FAQ

ADS | ADVANTAGES | AUDIENCE | FAQ | POLICIES | SOCIAL MEDIA

How many people view The Cardinal or CARDINAL NEWS?
Arlingtoncardinal.com currently has a minimum of about 2,000 viewers or readers per day, but often serves 3,000 to 3,500 viewers or readers per day. Those viewers (readers) view an average of about 1.5 pages per day (i.e, when there are 2,000 viewers or readers in a day there are about 3,000 pages views — actions by those viewers or readers). Our record number of viewers (individual readers) is 19,335 individual viewers in one day with 28,061 pages served to viewers in a single day.

Do I have to pay more if CARDINAL NEWS (The Cardinal) is experiencing a busier news day?
No. Ads are offered at the CPM Model, which is the cost per 1,000 impressions (viewings by viewers on page views). You pay according to the specified share price with your agreement, which is a flat rate that does not fluctuate. The share price does not change, unless there is a price change arranged in a new future agreement (which would only occur if there is a future price increase across the board). Year-to-year page views usually increase. For example, in five years CARDINAL NEWS could average 7,000 views per day. The flat rate using the CPM model could increase, or an advertiser could cut back on ad space which would maintain the approximate number of impression at the initial agreement, and also maintain the initial cost.

Will my ad be seen?
CARDINAL NEWS a lot of content on the page so that readers can quickly overview the news and weather. Ads are highly visible near the top of every pageview, but do not involve annoying pop ups and do not involve self-playing video or audio. CARDINAL NEWS has a long history of readers clicking ads on Arlingtoncardinal.com. The ads are placed in optimal locations, but are not intrusive to the overall reader experience. CARDINAL NEWS encourages a family of friendly ads that are useful (and not insulting) to readers. CARDINAL NEWS blocks many ads that display fake news or ridiculous claims, etc. from third party services.

The primary weakness of an ad is ad blindness or boring ads, or ad spaces that have a history of undesirable ads (e.g., obviously fake health claims, fake sensationalized “Photoshopped” ads, fake celebrity news ads, etc.). CARDINAL NEWS works to minimize “ridiculous” ad, but if your ad has the same visual effect for several months and your business does not have a highly favorable, highlyfamiliar and recognizable reputation, your ad may eventually be ignored (ad blindness) by regular viewers. It is important to be creative, or have a good offer in the ad. If you will be on board for a long period, it is a good idea to change ads or develop an inventory of ads with special offers or seasonal changes, etc. We are very happy to work with you to keep your ads successful.

If you already have good brand recognition, it is still good that your ad and name is seen on the page — even if it is not relevant to the article content. For example, if you are a restaurant with an ad that shows delicious food, your ad might display in an article that has nothing to do with food or eating out. The ad offers a suggestion, gets your name out there, and serves as a reminder, but it doesn’t intrude on the reader.

The four standard option ads are “above the fold” which means they are visible without having to scroll down to see the add on most mobile devices. There is a non-standard ad that immediately follows article content. This is a custom ad that is not defined here, so please ask us personally one-to-one if you are interested.

Can my business be exclusive?
The only way to be exclusive on news articles would be to buy all the shares of all the ad spaces during your ad campaign (when available), or buy the remaining shares when none of your competitors have existing ads. This scenario is not likely. Exclusivity is not possible on news articles, but relative exclusivity is possible on pages because when an advertiser adopts a page, the advertiser becomes the exclusive holder of “alway on” additional ads on that page that are placed in addition to the standard rotating top space ads (300×250 above title, 320×100 above title and below title, and 320×50 above and below title).

Pages look similar to articles, but are not posted to the front page by date (e.g., a news article). Technically, news articles that provide the continuous flow on the front page are known as posts, while information pages are known as pages. However, pageviews used for statistics and used to calculate the CPM Model flat rate are counted from both posts and pages. Generally, pages are viewed significantly less than posts; but it is possible that a page can become very popular.

Arlingtoncardinal.com/weather,

Arlingtoncardinal.com/metra, or

Arlingtoncardinal.com/moon

… are example of pages.

You can “adopt” a page by placing an ad or multiple ads on an information page. You may also suggest a particular information or reference page that could be adopted with your ad(s). You pay only once to adopt a page ad. That’s right, there is no monthly fee. Page advertisers pay one time and are entitled on a first-come, first-served basis. One time PAGE ADOPTION FEES range from $20 to about $100 for a highly popular information page. Another advertiser can request to bump your ad for a month or more. As the initial adopter of the page, you have ultimate control on whether you temporarily relinquish the display of your ad. When you temporarily relinquish your ad on a page, you get a rebate when an advertiser pays CARDINAL NEWS to temporarily bump your ad off the page.

Can I use my own ads?
Yes. The only limitation is that the ads have to be family friendly. No direct promotion of alcohol consumption or tobacco consumption. For example, we can advertise for a pizza restaurant that serves alcohol, but we can’t advertise a liquor store.

If the ad is family-friendly it must also link to your family-friendly site. See POLICIES for details on family safe ads.

If I have different ads, can I track how the ads are performing, and determine which ad is performing the best?

Yes, you can find out how different size ads impression are performing, but click through rates are not available. If you need to track click through rate (CTR), it is recommended that we set up a specialized link to your website, so that you can track referrals from CARDINAL NEWS ads to your website.