Looksmart Launches One-to-One Banner Exchange

San Francisco-based Web directory company Looksmart launched a free one-to-one advertising banner exchange program that it said “will double the industry’s average banner exchange ratio.”

The program, LooksmartClicks, will allow members to join the free banner exchange program at a one-to-one ratio, unlike the current industry standard of two-to-one, the company said.

Powered by SmartAge Corp.’s proprietary technology, LooksmartClicks will “double members’ marketing visibility” by allowing them to earn banner advertising credits, the company said. Each credit earned enables members to display their banner ad on another member’s site.

LooksmartClicks’ ad banners will have an integrated, customizable Web search box built into each banner, allowing visitors to search through categories that are relevant to the site. Members that place the LooksmartClicks search box on their site will earn extra banner credits whenever a site visitor uses the search box.

“LooksmartClicks is a revolutionary concept in banner exchange,” said Evan Thornley, co-founder and CEO of Looksmart. “Through this program, we are able to make our high-quality directory available to thousands of Web sites while helping our members advertise their site offerings free. . .”

Looksmart is an independent portal with 750,000 URLs, editorially reviewed and categorized. Founded in 1995, Looksmart currently claims more than 8 million page views a day.