specific distribution topic when
the electronic document is opened by the recipient program, to
request a first web page from a first target network-based locator
when a first portion of the image is selected, and to request a
second web page from a second target network-based locator when a
second portion of the image is selected. And, in one iteration, the
first and second target network-based locators direct the recipient
program to a location on the network where a first and second
advertiser web page location respectively are stored.
[0018] In various iterations, the source network-based locator
comprises a URL with an identifier related to the specific
distribution subject. Also, it is possible to provide an electronic
document in which the first and second target network-based
locators comprises an address portion and a variable portion and
wherein the address portion of the first and second target
network-based locators is the same.
[0019] According to another embodiment, a computerized
advertisement distribution and delivery system for dynamically
delivering advertisements for inclusion in an electronic document
delivered to and stored at a recipient system may provide an
advertisement image generation module for generating a plurality of
images corresponding to a specific distribution subject, ordering
those plurality of images based on a relationship between those
advertisements and storing those images in association with a
plurality of network-based locators as being the up-to-date image
grouping for the specific distribution subject. This embodiment's
system may also provide an advertisement relationship determination
module for intermittently determining relationships between
advertisements related to a specific distribution subject and if an
existing relationship between advertisements related to a specific
distribution subject changes, initiating the advertisement image
generation module to reorder the images and store the reordering
information to generate a up-to-date image grouping stored in
association with the plurality of network-based locators and
specific distribution subject. The electronic document transmission
system may create and transmit an electronic document containing
content related to a specific distribution subject and at least two
of the plurality of network-based locators associated with the
up-to-date grouping of images generated by the advertisement image
generation module for the specific distribution subject. Further,
an advertisement image transmission module may receive a request
for the up-to-date images located at the at least two of the
plurality of network-based locators specified in the electronic
document transmitted by the electronic document transmission module
and transmitting the up-to-date images associated with the
plurality of network-based locators stored in association with the
network-based locator at the time the request is received. Other
variations described above with respect to the first embodiment may
also be employed.
[0020] Other objects and advantages of the present invention will
be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the
descriptions and drawings provided.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] The purpose and advantages of embodiments of the present
invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art
from the following detailed description in conjunction with the
appended drawings in which like reference characters are used to
indicate like elements, and in which:
[0022] FIG. 1 depicts a system for distribution of advertisements
based on an optimized efficiency-based ranking methodology for a
bid-based advertisement system according to an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0023] FIG. 2 depicts an advertiser listings provider system and
database for use in the system of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment
of the present invention.
[0024] FIG. 3 depicts a graphical user interface for use in
enabling a user to create an account as the first step in providing
an advertisement for distribution through Internet channels
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0025] FIGS. 4(a)-(b) depict a graphical user interface for use
with listing one or more bid-based advertisements for use in a
ranked placement keyword output system according to an embodiment
of the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 5 depicts a graphical user interface for use in
confirming one or more advertisement listings made by an advertiser
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0027] FIG. 6 depicts a graphical user interface for enabling an
advertiser to place a content-based advertisement in a ranked
placement system wherein the content-based system provides for
advertising at different levels of granularity including category
level, channel level and document level according to an embodiment
of the present invention.
[0028] FIG. 7 depicts a graphical user interface for enabling
selection of a subject level for placement of an advertisement
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0029] FIG. 8 depicts a graphical user interface for enabling
selection of a document level for placement of an advertisement
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0030] FIG. 9 depicts a graphical user interface for enabling an
advertiser to confirm the categories in which the advertisement is
to be placed according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0031] FIGS. 10(a)-(b) depicts graphical user interfaces for
enabling an advertiser to provide one or more advertisements
associated with a content-based advertisement bid in a ranked
advertisement distribution system according to an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0032] FIG. 11 depicts a graphical user interface for enabling the
confirmation of advertisement listings for listings made on
category level advertisements according to an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0033] FIG. 12 depicts a graphical user interface for enabling an
advertiser to provide contact information step of listing an
advertisement on level nodes according to an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0034] FIG. 13 depicts a graphical user interface for enabling an
advertiser to provide billing information step of listing an
advertisement on level nodes according to an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0035] FIG. 14 depicts a graphical user interface for enabling an
advertiser to create an account to list an advertisement on level
nodes according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0036] FIG. 15 depicts a schematic diagram representing a system
whereby an advertiser may list advertisements in subject matter
specific nodes within a structure of subject matter specific nodes
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0037] FIG. 16 depicts a table providing an example of data
collected during an evaluation of ranking of advertisements for a
specified keyword within a keyword-based advertisement distribution
system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0038] FIG. 17 depicts a table providing an example of data
collected and generated during an evaluation of ranking of a
plurality of advertisements with a keyword and content-based
advertisement context according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0039] FIG. 18 depicts an exemplary content distribution page
wherein advertisements are distributed in ranked order for the page
based on an efficiency-based ranking system.
[0040] FIG. 19 depicts a table providing an example of data
collected and evaluated for a plurality of advertisements by a
single advertiser over various time periods to determine the
optimal advertisement for the advertiser at various times according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0041] FIG. 20 depicts a system for distribution of an email having
advertisements dynamically selected based on a bid-based
advertisement selection technique according to an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0042] FIG. 21 depicts a system for dynamically selecting and
displaying advertisement images in an email display according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0043] FIG. 22 depicts a method for dynamically selecting and
displaying advertisement images in an email display according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
[0044] FIG. 23 depicts a presentation of an electronic document
with content and images for dynamic display according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0045] Embodiments of the present invention deliver up-to-date and
timely advertisements. One system embodying various aspects of the
present invention is depicted in FIG. 20. FIG. 20 depicts a system
for generating and distributing graphics-enabled email having
advertisement image references that are resolved at the time of
display of the email in accordance with at least one embodiment of
the present invention. The system may include content/advertisement
listing provider system(s) 16/24 that store and serve
advertisements and an email provider 50 adapted to generate one or
more emails having embedded advertisement image references rather
than static text links. The graphics-enabled email can be generated
using any of a plurality of formats, such as Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML), Dynamic HTML (DHTML), Javascript, Perl, Common
Gateway Interface (CGI), and the like.
[0046] In one embodiment, each advertisement image reference
includes query string parameters that are used to identify the
intended location of the advertisement image when displayed.
Identifiers included in the query string parameters can include,
for example, an identifier associated with the email (e.g.,
identifying the email as a "health" newsletter email sent on a
certain date), a position identifier indicating the intended
position of the advertisement image in the email display, and the
like.
