Display advertising is a powerful tool for generating traction at all levels of your marketing funnel, all the way from awareness to conversion. With that said, it can sometimes be tricky to figure out the best way to utilize display advertising for your brand or project, so here at found.ee, we've developed a best-in-class system to streamline this for you!

Best of all, there's no minimum spend requirements for these types of ads, and you don't even need an active found.ee subscription – simply create an account and start advertising today!

Here's a step-by-step guide to get you started with found.ee Web & Mobile Display advertising:

From your found.ee Dashboard, click the pink Quick Launch button at the top left of your screen, select Create Ads, and then click Web and Mobile Display Banner Ads.

Then, fill out the following fields:

Set the location(s) in which you want your ad to be targeted. Location can be Countries, States/Regions, DMAs, Cities, or ZIP codes. Broader targeting (e.g., countries, states, or DMAs, as opposed to smaller cities or ZIP Codes) will often help ensure that ads spend their full budget and perform optimally. The reason for this is that as location targeting gets more specific, the potential audience size decreases, which may result in underspending and/or increased CPM (cost per reach) averages.

Inputting too many locations may also negatively impact your results, as our ad platform divides overall budget equally between all locations that are selected. Also, large discrepancies in the sizes of each location targeted may also result in underspending (e.g., targeting the US, Mexico, and then Fargo North Dakota), as ad budget is split equally between each of these locations. With this in mind, we typically recommend limiting the total number of locations targeted per campaign, and keeping the location type (countries/states/DMAs/cities) as consistent as possible across each selected segment.

When creating web & mobile display ads via found.ee, there are two categories of audience targeting options available – Domain Targeting and Interest Targeting. Domain Targeting allows you to select the specific websites where your ads are placed, while Interest Targeting allows you to reach specific audience segments wherever they exist across the web.

For found.ee web & mobile display campaigns, you can choose either Domain Targeting, Interest Targeting, or both, depending on your marketing goals & the scope of your project.

With Domain Targeting, you have the ability to choose which websites you'd like your ads to appear on. We have dozens of pre-built domain lists available, divided into two different categories – Premium Sites and Max Click Sites.

Premium Sites refers to websites that are premium publishers, or well-known websites with large monthly readerships. Premium Sites for music include Rolling Stone, Billboard, Pitchfork, Complex, XXL, and more.

We have dozens of Premium Sites groups available, which are arranged by industry & subject matter. For instance, the Music section is grouped by genre (eg. Hip-Hop, Rock, or Pop). Choose the group of sites that is most applicable to the project you are promoting. It isn't possible to select multiple Premium Sites lists per campaign, so if multiple lists are applicable to your project, we recommend creating a Custom Domain list (detailed below).
​

To see which premium sites are in each group, click the pink Manage button next to the group’s name. Here, you can also add or remove domains to create your own Custom Domain list!

If there are any domains you’d like to remove from the group, click the gray minus (-) icon next to the website’s name in the Pre-set list. Then, if there are any additional websites you’d like to target, you can add them in the Domains List on the right and click Add Domains. Once you've edited the list, you can then save it to your account as a Custom Domain list and use it in any of your upcoming found.ee ads. Here's a quick walkthrough video to learn more about this process!

Your other option for domain targeting is Max Clicks Sites. Max Clicks Sites are not premium publishers, but are designed and optimized by our system to generate the most amount of clicks and engagement possible on your ad, while still also reaching users with relevant interests to your ad. In essence, Premium Sites are more expensive to place ads on, but the benefit that you’re getting is the placement of your ad on large, well-known websites. Max Clicks sites are cheaper, and the benefit you’re getting is more clicks and engagement on your ads for the same budget.

Clicking the dropdown icon for Max Clicks Sites allows you to select a group of websites that is most appropriate for your release. Sites are grouped by genre here as well. However, unlike Premium Sites, the Max Clicks website lists cannot be edited.

When setting up domain targeting, you may select Premium Sites or Max Clicks Sites, but not both together.

When choosing between Premium Sites or Max Clicks Sites, it is best to consider your marketing goals and objectives. Choose Premium Sites if your primary objective is to build premium brand awareness on specific high-profile web properties, and choose Max Clicks if your objective is to drive more click-based engagement, regardless of where the placement occurs.

