Tell The Team: Banner Ads!

[Kambuk]

http://enworld.org

The only 3/3.5/4th ed PnP website I ever look at.

82,554 members on their forums talking about mostly 3rd and 4th ed DnD
Peak of 4,029 concurrent users on the 9th of april.

Kambuk

[kamimitsu]

www.fark.com - great visibility to geeks
www.giantitp.com - Order of the Stick rules
www.cnn.com - the whole world is watching

Who are you, and what have you done with my bookmarks?!

http://www.fark.com
http://www.giantitp.com
and recently
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/ (Zero Punctuation is a riot!)

I doubt WotC would be happy, but you might even try:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG

[BlueBadger]

I was hoping that asking this question would imply that some walls were crumbling :P

aka mod 9 to be released sooner then soon?!?

[DavydM]

First 2 are easy

www.mmorpg.com
www.tv.com

Then either

www.thepiratebay.org or
www.mininova.org

2 of the most popular sites on the net

[bellack]

Blizarrd.com

[Psyk0sisS]

Guildportal

Xfire

These might be a lost cause, cause if you're at either of those...you're probably playing another game but ya never know

[Tylarra]

www.google.com
www.mmorpg.com
www.facebook.com

[Steiner-Davion]

those aren't spoons they are using.....

They're Sporks?

Seriously my votes would be (not in order):

www.massively.com
www.ign.com
www.gamespot.com
www.wotc.com
www.giantitp.com Order of the Stick for the win!!!
www.youtube.com
www.gamespy.com
www.mmorpg.com
www.tentonhammer.com

edit: Whoever mentioned advertisements on HULU was a pure genious.

[Kalanth]

Question: What are three websites you visit that you would like to see DDO banner ads appear on, and why?

Easy. MMORPG.com, WoTC.com, and Penandpapergames.com. Those are three major sources I go to for my gaming, be it digital or PnP. I know that WoTC and PnP Games fans tend to "not speak about" DDO, but I feel that advertising in those areas would spark some level of interest from those that are not "gaming purists."

Optional Question: Don't have any sites you visit regularly? Then what are three websites you'd like to see DDO banner ads appear on, whether you visit or not!

Why not just slap the add up on Google, Yahoo, Youtube, and Comcast. All mainstream sites that run banners from time to time. For example, I would have never known anything about Modern Warfare 2 coming out if it were not for the banner on Youtube that linked to a video ad. That sold me to preorder the game and I think it would draw attention to DDO. Give me the music and video I would even design the add for you.

[kaidendager]

www.BestBuy.com
www.Kongregate.com
www.Newgrounds.com

pogo.com

Commercials on Hulu.

Also an excellent target audience.

[Azdraugnor]

Gamefaqs.com
Escapistmagazine.com
Gamespot.com

[baylensman]

Not specific site but types of sites:

Search engine start pages (many people use yahoo google msn as home pages)
Guild hosting sites (guild portal guild universe ect)
Game review sites (mmorpg.com TTH.com gamespy et al)
Maybe some retailer sites who will stock the game and gamer cards (yeah right)
Social sites like Myspace, facebook ect.

Another idea, many of us have websites for our small businesses or personal pages
give us a script for a well done banner and let us do it (Gives us a days play credit for each hit?)

[Widdle]

To pick just three it would be:

Gamespot.com then Mmorpg.com and then Weebls-stuff.com

To add reasoning to this (and also two other sites that I feel are worthy) I would suggest generally (in order of visitor numbers):

Gamespot and/or IGN ( they have similar visitor numbers from the webstats I found (see note))
Mmorpg.com (good numbers of visitors and "target" audience. Also higher visitor numbers than tentonhammer or massively after a quick check (see note))
Weebls-stuff.com (good visitor numbers and funny, plus comes with gravy for all you pie needs)
RPG.net (bigger through put of visitors than Wizards/Paizo/enworld etc etc)
Massively.com

The last three have the same numbers of visitors so my choice is based on the my perceived demographic, and creating a range of audience (Gamer, Mmorpg'er and more gamers (with a sense of humour)).

Having checked some stuff (as I couldn't remember) Wizards don't do banners, apart from their own games, and they are now totally 4th Edition so they likely wouldn't want to advertise the older edition (my opinion). I would suggest Paizo for the Pathfinder RPG (3.5 D&D with changes) but again no banners.......
I'd love to see DDO banners on GiantTiP or Xcvd but they don't do them. I even went and turned all my ad blocking off to check.
Finally sites like enworld or theescapist have low traffic numbers. But all this is less important than the websites relative hit rate for banner ads surely and their demographics (something I know nothing about).

Note: My quotes as to traffic of these sites is taken from some internet sites so is likely wrong and utterly spurious



<Trundles away to hide back in his corner>

[baylensman]

Thinking about my previous posts, While game review sites do have a lot of traffic from other gamers who might be interested in giving DDO a try, every one i visited that has and article or page about Turbine/DDO includes a link to DDO.com in the articles/reviews. So it may be a wasted effort/ expense. Not flaming just thinking if its the best use of resources.