[0047] In one example, the email provider may generate an
HTML-based email. In this example, the advertisement image may be
stored at content/advertisement provider system 16/24 and
associated with an identifier, such as a numeric or name identifier
for the newsletter (e.g., 3614 or Sports or Parenting 56). The
HTML-email may be generated with HTML-encoded content in any of a
variety of forms and HTML that enables the operation of one or more
image maps or images with corresponding target links. The HTML
email may then be delivered to the email clients of some or all
newsletter subscribers. Each HTML email may include images that
present advertisements, including an embodiment in which a single
image includes a plurality (e.g., three) advertisements with
portion(s) of the image corresponding to each of the plurality of
ads such that those portions may be selected. Upon selection, the
end user's system may request a corresponding web page through a
central server location at content/advertisement provider system
16/24, for example. In one iteration, the HTML image map may
comprise a source image locator (e.g., URL of an advertisement
image operated in affiliation with the content/advertisement
provider system 16/24), HTML coding for designating a plurality of
portions of the image and a plurality of target network-based
locators corresponding to a portion of the image. An example of
HTML coding to enable the image map to operate is depicted
below:
TABLE-US-00001 <TR> <TD colSpan=6><MAP
name=sgmap><AREA shape=RECT coords=0,0,600,20
href="http://x.about.com/sg/r/3459.htm?p=0&ref=specsportssl_
sg"><AREA shape=RECT coords=0,55,600,75
href="http://x.about.com/sg/r/3459.htm?p=1&ref=specsportssl_
sg"><AREA shape=RECT coords=0,110,600,130
href="http://x.about.com/sg/r/3459.htm?p=2&ref=specsportssl_
sg"></MAP><IMG height=160
src="http://z.about.com/sg/sg.gif?cuni=3459" width=600
useMap=#sgmap border=0> </TD></TR>
[0048] This section of code includes an image reference at
src="http://z.about.com/sg/sg.gif?.cuni=3459", an indication of the
image's height (160), its width (600) and an instruction to
generate and use an HTML image map named sgmap.
[0049] The image map coding identifies portions of the overall
image (e.g., AREA shape=RECT coords=0,55,600,75) and associates
each portion with a target network-based locator (e.g., URL) that
links back to content/advertisement listings provider 16/24 to be
redirected to a web site or web page selected by a particular
advertiser (e.g.,
href="http://x.about.com/sg/r/3459.htm?p=0&ref=specsportss1_sg").
In this example, the image map includes references to three
portions and three URL's differentiated by the "p" number (or
position) in the image map. The various three references direct a
user's system to request a web page at the advertising system
(here, at host server x.about.com) that redirects the request to a
web page selected by the advertiser associated with the
corresponding portion of the image map as explained below with
reference to FIG. 23.
[0050] Each advertisement in an image, in at least one embodiment,
is associated with a URL reference. Accordingly, when a recipient
of the email opens the email for viewing and "clicks" a portion of
the image associated with the advertisement by the image mapping
function, the email client interprets the HTML in the email and
requests and displays the website referenced by the URL reference
stored at the target site URL in the HTML email at that time. In
one embodiment, as shown in the HTML coding above, the referenced
URL may direct the email client to a server affiliated with the
content/advertisement system 16/24, which in turn references a URL
from the advertiser whose advertisement has been placed in the
corresponding position in the image presented at the time of the
selection. As discussed in greater detail below, in one embodiment,
the actual website referenced by the URL reference is dynamically
referenced at the time that the email is viewed by the email
recipient rather than at the time of transmission of the email to
the recipient.
[0051] In another embodiment, an advertisement section of the HTML
email may be encoded to provide a plurality of images, each image
comprising one or more advertisements. Therefore, the encoding
described above for a single image map with three
advertisement/portions/target network-based locators may be
doubled, tripled, etc. to enable different numbers of
advertisements/image maps. Also, the number of
advertisements/portions/target network-based locators may be
modified as desired. In addition, an image grouping may be based on
a combination of single advertiser images and multiple advertiser
image maps, with the grouping determined based on a revenue
efficiency model, as described herein.
[0052] Also, an image may correspond to a single advertisement with
a single target network-based locator and a plurality of such
images may be utilized. Upon that HTML email being opened, each
image in the grouping may be requested and the images provided may
be based on the relationship available between advertisements for
the specific distribution subject of the HTML email at the time of
the email being opened.
[0053] After generating the email, email provider 50, in one
embodiment, is adapted to transmit a copy of the email to the email
clients of one or more intended email recipients over a network
14/22 (e.g., the Internet) using any of a variety of email
protocols, such as Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Upon
receipt, email clients (depicted by email clients 28e-28g although
any number of different email clients may be provided) typically
place the received email in an "inbox," where it is stored until
the recipient directs the email client to open the email for
display. It will be appreciated that the time period between the
receipt of the email and the actual viewing by the email recipient
can vary significantly. For example, one email recipient may view
the email within minutes of receipt of the email, whereas other
email recipients may allow the email to remain unviewed for hours,
days, weeks, and even months.
[0054] FIGS. 21 and 22 depict a system and method for dynamically
displaying pay-for-placement advertising in the email transmitted
in FIG. 20 is depicted in accordance with at least one embodiment.
In the illustrated example, the system includes a
content/advertisement provider 16/24 adapted to dynamically provide
advertisement images to email clients. The advertisement provider
of FIG. 21 and the email provider of FIG. 20 may include the same
provider or may involve different entities.
[0055] As noted above, the email generated by email provider 50
(FIG. 20) is transmitted to an email client 28 used by an email
recipient and typically resides at email client 28 for a variable
time period until the email recipient "opens" the email by
directing email 28 client to display the content of the email. To
display the email content, email client 28 typically utilizes an
interpreter to interpret any instruction codes included in the file
or data set representing the received email. For example, email
client 28 may utilize an HTML browser to interpret and execute HTML
commands embedded in the email; a Java plug-in to execute
Javascript or Java applets embedded in the email; a Perl
interpreter to interpret and execute Perl commands; and the
like.
[0056] As described above, the email, in one embodiment, includes
one or more image references that reference a location on context
provider 16/24 to retrieve a graphical advertisement or graphical
representation of a textual advertisement. Accordingly, when the
email client prepares the email content for display, email client
28 uses the image references to request the corresponding images
from content provider 16/24. Upon receipt of the image request, the
content provider may be adapted to dynamically select an
advertisement image (e.g., representing a pay-for-placement
advertiser) and provide the selected advertisement image to the
email client for display as part of the email display. The steps of
selecting and providing advertisement images in response to
requests for the images from the email client may be repeated until
the email client has received and displayed all advertisement
images referenced in the email. It should be appreciated that such
steps may occur simultaneously to speed in the delivery time.
