The problem with banner or display ads is that visitors to a site have trained themselves not to pay attention to them. Why would they? The ads don’t do anything except take up space.

We’ve recently introduced a quiz-based solution to appeal to publishers and readers alike. For an example, head over to WhatTheyPlay.com, a site devoted to informing parents about the world of video games and what’s appropriate for their kids. Check the bottom right of the front page. Look closely, and you’ll see a familiar logo.

WhatTheyPlay is running sponsored quizzes, powered by Kwanzoo. Right now, for instance, the space is being sponsored by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, with 10-question quizzes on things like Hannah Montana and High School Musical.

How’s it working? Pretty well, so far. During their initial one-week trial, WhatTheyPlay found that their click-throughs increased up to ten times what they’d seen with display ads.

Having dabbled in online advertising a little myself, I can tell you that’s huge. WhatTheyPlay thought so too, and they’ve signed on for a one-year subscription to our service.

Since the WhatTheyPlay trial, we’ve been expanding the quiz widget idea, with more types coming soon. You’ll find a free version available now to engage readers on your own site or even spice up a profile page. You may have seen them embedded in our Kwanzoo blog posts for some time now, but here’s an example.

We’re also working with other partners to provide similar subscription services integrated with the publisher’s ad platforms and networks. Very soon, we will be coming up with ways to serve ads within our quiz widgets, along with revenue sharing for bloggers and publishers.

WhatTheyPlay is writing their own trivia for their quizzes along with photos and images. Kwanzoo takes care of the hosting and serving and provides all the tracking metrics. Other Kwanzoo partners have access to the library of over 50,000 tagged trivia questions that our writers have been building.

You can also take a look at our publisher overview page and grab a free quiz widget to try on your site. You can track the click-through rates from your “My Widgets” page.

If you’d like to try the version with ads integrated, let us know and we’ll notify you when we roll those out.

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