Business.com strategy makes it an advertising powerhouse: Web site gets high ratings with shift in emphasis, new features.

NOBODY'S laughing anymore. Since morphing from a business news site into a business ad network in 2002, Business.com has built itself into a powerhouse. It now reaches 26 million users a week across Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and CNET, with more than 7,000 advertisers.

For advertisers, the site offers a concentrated audience for B2B products, as well as a payper-click pay system. With PPC, advertisers only pay when a user clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser's site.

As for reach, Nielsen/NetRatings puts Business.com as the No. 1 site for people buying office supplies, No. 2 for purchasers of business or office equipment, No. 4 for attracting corporate senior managers, and No. 2 for entrepreneurs thinking of starting a business.

The ads on Business.com follow the Google-Yahoo model of search results on the left side of the page and sponsored links on the right.

"As more marketers look to boost qualified leads, more are turning to pay-per-click advertising on specialized sites that have a high concentration of the types of business buyers they most want to reach," said Jake Winebaum, chief executive for the site. "More people are turning to business-only destinations to quickly find the products and services they need."

Business.corn has added a number of features over the years, the most recent being Work.com, which features user-generated content that allows experts to provide advice and create business guides, and receive comments and ratings. There are currently about 1,400 guides, the majority addressing common problems small businesses face.

Outer Space Ads

With global advertising campaigns now commonplace, a California congressman wants to take it to the next level. Advertising on NASA space vehicles could make corporate branding an extra terrestrial project.

Ken Calvert, the ranking Republican on the House Subcommittee for Space & Aeronautics, said in a speech on April 10 that advertising would elevate NASA's visibility for typical Americans, making it easier for the agency to find congressional support for funding.

For the record, he's not talking about plastering space capsules with logos like a NASCAR racecar, or making astronauts look like European bicycle racers.

The project envisions "the creation of an advertising system similar to those used by the Professional Golfers Association, National Public Radio or the Smithsonian Institute--all of which have long-term, dedicated and tasteful sponsorships," said Calvert. "Of course, I understand this is an area that draws concern about safety and public image issues. By no means do I envision bumper stickers on the Mars Rover or a blinking neon sign on the International Space Station."

Calvert represents the 44th District, encompassing parts of Orange and Riverside counties, including the cities of Corona and Norco. While the district falls outside of Los Angeles County, it lies well within the L.A. media market for broadcast and print advertisers.

Out-of-Home TV

Nielsen plans to roll out a new service to measure TV viewers outside of the home. Coverage will start in September in six major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles.

The service will attempt to estimate TV audiences in locations such as offices, fitness clubs, hotels and bars. The six cities will each have a panel of typical TV viewers with approximately 500 people. The sample for the national service will be comprised of a portion of participants from the local services, plus an additional 1,700 national panelists to provide a greater representation of the rest of the U.S.

Panel participants will carry a mobile phone that includes metering technology developed by Integrated Media Measurement Inc., or Immi, based in San Mateo. The special phones collect passive digital signatures from television telecasts that Immi will match with audio signatures collected by Immi from actual telecasts. The signatures will be transmitted to Immi computer servers for reporting.