[akla_thornfist]

tell ya what send my guild 100 large scales and i will cover my car with ddo banners

[Steiner-Davion]

Thinking about my previous posts, While game review sites do have a lot of traffic from other gamers who might be interested in giving DDO a try, every one i visited that has and article or page about Turbine/DDO includes a link to DDO.com in the articles/reviews. So it may be a wasted effort/ expense. Not flaming just thinking if its the best use of resources.

While your point is valid, they have to have heard of DDO to search for the article and/or review, as there is no other real easy way to find it, as it doens't jump out at you on those sites.

[Drfirewater79]

[CENTER]Welcome to Tell The Team!

Question: What are three websites you visit that you would like to see DDO banner ads appear on, and why?

Optional Question: Don't have any sites you visit regularly? Then what are three websites you'd like to see DDO banner ads appear on, whether you visit or not!

1) IGN.com - prolly the leader in video game information and they have almost nothing about ddo

2)spiketv.com - one of the most visited tv sites by men and women and a popular tv station for video gamers be it that they host the VGA's

3)www.gamewinners.com - great gaming cheats and hints site gets lots of viewers so a side link to ddo info would get alot of hits daily.

4) facebook banner adds

5) myspace banner adds

6) Pimpanime.com banner adds (cause anime lovers especially english speaking ones love fantasy games and mmos)

but you should also look at how you advertise

best features of ddo are fast paced hack n slash action non of that wow/guild wars like click and wait click and wait junk ... graphics are sweet in this game and the couple preview vids we have are nice but game play vids maybe even host a game play video contest and have the top 5 sent to ign and other sites as promo videos for the game.maybe include a game recorder that we can use so everyone is using the same file format and people who would love to make a welcome to stormreach video have the ability to do so.

promo posters are fun for the current population but it wont bring new people to the game like a good youtube video will.

I personally would love to spend a weekend making video of adventure areas and raids for the purpose of bringing people to this game just dont have the money to buy expensive recorders ....

and if i am willing to do it for no pay i am sure there are at least 40 other people (you know 30% of our currently playing people {joke}) that would love to do it as well.

i would love to make a ddo commercial if someone wants to hook me up with a free game recorder.

[Drfirewater79]

First 2 are easy

www.thepiratebay.org or
www.mininova.org

2 of the most popular sites on the net

i agree with these too i am on mininova at least twice a day myself

[The_Phenx]

Since I am an advertising guru I thought I would weigh in here and give a multi-part plan to help things out a little more than just suggesting a few websites to spend $100 on. These suggestions are designed to be low capital high result, since I know you guys are on a tight budget.

Dont mind the type-o's (im sneaking this in at work, no time to edit)

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I would do more than just internet banners.

But they are a good start, and I wouldn't just do three I would simultaneously hit all the major sites... saturation and repetition is the key. Work out a multi month buy in package deal.

mmorpg.com
tentonhammer.com
Giantitp.com
Massively.com
Etc...

Before you start any media blitz, you need to make sure your product is up to snuff. I would get the mod 9 package ready to roll out... release it...have it out for a solid week (to iron out any immediate wrinkles) THEN release the advertising.

The last thing you want is to attract new customers and have the servers brought down a bunch right when they arrive.

Mod 9 is a nice draw for us, but low draw for them, since they have never played the game, so a little new content isnt much of a draw, niehter is reach level 20" It needs to be advertised on what makes the game more desirable to an outsider than any other. Focus on the active combat, grouping systems, graphics, and gameplay, AND the D&D heritage its based off of.

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I would start producing videos of quest run throughs, tips/tricks, and generate an Turbine official DDO You Tube Page... To save on production costs, I would set them up as user generated walk throughs (with voiceover) contests and give away a free month.

This has a great two fold effect. Newbs can have help without begging. Folks who are just curious can see actual gameplay, WITHOUT downloading the 6 gigs of data and setting their computer up. Get them hooked in 30 sec vs waiting on lots of download time, possible install and billing glitches, and possible server downtime.

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I would look into doing small pop displays with free trial cards nationwide in comic/gaming shops. No dvd's just a letter sized stand up display with attached single post card sized tear off cards to save on prodruction/delivery costs. Offer 10% off your first month and put free trial details on them.

Looking at maybe $2-$4 ea for those. SO for a couple grand your set.

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Find something fun cool... maybe fist sized foam 20 sided dice with ddo.com info on to hand out at conventions.

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As a possible captal generator. I would also work out a deal with one of the custom action figure sites, so that the player can order through turbine a one of a kind real life version of your little avatar.

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Anyway thats just a start, and what I could come up with in 10 minutes, if I think of anything else I will post it up.

OH AND GET THIS THREAD IN THE DEV TRACKER!!!

[tihocan]

Question: What are three websites you visit that you would like to see DDO banner ads appear on, and why?

Optional Question: Don't have any sites you visit regularly? Then what are three websites you'd like to see DDO banner ads appear on, whether you visit or not!

mmorpg.com and Gamespot. Just because I think they get lots of traffic from gamers.
I'd add metacritic.com to the list as well (I use it regularly to check what cool new games are out).