Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is an advertising sales management firm?

Intermarkets, Inc. is a unique service provider for publishers. We manage all aspects of online publishers' advertising sales, including:

• Promoting and selling advertising inventory
• Monitoring and managing ad traffic
• Optimizing campaigns and maximizing results
• Providing customized reports for both publishers and advertisers

How does Intermarkets differ from "rep" firms?

We manage advertising sales exclusively for publishers in our portfolio, as opposed to being a media buyer for advertisers or advertising agencies. The differences may seem minor, but for publishers, the differences are substantial.

What are the differences?

First, Intermarkets focuses on maximizing results for the publishers with whom we work. Our primary goal is to fill all the available advertising space for a publisher through direct placement. We also take care of the "leg work" and all administrative tasks that are required to maximize results for publishers.

We believe that the interests of publishers are best served by an advertising sales management firm whose primary responsibility is to maximize results for publishers.

What are the minimum requirements to becoming a publisher with Intermarkets?

Our minimum requirements for considering new publishers is that your website needs to have at least 75% U.S. traffic and three million monthly page views available for advertising placements.

What does a publisher need to do to join the Intermarkets Portfolio?

After reviewing our site and if your website meets our minimum requirements listed above, please contact us. Be sure to include your publisher website, monthly page views, any other traffic information, and how we can reach you. We'll review your information and get back to you. If you become a publisher, after reviewing and agreeing to our Standard Agreement, we'll send you short code to put on your Web pages. Then, we'll send you a check every month for the ad sales we've made for your site. Unless there are unusual circumstances, the ad codes will not change. And, the ad inventory is always filled with paying ads. Literally, that's all there is to it. You don't have to get bogged down dealing with setting up campaigns, collecting payments, reviewing links, or providing reports. We do it all. And we pay you for it!

Speaking of pay, how much do you retain?

The range for advertising sales reps is between 35% and 65%. Often, rep firms may retain additional portions of revenues in ways that are a bit surprising. For example, the reps may retain an additional percentage to cover bad debts or your net revenue may be reduced by ad serving fees for inventory that the reps couldn't sell.

Intermarkets retains 50% of the revenues, which is right in the middle of the range, AND, we do NOT charge publishers for serving any unsold inventory or for covering bad debts. We believe 50% is very competitive for the level of service we provide.

50%! Yikes! What happened to the standard 15% or so for agencies?

The 15% for agencies is standard for media buyers and applies as a discount to sales when the media buyer is simply making the buy on behalf of a client or an advertising agency. We're not media buyers. When you work with a media buyer, it is your responsibility and cost to do all of the ad serving, trafficking and reporting (in addition to soliciting the media buyers to make the sale) as well as provide ongoing relationship management. Media buyers work for the advertiser; they are a client for the publisher.

What types of ad placements can Intermarkets run for me?

We can run the standard 468x60, 728x90, 300x250 and 180x150 banners, 120x600 skyscrapers and 720x300 pop-unders. We also have a limited supply of text links.

Where is Intermarkets located?

Our headquarters is located in the heart of beautiful Reston, Virginia, about 20 miles Southwest of Washington, D.C., convenient to Dulles International Airport. Reston is in the North central region of Fairfax County, Virginia, home to Google, comScore, Inc., and TeraThink. We are also adjacent to the Dulles Technology Corridor as well as Tysons Corner, both of which are major commercial and technology centers, with headquarters for many firms such as AOL Time Warner, Accenture, and Mars Incorporated.