Show HN: AdFrenzy.net is trying to make online ads better

[fooandbarify]

There are a lot of problems with online ads right now. Some of the big ones:

- The sales metrics used (CPM, CPC) have caused a numbers driven approach which favours shitty content farms and dilutes the value of quality human-driven sites and blogs.

- It seems like ad creators are always coming up with new ways to annoy end users (ie. big Flash pop-ups, sound, etc). The level of user tracking also presents privacy concerns.

- Smaller ad buyers rarely get to choose which site their ad will be placed on - instead, it is usually based on certain target keywords. This is not always the best option for advertisers.

http://www.adfrenzy.net is a really simple project I've started which attempts to address these problems. I've been working on this in my spare time over the last couple of months, and now that it's ready to show people I'm hoping to get an idea of whether or not to keep working on it. Please be extremely critical of both the idea and its implementation - compliments are nice and appreciated but I'd rather get some tough love. (There are many things I plan to improve in the next little bit but your feedback will help me determine which order to take. Also, right now it is best suited to somewhat self-serving industries like ours because the only way to buy ads is directly from the site you saw it on. I plan to start building out the other side of that equation - helping advertisers find the right ad spaces - if there is an interest.)

[qbproger]

I like the idea, but I'm not a fan of the website design. I'm not a web designer or anything so take my advice with a grain of salt, but the concentric circles and red makes the site feel really in your face. I'm using google chrome and the ad shows up as a blank brownish box.

While I like the idea, I probably wouldn't use the service on my blog because if no one buys ads on my blog I'm just advertising your service. Maybe let advertisers choose categories and if you have a blog about that topic you can present it to the advertiser?

[fooandbarify]

Cool, yeah I'm obviously not a designer either :) It would be something to work on if this ever moves forward. As for the blank ad - that's a strange problem! What operating system are you using? It worked fine with everything I tested, including Chrome on Windows. Do you have any plugins on? It should work without it, but do you have javascript enabled?

And yeah, I understand what you mean. I would build a sort of "ad marketplace" for advertisers that allowed them to sort ad spaces however they want if there is enough interest.

[Jsarokin]

So its like a media buy "auction" for small sites?

[fooandbarify]

Basically, except that you get the ad right away. There are existing ad networks that let you set a "maximum bid price" for sites but that often turns into a race for the bottom, price-wise. This is different - you can buy any ad immediately as long as you pay at least a dollar more than the last person, and it will be yours until someone who is willing to pay more buys it. The idea is that this lets the market determine the ad value of a specific site rather than keywords a la Google.

Does that make sense? I am trying to refine my pitch, I think the website copy is unclear but I'm trying to make it better.

[fooandbarify]

Clickable: http://www.adfrenzy.net/