What exactly is help desk software ad integration? How does it work and what are some of its implications? In this article, we'll discuss these issues and you'll how ad integration in your help desk software can work for or against you.

But first, what is help desk software integration? Well, unlike traditional IT help desk software solutions (i.e. intranet version), modern help desk software are more likely to be web based. That means anyone with an internet connection can access the help desk information. For public content areas like ticket archive or knowledge base, there's no need to login to any account for access.

And since this software can be access on the World Wide Web, some innovative people started to explore the possibility of earning another revenue stream. They started putting ads on the help desk software.

These ads can be private ads (put up for private corporate customers), banner ads that earn money when someone clicks on them, or banner ads that earn by impressions (i.e. earn money just for being displayed). The revenue can be decent depending on the amount of traffic that the help desk software receives. Before we talk about whether this is good or bad for the business, let's take a look at who visits the help desk software and what are some of the traffic sources.

There are only two groups of people who have a reason to visit your web based help desk. The first group are those are stumble upon your help desk by chance. They may come from the search engines or from another site who has a link to your content. They may also be prospects, searching for a product and service, and may sometimes end up as a paying customer.

The second group of people are the existing customers who really need help. So they visit the web based help desk to search for the solution to their problem, or to submit a support ticket. These are the people who are already paying you money for the products or services that you're offering them.

Now the question is, is it appropriate to place ads on the help desk software? Or rather, is it in the best interest of the business to put up ads on the help desk software?

Let's consider the first group of visitors (i.e. people who came to your website via external sources). These are visitors who have already expressed some interest in your content. That's why they're there. But we do not know for sure the value of that visitor because the visitor has not bought anything yet.

We know that there's a chance that the visitor may convert into a paying customer. In reality, this rarely happens unless the business channels the traffic to a web page that converts.

(Note: Conversion strategies are beyond the scope of this article. For now, it's good enough to know that there are specific actions that need to be taken to actively convert a web visitor to a paying customer.)

So what happens to the visitor when he has found the required information? He'll leave. But where to? Has he bought anything? Sent an email? Visited the corporate website?

Do you see where I'm coming from?

You have full control over where and how the visitor exits. For example, if you're trying to convert a first time visitor, add a link on every content page of your help desk and redirect the traffic to read more information about your products and services.

And since this software can be access on the World Wide Web, some innovative people started to explore the possibility of earning another revenue stream. They started putting ads on the help desk software.

Or you can ask for feedback. But the possibility of earning some money when the visitor leaves the site is rather tempting. So here's where some companies put up ads on their web based help desk.

But remember, the downside of doing this is that the ads almost always send the visitor to some other business, who may be making even more money. That's why they put up the ad in the first place.

To make things worse, if you existing customers come to your help desk site searching for some solution, they may be lured away by the competition if you're not careful.

So does that mean ad integration in help desk software is harmful to the business?

The answer is, not necessarily. But discretion is required. How the ads are integrated plays a big part.

For instance, if a banner ad is the first thing that a visitor sees, then there's a chance that he'll leave your site before reading what he comes to read in the first place. So this may not be a good idea.

But what about if a visitor sees an ad AFTER he reads the content? Well, he still leaves the site if he clicks on an ad. But how much does that banner click or impression earn?

The question to consider here is that does it make more business sense to try converting a new visitor to a paying customer? Will doing so earn more revenue than a mere impression or click? The only way to have the answer to these questions is to test it out.

Put up your own ad, and drive the traffic to a sales or promotional page of your own products or services. See if the traffic converts. Try upselling to your existing customer base as well. Will they end up buying more from you? How does that compare to having your visitors leave your site?

Your test results will help you determine your course of action. It should now be clear to you as to whether or not you should integrate ads into your help desk software. And if so, how would you do it?

What type of software are you looking to download? Help desk software CD burning software Audio, video player Office software (e.g. MS Office) Free Internet browser Anti virus software