Todd Garland, a designer by passion and an entrepreneur by profession, is the sole brain behind BuySellAds, a game changer in online banner advertising. Prior to starting up with BSA, Todd owned couple of websites on web design and was simultaneously working as a lead designer and SEO specialist at HubSpot. Later, Todd launched BuySellAds, and pretty soon, it became a hot favorite for both advertisers and publishers.
As a matter of fact, with some of the most popular blogs as publishers, BuySellAds today serves up to 3 billion ad impressions per month. Todd, who started all alone, tell his startup story and shares his learning with us. Read On….
Interview Overview:
Can you tell us a bit about your entrepreneurial background? Also, can you elaborate more on your journey on the Internet?
Certainly. BuySellAds.com is my first company and experience as an entrepreneur. I started like most web designers/developers in the late 90’s by just playing around, trying to build websites, and hacking things together in general. I wasn’t very “clueful” back then about making money online, and it was a hobby that turned into a great way to earn money while in college. I stumbled across the idea for BuySellAds.com while buying and selling ads for two web design related sites, to make some extra money on the side. So, I don’t have one of those super impressive resume’s. I’m just fascinated with building software that’s useful and makes money, and BSA is my best idea right now. I’m pushing full steam ahead on BSA right now.
What made you think of something like BuySellAds? How did the concept of BuySellAds evolve from scratch?
Advertising online was too complicated for me. I wanted an easier way to buy and sell ads for my websites. Yes, there were other sites that did this when I first started thinking of the idea for BSA, so it’s not an original idea. What is original with BSA is our execution of the idea. I had bought and sold ads for my websites before, and I knew the process very well. All I did was take this manual process that I would go through for each ad buy/sell and automate it, while trying to eliminate unnecessary steps in the process. The goal for the publisher was to be able to sell an ad without doing anything except approving the ad. The goal for the advertiser was for them to be able to purchase an ad in a reasonable amount of time (like a minute or two).
You are the sole person behind BuySellAds, and you do not have a co-founder. Did you ever try to bring-in someone on board? What do you think would have been different had you had a co-founder?
No, I never tried to bring anyone on as a co-founder. When BSA first started I had everything I needed to get the business going. I coded/designed/supported the first version, I knew exactly what I wanted to build, and I just took the vision and ran with it. At the time, I was very naïve – if I had known how hard it is to build ad network software I probably wouldn’t have started. I’m not sure how BSA would have turned out if I had a co-founder – things are going pretty well, so I like to think that this was the right path for us. Luckily, we’re profitable, so I have been able to hire very smart people that are kind of like co-founders.
How did you reach out to the advertisers and publishers at the beginning? What exactly did you do to get the initial few users? Can you please get into a bit of specifics?
I hustled. I reached out to friends and people that I had crossed paths with while running my personal websites, buying and selling ads. I knew who my competition was – publishers who were selling ads on their own directly to advertisers, and advertisers who were buying ads directly from publishers. I wasn’t just trying to “get a cut”, I was trying to provide them with so much value and such great service that NOT using BuySellAds.com would end up costing them money. So, to answer your question: I sent personal emails, and I was always transparent and honest. I never made unrealistic promises.
Did you pitch for both the advertisers and publishers simultaneously; did you come across the famous chicken and egg problem?
Great question, and I actually don’t know how to answer this. Everything with BSA just clicked. People understood the idea, saw the value on both sides, and the software is easy to use. In the beginning, the publishers were responsible for the majority of the ad sales; meaning, an advertiser was referred to us by the publisher. Fast-forward 2+ years and that has flipped, we now bring the majority of the sales for the sites in our inventory.
As a programmer and as an entrepreneur, you must have gone through some tough challenges; what were you biggest challenges with BuySellAds, and how did you overcome them?
Serving almost 3 billion ad impressions per month isn’t easy, but it hasn’t been the biggest challenge. For us, the two biggest challenges have been: keeping the software simple, and staying strong mentally. Building a first version of software and making it simple is hard; iterating and innovating on that software with thousands of heavy heavy users and keeping it simple is extremely hard. On staying strong mentally – there is a lot of competition in the ad space, and being a very small company we have to use our agile nature to our advantage. We have to make the right decisions quicker and build things better than the competition. We have overcome these challenges by working hard and staying passionate about what we do.
Unlike other ad management systems, BuySellAds is rich in design and user experience, How much role do you think design plays in a site’s success? What factors of the design do you think have played a role BuySellAds success?
Since we are in the design space I think it’s very important that BSA looks and works well. These days, people have come to appreciate well designed software, because there is so much software out there that is designed poorly. That being said, we have a long way to go with our interface and it is something that we’re constantly working to improve. And, while the design certainly gives us more credibility, in the ad business the only thing that matters is actually selling ads. If we couldn’t sell ads like we do, then the publishers wouldn’t still be with us. We have lost very very few publishers since we started, and they stick around for good reason: we sell ads.
While working on BuySellAds, you must have learnt a lot about the business; what do you believe are the most important do’s and don’ts to become successful at making money as a publisher? On the other hand, what do you think is the key to success for advertisers?
I could write a book on this question 
It al boils down to this for publishers: provide content so good that it keeps your visitors coming back and inspires them to help promote your content. And, for advertisers: be meticulous in selecting where to advertise, find the sites that your prospective users frequent, track conversions, and know what the lifetime value of your customer is and make decisions with that number in mind.
Getting 1000 top blogs to use BuySellAds in one year is an achievement in itself; What do you think has helped you in gaining such good success in such a short period of time?
Thank you. We do what we say we do: we help online advertisers and website publishers buy and sell ads better. We’re passionate about our business. We work very hard to deliver exceptional experiences in customer support. We sell ads.
How do you think contextual advertising fares against banner advertising? Now with the acquisition of Double Click by Google, do you think banner advertising is regaining its lost charm?
I think contextual advertising is great for general websites, websites built for AdSense, and websites that have more traffic that they know what to do with. Those types of sites need sophisticated algorithms. However, it doesn’t make sense for a quality blog or website focused on specific topics. There is no better targeting than an advertiser self-selecting into buying an ad on a specific website. It is as simple as advertising can get. I think we will continue to see changes in banner advertising. It is my hope that it will only get more creative.
If there is one thing you want to advise to the upcoming entrepreneurs; what would that be? Something that can be called as your biggest learning so far with BuySellAds.
Openly share and talk to people about your idea. Use their lack of interest or doubt to fuel your motivation to make it happen. Find your best idea and run with it. Launch, and get it out there for consumption as early as possible.