While with Premium Domain targeting, the focus is on where your ads are placed, with Interest Targeting, the focus is on who you're reaching. Interest targeting includes audience segments with either proven or probable interest in the subject matter based on their web browsing, location, and/or purchasing behavior.

To select interest targeting, simply search whatever interests you’d like in the “Type to Search” bar above. As you start typing, a list of suggested interests will appear. You can also browse targetable options using the dropdown icon, but we would recommend searching as the list of interest targeting options is very long!

When selecting Interest Targeting, think about the general attributes of what you're promoting, as well as other topics that your target audience may be interested in. For instance, if you're promoting a rock music album, 'Rock Music' and 'Rock Concerts' would be immediately relevant to your project. However, if you'd like to take a broader approach, also consider what non-music interests this audience may have, such as 'Sports', 'Retail: Tickets', or 'Health & Fitness'. The options are (nearly) endless!

Some important things to consider when utilizing interesting targeting:

Depending on what targeting options you've selected (Domain Targeting, Interest Targeting, or both), you may have some different campaign optimization options available. With that said, because our system automatically adjusts this based on your targeting, we typically advise users to leave these settings as-is.

However, depending on your specific campaign goals, you may want to edit this. Here are our available optimizations:

Also, by default, all found.ee ad campaigns are set to deliver to both Web and App placements. However, if you'd like to focus on only Web or App placements, click the small 'gear' icon at the top right corner of the Optimization section to select 'Web Only' or 'App Only' as desired.

With found.ee Web and Mobile Display ads, you can use banner graphics (static or GIF) or HTML5 interactive banner ads.

Here are our recommended specs for static or GIF banner graphics:

To upload new static/GIF banner graphics, select 'Click to Browse' or simply drag & drop your files into the gray file upload box.

Note: a creative audit fee of $1 per creative is charged for all display campaigns. Click here to learn more about the creative auditing process!

Then, to use an existing creative in your account (either a static/banner graphic you previously uploaded or an HTML5 banner you've already created), click the pink 'Show Existing Creatives' button and select the corresponding tab ('Existing Creatives' for previously uploaded banner graphics, 'HTML5 Ads' for previously created HTML5 banners). Pro Tip: use existing creatives to avoid audit fees!

As an alternative, HTML5 interactive banner creatives (example here) can be great if you don't have static/GIF banners on hand, or if you'd like users to preview your music or video content immediately (without clicking away from their current page). Here's a quick video walkthrough on how to create an HTLM5 interactive banner!

Now that you've chosen your ad creative(s), your Destination URL is where users will be directed after clicking your ad. For this, you can use a website link, found.ee landing page, or shortlink.

Then, if you'd like to add UTM parameters for additional tracking capabilities, click 'Edit With URL Builder' and it will walk you through the steps accordingly.

Also, make sure to keep the Create Follow-Up Remarketing Audience checked – this will enable you to run future remarketing campaigns based on impressions generated by this first campaign.

Lastly, the Start Campaign section includes a few additional fields for your reference. The top of this section includes a section for managing your payment method. Here, you can either select an existing credit card or add a new one. Once you add a payment method, it will be saved to your found.ee account for future use.

Then, below Select Credit Card, you'll also have an option to add a PO code which will display on your invoice. By default, the Campaign Name & ID will be listed on your invoice (along with all associated charges), so this section is typically utilized by organizations with specific financial reporting needs.

Now that you've followed all of the above steps, you can either launch or save your campaign.

To launch your campaign at the date/time you specified, click the pink Publish button, located both at the bottom and top right of the screen. Once you click Publish, your specified ad budget will be charged to your selected payment method, and your campaign will enter a review phase to audit all associated creatives. Once the campaign completes the review process, your ad will start running as scheduled.

Alternatively, if you aren't ready to launch your campaign yet, select the gray Save button to save your campaign as a draft for future reference.

Woohoo, you did it! Congratulations on setting up a found.ee display ad. Once your ad starts running, feel free to check your ad's performance at any time via Ads Reporting in your dashboard. Happy advertising!