[0057] In at least one embodiment, the advertisements contained in
the referenced image displayed as part of the email display are
selected at the time the email is opened for display on the email
client. The content provider can be adapted to select the
advertisements in any particular image for display using any of a
variety of factors. As mentioned above, in at least one embodiment,
advertisers may place bids to have their advertisements placed in
an email, and/or through other content delivery systems as
explained below, where the bids preferably are based on
click-throughs (e.g., the advertiser offers to pay $0.50 for each
click-through to the advertiser's website resulting from an
advertisement displayed in the email). When each advertiser submits
a new advertisement for placement in an email, the content provider
can be adapted to generate and store an entry in the ad database
that includes the advertisement information, such as an
advertisement image, an advertisement description (e.g., category
keywords), the number of click-throughs already generated, bid
information, and the like (more detail on embodiments of this
aspect of the system is provided below). The entry also can include
advertiser information (such as name, address, billing
information).
[0058] Using the information stored in the ad database entries, the
content provider can be adapted to select an optimum advertisement
image in response to an image request from the email client. In one
embodiment, the advertisement image can be selected based on bid
value.
[0059] For example, assume that ad #1 has a bid of $0.50 per
click-through, ad #2 has a bid of $0.20 per click-through, ad #3
has a bid of $0.25 per click-through, ad #4 has a bid of $0.10 per
click-through, ad #5 has a bid of $0.05 per click-through, and ad
#6 has a bid of $0.30 per click-through. Accordingly, for a
requested image to be displayed in the most prominent section of
the email display, the content provider could select the
advertisement image associated with ad #1. For a requested image to
be displayed in the second most prominent section of the email
display, the content provider could select the advertisement image
associated with ad #6, and so on for the remainder of the image
requests.
[0060] It will be appreciated, however, that the advertiser with
the highest bid may not be the advertiser with the greatest number
of click-throughs. Accordingly, rather than selecting advertisers
for listing in the email solely on bid value, the content provider
can be adapted to select advertisers for listing based in part on
bid value in combination with the number of click throughs, as well
as the relevance of the advertiser to the topic of interest of the
email. For example, assume that ad #1 has a bid of $0.50 per
click-through and an average of 20 click-throughs/day for the topic
of the email (potential total of $10/day), ad #2 has a bid of $0.20
per click-through per click-through and an average of 100
click-throughs/day for the topic of the email (potential total of
$20/day), ad #3 has a bid of $0.25 per click-through and an average
of 10 click-throughs/day for the topic of the email (potential
total of $2.50/day), ad #4 has a bid of $0.10 per click-through and
an average of 250 click-throughs/day for the topic of the email
(potential total of $25/day), ad #5 has a bid of $0.05 per
click-through and an average of 5 click-throughs/day for the topic
of the email (potential total of $0.50/day), and ad #6 has a bid of
$0.30 per click-through and an average of 20 click-throughs/day for
the topic of the email (potential total of $6/day). To maximize
revenue, the content provider could select the advertisement image
associated with ad #4 for a requested image to be displayed in the
second most prominent section of the email display.
[0061] Moreover, the preferred set may be determined based on the
optimum combined value of three advertisers set as a group. For
example, it may be determined that a grouping of Ad #1, Ad #3 and
Ad #5 generates the most revenue for content/advertising system
16/24 even though the bid values are not the highest
individually.
[0062] The result set comprising the selected advertisement images
and their intended position in the email display is referred to
herein as the "preferred advertisement layout." In at least one
embodiment, the content provider is adapted to store a
representation of the preferred advertisement layout in the ad
database at a particular date and time because the preferred
advertisement layout is subject to change as bids and click-through
rates change. Similarly, the content provider, in one embodiment,
is adapted to set a browser cookie at the email client (or web
browser), where the browser cookie includes a reference to the
preferred advertisement layout and the date and time of the
advertisement.
[0063] Should a email recipient select one of the displayed
advertisement images, the email client, in one embodiment, sends a
request to the content provider for the website referenced by the
URL reference associated with the selected advertisement image
within the image of the preferred advertisement layout. As with the
advertisement image reference in the email, in one embodiment the
associated URL reference is not directed to a particular
advertiser's website, but instead is a nonspecific URL reference
that can be used to identify a particular advertiser's website
based on the context in which the URL reference was selected. In
our earlier example, the nonspecific URL was
http://x.about.com/sg/r/3459.htm?p=0&ret=specsportss1_sg.
Accordingly, in at least one embodiment, the email client is
adapted to include the reference to the preferred advertisement
layout included in the browser cookie stored at the client earlier.
Using this preferred advertisement layout, the advertising system
24 may identify the advertiser website associated with the selected
advertiser image being displayed in the user's email client at that
particular moment. The advertising system 24 then may provide the
content of the advertiser website to the email client (or other web
browser) for display as a "click-through." Once the content has
been successfully displayed, the advertising system 24 may then
record the click-through for billing purposes.
[0064] If the preferred advertisement layout for a particular
newsletter changes, the image referenced in the email is changed
along with the advertiser URL's related to each of the nonspecific
URL's stored in the database in association with the image.
Therefore, without having to modify any code stored in the email on
the email client, different advertisements may be displayed
dynamically to the user as the preferred advertisement layout
changes.
[0065] Moreover, as a result of requesting the current image
containing the preferred advertisement layout when the email is
opened each time, advertisers or advertisements that are stale or
no longer participating are not displayed. Such advertisers thus do
not get "free" referrals and the advertisement system does not lose
out on an opportunity for revenue from the click-through to a
no-longer-participating advertiser.
[0066] The content/advertisement system 16/24 may comprise a number
of components, as shown below with reference to FIG. 2, for
example. In particular, relevant to the operations described above,
an ad image generation module 42 may be provided to generate an
image comprising portions related to one or more (preferably a
plurality) of advertisements, such as an image shown in FIG. 23,
described below. The functionality for generating an image may
comprise computer software that takes data from a database into an
image form to prepare a completed image. Other software may also be
used. In addition, an image server 44 may be provided to receive
requests for images from a database and may retrieve images upon
request at a specific network-based locator (URL) and variables
specifying which image is to be supplied. The image supplied may be
based on the variable which is used to index and retrieve an image
from database 18.
[0067] Also, a target redirection server 46 may be provided to
receive a request for a web page upon selection of a portion of an
image corresponding to an advertisement. The target redirection
server 46 may receive a request at a specified network-based
location and use the parameters to determine the corresponding
advertiser.
