On 4/14/09 ActiveRain, under the dark of night, launched it's self-serve, automated network advertising system.  

Here's how it works:

Anyone interested in advertising/sponsoring a 125 x 125 tile ad that will run in rotation on all non-blog pages in the ActiveRain network i.e. Login, Search, Groups. Blogs, My Home...may automatically create a campaign using our self serve interface.  The ads run site wide, there is no ability to target to geographic region or by member type (for now). 

• The cost is $299.00 per slot per month, you may cancel at anytime. 
  
• There are 95 total available slots, each slot will run in even rotation with other sponsored slots. 
  
• Assuming all 95 slots are taken, each slot will deliver a minimum of ~70,000 impressions of your ad per month.
• If all 95 slots are not taken, the exisitng slots will receive the excess traffic.  For example, if only 47 slots are taken, each slot will deliver a minimum of ~140,000 impressions per month. 
  
• The lucky first movers will receive a bulk of the 8M+ page impressions. 

<--Example Tile Ads on Search Page

How to sign-up

1)  Look in the right sidebar of your My Home page or go to http://activerain.com/action/advertising

<--Convenient 'Advertise with AR' Linkage...

The 'Create a new advertising campaign screenshot':

2)  Select the number of shares you would like (max 20).

3)  Input the url where you would like anyone clicking your ad to land...Ex:  http://www.yourlandingpage.com

4)  Upload your creative ad.  It must be 125 x 125 pixels in size and either be in a .jpg or .gif file format.  No animated formats allowed.

5)  Enter your credit card information and click Purchase.  If you've already bought an ActiveRain product and used a credit card, this area will automatically populate with your billing information.  To change your billing information click here.

Despite the fact your ad will appear in front of eyeballs literally hundreds of thousands of times, dont make the mistake of thinking that it's mere presence will equate to click through success.  A few points for effective advertising in a 125 x 125 pixel box:

• Keep your message simple and succinct.  Your entire business value proposition/plan wont fit here. 
  
• Be compelling in your delivery.  Do something remarkable.  Give someone a reason to want to 'Learn More'.  Think outside that 'box' everyone talks about.
  
• Direct anyone who clicks your ad to a landing page that directly relates to the ad, preferably one where you can track how many inbound links you receive from the ad.
• If an ad isn't pulling well, dont be afraid to change things up.  Small differences in copy and/or layout can make a big difference. 

**This advertising interface is intended and best served for Business to Business advertising, not Agent to Consumer advertising.

If you have any questions about advertising on AR, need help setting up a campaign or would otherwise just like to talk to a nice guy, contact Chris Martin: chris at activerain dot com

Yes, its true...this is yet another way in which ActiveRain hopes to monetize 'the site'.  Hopefully no one is too repulsed or shocked into never returning to the network :)