Four Screens Media

We received our beta invitation to the Google Ad Planner and quickly gave it a test run.  Our first impression?  Intuitive, fast and easy.  Once again, Google shows that while they are an engineering and advertising driven company, they know how to design and interface that keeps us productive (not frustrated).  That leads to a fast learning curve and an increase in usage.

Using the Google Ad Planner is fairly simple and straightforward.

1. Create a campaign name and then click on research
2. Here you find a list of sites to advertise on by first choosing gender, age, income and education and then listing web sites that match the type of online viewer you want to reach.   This is all on a simple left hand column and takes about a minute to complete.  For just about any search you should be able to find one to three popular web sites (I found only a small number is needed) that reflect the type of audience targeted.
3. Click Add and watch a list of sites to target pop up.   Each site in the list shows the category, competition index, unique visitors, country reach, page views, ad formats accepted and impressions a day.  Right now it looks like only about 10% of sites are delivering this information though I expect this to grow as the Google Ad Planner gains in usage and popularity.

Even without all the extra data, I find the ability to quickly generate a list of sites based on basic demographics and other similar sites to be of use.  The fact that the site is easy and fast means I don’t mind quickly running a quick list when I have an idea.    For Google, that means we’re more likely to use it when it comes time to spending money.  A more complex system might provide a disincentive for using the tool on a spur of the moment basis.

Bottom line: The Beta of the Google Ad Planner shows a lot of potential to as a tool to quickly general list of target sites.  I find it useful right now and people will find it’s value to grow along with the data for the web site lists it generates.