[0068] To provide the functionality of elements 42-46, database 18
may store images and target websites all indexed to a specific
distribution subject identifier, such as a number or name. Ad
listing generation module 32 may intermittently (based on time, new
bids, changes in bids, etc.) update the order of ranking of
advertisements for a specific distribution subject and therefore,
update the image to be provided and the advertisement URL's
(including changing the position of the URL's based on re-ordering
that may occur) to which target redirection server 46 may redirect
the email client when the corresponding advertisement is
selected.
[0069] Specifically, the flow of steps depicted according to one
method of the present invention is shown in FIG. 22. In the first
step 2202, a recipient receives and stores the electronic document
(e.g., HTML email) that contains html encoding specifying at least
one reference to an image at the content/advertising system. Next,
in step 2204, a time period designated with the letter X takes
place. As indicated above, the period of time is unknown and
therefore any period of time ay elapse between the user receiving
and storing the email and the next step, step 2206 of the recipient
opening the email. Upon opening an email, in step 2208, the email
client 28 may load the email and interpret the coding of the email,
including the reference to an image stored at the
content/advertising system 16/24. At that point, the email client
may initiate step 2210 to request the advertisement image/link
stored in the email. As indicated above, an email newsletter may
contain one or more such references to images that will be stored
at the advertising system 24.
[0070] Step 2214 may occur at the advertisement system 24 to
determine the preferred advertisement image associated with the
reference received from the email client. As indicated above,
because the preferred combination of advertisers in a single image
may change, this is done dynamically and at the time of the
request. So, for example, based on the numeral or name designator,
a specific image may be generated. Once the correct image has been
determined, in step 2214, the advertisement system 24 may transmit
the advertisement image back to the email client for display to the
user in step 2216. In addition, the advertising listing system 24
may deliver a cookie to the email client to be stored on the email
client's computer in step 2218. As discussed above, the cookie may
contain a number of pieces of information, including an indication
of time and date placed and the various information about the image
and the image map delivered to the user. In step 2220, it is
determined whether each dynamic advertisement in the email has been
received and if so, the process of steps 2210, 2212, 2214, 2216 and
2218 are repeated. If all such advertisements have been displayed,
then in step 2222, a recipient may select one or more of the links
depicted within the image delivered to the user in step 2222.
Specifically, the image may display what appears to be links,
although each is actually a portion of the image map that may be
selected as depicted above in the illustrated image map example. If
the recipient selects a link, then in 2224 the email client
transmits a request back to the advertisement system at the URL
specified in the image map coding as discussed above. And at that
point, in step 2224, the user is re-directed to an advertiser
associated with the portion of the image map that the user
selected. In addition, for purposes of recording click-throughs and
other database recordation techniques, in step 2226, the
click-through is recorded.
[0071] An example of an email advertisement and the associated
click-through portions may be shown in FIG. 23. In this figure, the
advertisement 60 may comprise a number of portions including
textual content typically provided in email newsletters. In
addition, various advertisement images may be included. In this
example, several are depicted, but one is described in greater
detail for purposes of illustrating how the image map function may
work. Here, one of the advertisement images 70 may comprise three
specific advertisements for different makers of DVD systems or DVD
sellers. Here, each of the three advertisements may be displayed as
part of a single advertisement image 70 but may have a portion of
the image depicted as elements 72, 74, and 76 allocated for display
of an individual advertiser.
[0072] Here, the advertisers have been selected based on a grouping
that is determined to generate the most revenue for the advertising
system: the first advertiser has bid 25 cents per click through,
the second 21 cents per click through, and the third 24 cents per
click through, but this combination is better than the combination
in which one of the advertisers may bid 26 cents per click through,
for example. Here, an underlined portion is depicted to show the
user that they may select that portion of the image to link through
to information about that particular advertiser. As described
above, upon selecting a portion of the image map, a URL associated
with that portion is activated by the email client, redirected back
to the advertising listing system and then directed from there to
the advertiser ABC, for example, associated with this particular
advertisement.
[0073] As will be appreciated, whereas the current grouping of ABC,
GHI, and DEF may be the present arrangement of advertisers for this
particular email newsletter, in one week from now, it is possible
that ABC will stop participating in advertisement through the
advertising listing system. Accordingly, if the present image were
delivered each time the user opened the email, it is possible that
the user will be redirected to a web site for ABC and ABC would
thus not have to pay or that there would be a "broken link" when
requesting information from ABC. The present system as described
above prevents that situation by delivering the image each time the
email is opened so that each of the advertisers included in the
image are active advertisers that are participating in the system
and to which the advertising listing system has an active link for
redirecting users requesting further information from that
advertiser and therefore are capable of generating the revenue from
the click through arrangements as described in greater detail
below.
[0074] As noted above, any of a variety of techniques may be
implemented by the content provider to select advertisements for
listing in graphics-enabled emails transmitted to email recipients.
In particular, FIGS. 1-19 depict a system and method for generating
a ranking of advertisements based on revenue efficiency over given
periods of time in accordance with at least one embodiment of the
present invention. Although the following describes various
embodiments for ranking advertisements for pay-for-placement
advertising in the context of an Internet website, those skilled in
the art can readily adapt the following for use in ranking
advertisements for placement in graphics-enabled emails, using the
guidelines provided herein.
[0075] An embodiment of a networked environment in which such a
system may operate is depicted in FIG. 1. In such a system,
advertisement providers 12 connect over a network 14 to an
Advertisement Listings Provider 16 (e.g., using a secure https
connection) to register, provide payment information, bids and
associated advertisements (also called creatives) associated with
the bid. For example, the advertisers may provide its bid in
association with a keyword for use in a search engine system and
may also provide a bid in association with content on a content
portal. The Advertisement Listings Provider 16 then stores the
information on a database server 18 for later transmittal. The
Advertisement Listings Provider 16 may then distribute the listings
through various forums or feeds, including providing the listings
on one or more web sites affiliated with the Advertisement Listings
Provider, through Internet Advertising Distribution Partners 20
(connected over network 14 or 22 depending on security desired),
through Content Systems 24 (with associated content databases 26)
and through Search Engine systems operated by the Advertisement
Listing Provider or Internet Advertising Distribution Partner(s).
Through these various forums, the advertisements provided by the
advertisement provider may be included in pages displayed to end
users 28 (often called an impression). In one embodiment, the
advertisement provider 12 is only obligated to pay for the
impression if the end user clicks-through the advertisement to the
web page target provided by the advertisement provider in
affiliation with the particular ad. In addition, the Advertisement
Listings Provider 16 may only be paid when a click-through occurs.
