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Connecting Dots

One of my long-term volunteer gigs has been for a social enterprise. Since they started operations fifteen years ago, online ads had been the mainstay for sales revenue. Customers found they via keyword search, looked up the website and then usually called the main number. Sometimes, they might email but more often than not they called. That business model produced a decent income for the business while employing around ten people. 

Around 2015 the online advertising completely cratered and the business has been on a downward slide ever since. I used to think that not being able to play the online ad game was a function of lack of expertise - none of us had much to speak of. They few times they tried to hire consultants to help remedy the situation, it was just a waste of resources they did not have. Reading this 2018 interview of someone who clearly knows their way around the web, made me re-think how 2015 turned out for this small business and if that was the beginning of the end for many others just like it. 

For years, the site was supported mostly by advertising and a little bit by [affiliate revenue from] Amazon Associates. That worked well until about three years ago, when the wheels started falling off the Internet advertising wagon.

So it turns out the the all sides were hurting in the on-line ad eco-system. The small business where I volunteered was not able to remain visible despite every effort. They used a programmatic ad service that failed to get them in front of the right audience. The ads were being displayed where no one clicked them - such as this very popular blog referred to in the interview.

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