Norwin considers advertising on its website

Norwin School District may use the popularity of its website to make money from digital advertising.

The school board is considering hiring Thought Process Enterprises LLC, an Ellwood City marketing company, to place advertisements on a small banner atop the school district’s homepage. Under the proposed agreement, Norwin would receive 50% of the advertising revenue.

The school district would have the right to veto any advertiser or message, said Jeff Taylor, Norwin’s new superintendent.

Thought Process’ EdgeClick Advertising division charges advertisers based on every 1,000 impressions, which occurs when an ad is displayed or viewed by someone using a computer or mobile device, according to its website. Every time a person viewing the school district website “refreshes” their electronic device, a new banner ad would appear, Taylor said.

Before Norwin could participate in the program, Taylor said that it would need to learn how many views the homepage receives. Taylor said he hoped that Norwin could reach 200,000 impressions a month on the homepage of its website by December, then increase that number through the spring.

One way of driving views of the homepage would be in email communications with students and parents. The email correspondence would include a link back to the site, thus increasing the number of views, Taylor said.

Prior to working at Norwin, Taylor was an assistant superintendent at the North Hills School District, which used EdgeClick Advertising. North Hills averages 200,000 impressions per month, according to EdgeClick statistics.

Thought Enterprises says it provides advertising services for 25 school districts in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Lawrence, Mercer and Washington counties. If the school board approves the agreement at its Aug. 19 meeting, Norwin would become the second Westmoreland County school district to have displayed website advertising through Thought Process.

Yough School District had used website advertising a few years ago, but dropped it, said Bob Phillips, network operations manager for EdgeClick Advertising.

Depending upon the amount of traffic to Norwin’s website, the school district could receive between $4,000-to-$15,000 for an entire school year.

For the project to work well, Phillips said the school district needs a vibrant business community. EdgeClick does not take advertisements from alcohol providers or restaurants that serve alcohol, Phillips said.

The majority of ads on school websites are from higher education institutions, financial services, home improvement firms, car dealers and businesses that prepare students for the Scholastic Achievement Test and other college entrance exams.