Also, traditionally, the Advertisement Listing Provider 16 and
Internet Distribution Partner(s) 20 may agree to share the revenue
for the click-throughs generated through distribution via the
Internet Distribution Partner 20.
[0076] Each of Advertising Listings Provider 16 and Advertisement
Provider 12 may comprise computerized systems that include one or
more of the following systems: a web server, a database server,
proxy server, network balancing mechanisms and systems, and various
software components that enable the system to operate on the
Internet or other network type system. Additionally, networks 14
and 22, although depicted as http networks, may comprise other
networks such as private lines, intranets, or any other network.
Preferably, the connection between advertising provider 12 and
advertisement listing provider 16 may comprise secure network
connections to insure that data is not subject to attack or
corruption by any hacker or other third party. In addition, whereas
two advertisement providers are depicted, it should be appreciated
that one or more advertisement providers 12 may be provided in the
network. Similarly, although one database server 18 is depicted, it
should be appreciated that multiple database servers may be
provided and that such database servers may be connected to the
advertisement listing provider via any type of network connection,
including a distributed database server architecture. Similarly,
content system 24 and content database 26 may comprise any number
of such systems connected to the advertisement provider or
advertisement listing provider 16 via any type of network,
including an http or https network. Content provider 24 may
comprise a system such as advertisement listing provider 16 that
provides functionality for enabling connection over the Internet or
other network protocols. End users 28 may comprise any user
connected to the Internet and may comprise computerized systems
that enable that connection through any of various types of
networks, including through Internet service providers, cable
companies, and any other method of accessing data on the Internet.
Internet advertising distribution partners 20 may comprise any
system that distributes Internet based advertising to end users.
Whereas two Internet advertising distribution partners 20 are
depicted, any number may actually be provided.
[0077] In general, in these embodiments, the Advertisement Listing
Provider 16 generates revenue when end users click-through to
advertisements provided by its bidding advertisement providers. The
Advertisement Listing Provider 16 may also incur costs for every
impression that it reaches in the form of overhead in running a web
site or distribution agreements for distribution. Accordingly, the
various embodiments of the present invention recognize that in such
systems, it is revenue efficiency (click-throughs per impression)
that generally produces the Advertisement Listing Provider's
profits. By using revenue efficiency to rank advertisements then,
the Advertisement Listing Provider's rankings track its own
profitability. This is particularly true for distribution channels
with limited numbers of slots for advertisements. For example, the
assignee of the present invention operates an enterprise known as
Sprinks that distributes advertisements through another enterprise
known as About.com and many others. Within each web page offered on
About.com, About.com has allocated space for five advertisements
from Sprinks that are provided by bid-based advertisers that use
the Sprinks system. With only five spaces for advertisements, it is
in Sprinks' interest to ensure that each of those five
advertisements is effective.
[0078] As shown in FIG. 2, the Advertising Listing Provider 16 may
comprise a system that provides an advertisement receiving module
30 for interacting with advertising providers to receive
advertisement information. It may also comprise an advertising
listing generation module 32 that generates a listing of
advertisements from the database based on criteria provided and
depending on the forum for the advertisements (e.g., search engine,
content portal, distribution partner, etc.). An advertising
priority determination module 34 may generate an order to the
listing based on rankings based on a model. In one embodiment, the
advertising priority determination module 34 may determine rankings
based on revenue efficiency and utilize a click-through-rate
determination module (also called a Click-Through-Rate Calculator).
The resulting advertisements generated and ranked may then be
communicated through various channels. An advertiser communication
module 38 may also be provided for communicating with the
advertisers. For example, it may be desired for the system to alert
an advertiser prior to changing the advertisement used for a given
bid or before moving the advertisement down or up in the rankings.
A database 18 may be provided in affiliation with the advertiser
listing provider to store advertisements, bids, advertising
information and a cache of clicks to be used to determine the
click-through-rate.
[0079] Additionally, because Advertising Listings Provider 16 may
provide the functionality of distributing advertising itself and
providing search engine results, web server system 40 may be
provided as well as a search engine system 42. It should be
appreciated that multiple such systems may be encompassed within
the advertising listing provider system 16.
[0080] Additionally, database server system 18 may comprise one or
more database systems that store various types of data including
one or more of the following: advertisements, the click cache, bid
amount information, and advertiser information including
registration information about the advertisers, accounts for the
advertisers, payment information and other information as described
herein. Numerous modules may not be provided in various embodiments
and/or the modules may be combined together to provide the
functionality described. Further, the modules may be dispersed
across multiple physical systems or may be duplicated across
multiple systems.
[0081] FIGS. 16-19 illustrate various examples of the way in which
the Advertising Listing Provider system may implement the revenue
efficiency ranking methodology. As shown in FIG. 16, for a given
keyword, the advertiser listing provider may have many different
advertisers that have bid on that keyword for placement in search
results from a search engine implementing a bid-for-placement
system. Over a period of time or number of impressions, the
advertising listing provider system may monitor and store
click-through rates for the effective advertisement for a given
advertiser. For example, for every 1000 impressions, it may be
determined that the primary advertisement provided by higher bidder
on the keyword "DVD" generated a 20% click-through rate. Based on
its bid of $0.25 per click-through, that rate generated a revenue
per thousand (RPM) of $50.00. Similar data may be tracked for other
advertisers that bid on the keyword DVD, including advertisers
whose secondary advertisement were already implemented to increase
efficiency such as the advertiser JKL, Inc. in FIG. 16.
[0082] After determining the RPM for each advertiser, the
advertiser listing provider may then take an action, including
re-ranking the advertisers for the keyword DVD based on RPM. In
this example, several lower bidders may be moved up in the rankings
because of their relatively high click-through-rate, indicating the
relevancy of their bids. Thus, the system monitors and changes the
rankings of advertisements for a given keyword based on RPM. This
monitoring and reevaluation of rankings may be ongoing and using
different periods of time. For example, click-through rates may be
monitored hourly, weekly, monthly, etc.
[0083] Taking this example, rankings may also be determined by the
system for placement in content portals. For example, instead of
bidding on the keyword "DVD," the advertisers may be bidding on a
page within a content portal about DVDs. In such a system, a
limited number of advertisers may be displayed within that page, as
shown, for example, in FIG. 18. Based on the new rankings, then the
order or placement of the advertisements in the page may be ABC,
GHI and then DEF due to the RPM rates of those three advertisements
even though ranking by the hid amounts would have yielded a
different result.
[0084] Also, as discussed above, the monitoring of RPM may also
involve the selection of an active advertisement from a plurality
of advertisements provided by an advertiser for a given bid. FIG.
17 depicts a table that indicates a determination that may be made
by the advertiser listing provider system regarding multiple
advertisements provided by a single advertiser for a given bid. Two
examples are provided. In the first example, an advertiser ABC,
Inc. has bid on the keyword "DVD" and provided four different
advertisements. Over a given time period, the RPM is determined to
be higher for Ad #3 and therefore, Ad #3 may be determined to be
active ad that is displayed in the ranked listings for ABC's bid on
the keyword DVD. To evaluate alternative ads, the four different
ads may be run at different times, periods, etc. in an attempt to
give each ad an opportunity to be viewed by a statistically
significant number of viewers and in the relevant time periods. It
is possible that alternative ads may not be used until the
click-through rate for a given ad begins to decrease. Or,
alternative ads may be displayed for a few hours each week with the
active ad being used the rest of the week. In that way, alternative
ads may be constantly supplied by the advertiser to see if the
alternative ad is more effective than the current active ad, but
without significant impact if it is substantially worse than the
active ad. In other words, an incentive may be provided for the
advertiser to try alternative ads that may generate more revenue
and more traffic to the advertiser but without the potential
penalty of losing ranking against competing advertisers. For
example, the alternative advertisement click-through rate may be
excluded from the overall advertisement rate when used for
comparison against other bidders.
[0085] Similarly, the advertiser DEF, Inc. may have provided two
advertisements for its bid on the content pages at
pregnancy.about.com. After an evaluation period between the two
advertisements, it may be determined that Ad #1 was still the most
effective based on RPM and therefore, may continue to be used as
the active advertisement.
[0086] In addition, the comparison between multiple advertisements
may be evaluated over different time periods to determine the
highest RPM over different time periods. FIG. 19 depicts an example
of a table that may represent the determination made by the
advertising listing provider system in which different time periods
within a single day are evaluated. As this example illustrates, it
is possible for different advertisements to be more effective on a
RPM basis at different times of the day. Accordingly, the
advertisement selected for a bid may be based on RPM and selected
time periods.
[0087] Other data may be factored into the evaluation to determine
rankings based at least in part on revenue efficiency. Demographics
of the audience, distribution channels, country, and other
information that is available may be fed into the calculation to
assist in maximizing the RPM for advertisements for bid-on keywords
and content portal pages. For example, it may be determined that
the ranking should generate different ranked listings for different
distribution channels.
[0088] According to another embodiment, advertisements may be
analyzed in groupings. The groupings may be based on the known
result set expected by a particular distribution channel.
Accordingly, the groupings may be analyzed separately for each
distribution channel as well, with different distribution channels
thus receiving a different order and listing of advertisements
optimized to generate revenue through that channel. For example,
one distribution channel may be a result set expected to be output
for a content portal page. In such an embodiment, a set number of
listings may be expected and the system of the present invention
determines the most revenue-efficient combination of listings based
on effective revenue per click for the grouping, varying the
members of group over time to determine that most effective
grouping. For explanation purposes, assume that there are only four
Ads (A,B,C,D) for a given keyword (video games) of which only three
listings are to be displayed on the feed (in this example the
content portal page). In this example, advertiser B has provided
two creatives, B1 and B2.
[0089] To decide the most efficient grouping, the system outputs
each of the different combinations over a set period of time and
determines the effective CPM Sum (cost to advertiser (and thus
revenue to the advertisement distribution system) per thousand
impressions) for each model. The various combinations are then:
AB1C, AB1D, ACB1, ACD, ADB1, ADC, B1AC, B1AD, B1CA, B1CD, B1DA,
B1DC, CB1A, CB1D, CAB1, CAD, CDB1, CDA, DB1C, DB1A, DCB1, DCA,
DAB1, DAC, AB2C, AB2D, ACB2, ACD, ADB2, B2AC, B2AD, B2CA, B2CD,
B2DA, B2DC, CB2A, CB2D, CAB2, CDB2, CDA, DB2C, DB2A, DCB2, DCA, and
DAB2.
[0090] The Effective CPM Sum for each model may be calculated by
summing the CPM (calculated by the equation
1000*Click-Through-Rate*CPC (cost per click)) of each listing.
[0091] If model CB1A yields this:
TABLE-US-00002 Unit CTR CPC ECPM C 0.00151 .42 .6342 B1 0.00145 .43
.6235 A 0.00148 .36 .5328
[0092] Then the Effective CPM Sum is:
TABLE-US-00003 CB1A 1.7905
[0093] If model CB2A yields this:
TABLE-US-00004 Unit CTR CPC ECPM C 0.00151 .42 .6342 B2 0.00149 .43
.6407 A 0.00148 .36 .5328
[0094] Then the Effective CPM Sum is:
TABLE-US-00005 CB2A 1.8077
[0095] This would indicate that CB2A is superior to CB1A.
[0096] Through this embodiment, ads are not compared to one another
in isolation, but rather in the grouping that generates the most
revenue. This embodiment recognizes that diversification of
advertisements may generate more revenue due to the diverse
interests of viewers. For example, a web page on a content portal
related to video games may attract viewers that have many different
game platforms. If all of the advertisements relate to sales of
games only compatible with a single platform, the grouping may lack
any advertisement of interest to the viewer.
[0097] To enable advertisers to interact with the system, a
web-based Internet system may be provided as shown in FIGS. 1 and
15, for example. In such an embodiment, Advertisement Providers 12
submit their advertisement listings to the Advertisement Listings
Provider 16. It is understood that any number of Advertisement
Providers 12 may submit advertisement listings to the Advertisement
Listings Provider 16. Advertisement listings may include all or
part of the following information fields: the name of the
Advertisement Provider, a title of the advertisement, a description
of the goods or services advertised, a URL to be displayed in the
listing, a where an end user will be directed upon clicking on the
advertisement, contact information, an email address, billing
information, pricing information, and an advertisement
identification number. In one embodiment of the present invention,
the Advertising Listing Provider 16 ranks the advertisement
listings submitted and stores the ranked listings in a Database
Server 18. According to a specific embodiment, the rankings are
generated based on an efficiency-based model as described
above.
[0098] As discussed above, various embodiments of the present
invention may be utilized in an advertising system based on
content-based placement. An embodiment of a content-based placement
system in which this efficiency-based ranking methodology may be
utilized is described in a related patent application entitled
"Method and System For Providing Advertising Through Content
Specific Nodes Over the Internet," Application No. 60/396,033 filed
on Jul. 18, 2002. For completeness, a description of the operation
of such a system is provided below, as modified to incorporate the
provision of multiple advertisements by a single advertiser for the
single-advertiser efficiency determination methodology as described
above. This system is described in the context of FIGS. 3-15 below.
It should be appreciated, however, that other systems for enabling
input of advertisements may be used as well within the scope of the
present invention.
[0099] FIG. 3 depicts a graphical user interface 300 that enables a
user to "sign up" according to an embodiment of the present
invention. A user desiring Internet advertising may access the
system via a secured Internet connection. This embodiment depicts
the process for a single user desiring Internet advertising to sign
up, however, any number of users may access the system to purchase
content node advertising. FIG. 3 shows the instigation of the
process with the creation of a username and password to create a
safe and secure system. There are other ways to accomplish the
security aspect of the present invention, such as direct network
connections, or subsequent verification by the user desiring
Internet advertising.
[0100] FIGS. 4(a)-(b) depict graphical user interface 400 that
enables a user to list an advertisement on the Internet associated
with a search term according to an embodiment of the present
invention. As shown, a user may be provided with multiple graphical
user interfaces, one each for each advertisement associated with a
specific bid. It is also possible to provide a single graphical
user interface to enable input of multiple advertisements
corresponding to a bid. In one embodiment, the graphical user
interface provides inputs for a general search term 402,
representing the high level subject matter corresponding to the
desired advertisement. Furthermore, the user desiring advertising
may enter a listing title in input 404. The listing title
represents the title the user desiring advertising wishes to
display on the advertisement. For example, if the user desiring
advertising wishes to sell video games manufactured by a company
under the name of "V-G" the listing title may be "V-G video games"
or "V-G video games for sale" or other descriptive alternates. The
user desiring advertising may also input a display URL in input
406, which may represent the location of the general website for
the click through. For example, the V-G user may input a display
URL of www.v-g.com. Additionally the user may input a targeted URL
in input 408, which represents the actual URL of the site the
end-user will be directed to if they click on the advertisement.
This may be different from the display URL, for example, in that it
directs the end-user to a particular model of video game on sale
(e.g., www.v-g.com\modeV52.html). Also, only a single URL may be
input and the displayed URL may be the URL of the site to which the
end-user may be directed by clicking on the advertisement. In this
embodiment, the user desiring advertising may also input a
description of the goods or services being advertised in input 410.
Further, the user desiring advertising may submit a price in input
412. In an embodiment of the present invention, the pricing of the
advertisements is accomplished via a bidding system. Each proposed
advertisement listing has a bid price associated with it. In this
embodiment, the listings are subsequently listed in descending
order of bid prices for the specific level being displayed. The
prices may be a per click through price or a flat rate, or as
discussed above, a RPM ranking. The proposed listing end user may
view the proposed listing in the proper order when the end user
searches the web site for the search term or terms.
[0101] FIG. 5 depicts a graphical user interface 500 that enables a
user to confirm listing an advertisement on the Internet associated
with a search term according to an embodiment of the present
invention. This graphical user interface allows the user desiring
advertising to see what position their add would hold in the
descending order of advertisements based upon the pricing
previously submitted. In a RPM system, the ranking shown may be
based on the price bid initially or may be based on the overall
average click-through-times-bid amount, for example. If the user
desiring advertising is not satisfied with the rank shown, or
otherwise desires to adjust the rank of the listing, the user may
accomplish this by choosing the edit button associated with that
particular listing.
[0102] FIG. 6 depicts a graphical user interface 600 that enables a
user to select a channel level node when listing an advertisement
on level nodes according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In this step the system may use the search terms previously entered
to suggest document level nodes. This option may be accomplished
under "Choose Categories Based Upon Keyword." Also, the user
desiring advertising may specify a category appropriate to the
goods or services advertised under Channel Level Nodes. Changing
examples, if the advertiser was a breast pump manufacturer, the
advertiser may select "Parenting and Family" as the Channel Level
Node. The screenshot shows sample general subject matters. This
list is not meant to be all inclusive. Any other subject matter
topic may be appropriate.
[0103] FIG. 7 depicts a graphical user interface 700 that enables
an advertising user to select a subject level node when listing an
advertisement on level nodes according to an embodiment of the
present invention. In this graphical user interface, the system may
use the search terms previously entered to again suggest document
level nodes. This option may be accomplished under "Choose
Categories Based Upon Keyword." Also, the user desiring advertising
may specify a category appropriate to the goods or services
advertised under Subject Level Nodes. Continuing the example of the
breast pump manufacturer desiring advertising, the user may select
"Pregnancy/Birth" as the Subject Level Node. The graphical user
interface of FIG. 7 provides an example of subject level nodes.
This list is not meant to be inclusive. Any other subject matter
topic may be appropriate and is preferably more specific than the
subject matters listed as channel level nodes. The listing options
that appear under the subject level nodes depend upon what
selection the user desiring advertising made under the channel
level node.
[0104] FIG. 8 depicts a graphical user interface 800 that enables a
user to select a document level node when listing an advertisement
on level nodes according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In this graphical user interface, the system may use the search
terms previously entered to suggest document level nodes. This
option may be accomplished under "Choose Categories Based Upon
Keyword." Also, the advertisement provider user may specify a
category appropriate to the goods or services advertised under
Document Level Nodes. Continuing the example of the breast pump
manufacturer desiring advertising, the user may select
"Breastfeeding" as the Document Level Node. The graphical user
interface 800 provides an example of general subject matter nodes.
This list is not meant to be all inclusive. Any other subject
matter topic may be appropriate, and preferably is more specific
than the subject matters listed as subject level nodes. The listing
options that appear under the document level nodes depend upon what
selection the user desiring advertising made under the subject
level node.
[0105] FIG. 9 depicts a graphical user interface 900 that enables
an advertising provider user to confirm listings according to an
embodiment of the present invention. If listings appear that the
user desiring advertising does not wish to purchase, the user may
so indicate such as, for example, by unchecking the corresponding
box.
[0106] FIGS. 10(a) and (b) depicts graphical user interfaces 1000
and 1050 that enable a user to enter detailed listing information
for various advertisements corresponding to the level-node content
bid entered. In one embodiment, this step is individually
accomplished for each desired document level node listing. For
example, in FIGS. 10(a) and (b), two different alternative ads are
provides, so the node-based ad is provided for each separate
bid--one in graphical user interface 1000 and one in graphical user
interface 1050. In one embodiment, the relational structure of the
nodes chosen is represented in the listing name shown at the top of
the graphical user interface 1000 and 1050. The user may then input
a listing title, a display URL, a targeted URL, a description and a
price in input areas 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008 and 1010,
respectively.
[0107] FIG. 11 depicts a graphical user interface 1100 that enables
a user to confirm bids to list an advertisement on different level
nodes within a given content portal according to an embodiment of
the present invention. Once user has provided inputs in the GUI
1000/1050 for each desired document level node listing, the
listings may be displayed in GUI 1100. Along with the information
input by the user desiring advertising, the system may also display
the rank the user would occupy with the price previously submitted
for each listing. This GUI 1100 enables the advertiser to gauge its
potential response by its ranking. For example, the breast pump
manufacturer would likely be willing to pay more to be listed first
on the breast feeding document level node, than on the pregnancy
document level node. An end-user accessing documents related to
breast feeding is more likely to be in the market for a breast pump
than any given end-user accessing pregnancy, in the mind of the
advertiser. Thus, the advertising user has bid more to achieve the
first position in that breast feeding document level. If the user
is not happy with the rank and bid amounts, the user may edit the
listings.
[0108] FIG. 12 depicts a graphical user interface 1200 that enables
an advertising user to provide contact information according to an
embodiment of the present invention. This contact information may
include any or none of the following information relating to the
user desiring advertising: first name, last name, company name,
street address, city, state, zip code, country, email address,
phone number, fax number, and industry through inputs 1202, 1204,
1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, 1214, 1216, 1218, 1220 and 1222,
respectively. In other embodiments any number of other pieces of
information regarding the user desiring advertising may be
requested in this step.
[0109] FIG. 13 depicts a graphical user interface 1300 that enables
an advertising user to provide billing information according to an
embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the
advertising user may enter a credit card or other financial account
information that would enable automatic periodic billing by the
system in input area 1302. In other embodiments, the system may
periodically generate physical invoices, which are mailed to the
advertiser. FIG. 13 shows an option where the user may choose to
enable "account auto replenish" in input 1304. This feature allows
the system to charge the user before any advertising expenses are
actually incurred. The system charges a preset amount to the user's
billing card whenever the user's account balance falls to a certain
amount. In this step, the user may also input their billing address
in input area 1306.
[0110] FIG. 14 depicts a graphical user interface 1400 that enables
a user to register an account to list an advertisement on level
nodes according to an embodiment of the present invention. This
graphical user interface represents an opportunity to make changes
to the listings, contact information, or billing information prior
to the listing becoming live. Once the advertising user takes this
step and registers the listings, the advertisements are then placed
according to their node structure on the appropriate document level
listings.
[0111] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram representing an advertisement
system 1500 whereby an advertiser is enabled to list ads on content
specific pages according to varying levels of subject matter
specificity, such as through the various embodiments depicted and
described above. Multiple advertiser systems 1510 may connect to
the Internet via an http connection 1515 and access the
advertisement system through servers 1520. The http connection 1515
may be a secure one (https), if desired, although other security
measures may also be utilized, such as described above. An
advertiser system 1510 may access a database 1565 of content
specificity via a database server 1525. Database server 1525 may
provide software operations to interactively provide the graphical
user interfaces presented in the example embodiments above, receive
content from those graphical user interfaces, store the content
into the database and then provide subsequent error messages, or
appropriate confirmation messages. Database server 1525 may also
sequence the pages to the user based on predetermined
relationship(s) between the graphical user interface pages shown.
One example of how this may be accomplished is through the database
server reading and writing to a Content Object Table Database 1535
where advertisements associated with content may be stored.
Furthermore, database server 1525 may enable the advertiser to read
the Rule Table Database 1530, which may provide artificial system
limitations regarding the listing of advertisements. These
artificial system limitations may be rules designed to generate the
highest profitability from a business standpoint. For example,
based on the user's advertisement and subject matter, the system
may recommend an advertising combination to maximize their
advertising effectiveness. It should be appreciated that although a
single network file server, database server, content object table
and rule table are depicted in FIG. 15, multiple such object may be
provided for purposes of scalability and optimization of the
operations of this system.
[0112] When an advertiser system 1410 offers an amount for an ad
listing, that offer may be stored in the Content Object Table
Database 1435. Periodically, the Network File Server 1440 accesses
the ads stored in the Content Object Table Database 1435 via the
Database Server 1425 and writes them to the Structured Content
Database 1465.
[0113] Additionally, multiple end users 1445 may connect via the
Internet to various distribution partners to the multi-node
hierarchical content-based system's content. For example, the
multi-node hierarchical content-based system may be presented as a
web site, such as the assignee of the present invention, About.com
at www.about.com. Also, various partners of the host system may
engage the host for purposes of providing some or all of the
content on their web sites. For example, a web site about Women's
issues may desire to distribute the subject level node(s) related
to women's issues. The advertisements associated with those nodes
may then be delivered along with the content for those nodes
through the distribution partner to the end user over the
Internet.
[0114] A load balancer 1450 may monitor the multiple Internet
connections, including requests to the server from one or more
distribution partners. Via web server(s) 1552, these multiple users
may look for the content from the multi-node hierarchical
content-based system. These multiple users 1445 may look for
documents using the hierarchical node structure or by inputting
search key words. In either case, the Network file server 1440 may
read these requests 1455 and provide pages with related content
along with the listings associated with that document. Thus the
advertisement system illustrated in FIG. 15 enables an advertiser
to offer an amount for ad placement on one content specific node,
different from the amount offered for placement on another content
specific node less likely to generate sales.
[0115] Once the advertisement system has accepted offers for
placement of ads on a particular node, the advertisement system may
publish those ads to the content specific node. For example, those
ad listings may be published to a website, as mentioned above. For
example, a document-level node may contain a single web page with
informational content, links, graphics, chat, and other features
related to the subject level, channel level and top level. Within
that web page, some or all of the advertisers who placed ads for
that level of specificity may be displayed. FIG. 18, as discussed
above, provides one example of a single document-level node web
page related to a document level node. That web page may be
provided with the highest three bidders for that document-level,
including the highest bidders for the higher-level nodes.
[0116] While the foregoing description includes details and
specificities, it should be understood that such details and
specificities have been included for the purposes of explanation
only, and are not to be interpreted as limitations of the present
invention. Many modifications to the embodiments described above
can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention, as it is intended to be encompassed by the following
claims and their legal equivalents.
* * * * *
References