I get this question often: Patrick, how do you sell ad space?
This information can be applied to blogs, mini-sites or fully developed websites.
With my site’s popularity and traffic, I get several email inquires every week about ad availability. It took a lot of work to get to this point. The most important thing is building traffic. I wrote an article about Free Traffic back in May I suggest reading.
Now, once upon a time my blog was new and I did not get these emails. I had to proactively seek out new advertisers. I’ve come up with a few questions that hopefully cover everything you need to know.
Where do I find potential advertisers?
Visit similar sites/blogs and see who is advertising there. This was the FIRST thing I did.
Follow the events in your specific industry. Those events have sponsors and they pay big bucks. Chances are if they are willing to spend $25,000 on a 2-3 day event, you will have a good chance of gaining their business. On the flip side, those events have advertisers paying them, so they too need to advertise their event.
If you are not familiar with all of the different companies in your industry use the search engines. Search your industry keywords. Not only reach out to the standard search results but more so the sponsored links which are above the regular results and on the right hand side.
How do I set my ad prices?
Find out what similar sites/blogs are charging and stay in that neighborhood. Make sure your traffic stats match up to those comparable sites.
Research the cost of your potential advertisers using AdWords. Find out what they would pay per click for their ads to show in the search engines. Take that cost per click and multiply it by the amount of click through traffic you can provide with one of your banners. If you do not have ads up I suggest putting a test banner up and see what your results are after 30 days. OpenX is a good tool to track and control your banners. This formula is not an exact science and may not work for all keywords.
My site is so new, why would someone want to advertise with me?
I answer that question with a question: what makes you different? Have a plan. Explain to your potential advertisers that you are going to do X Y Z to build traffic and why you are different. Don’t be afraid to tell them you are new and working towards greater goals. Use being new as an advantage. When I started, I explained to potential advertisers that readers will see my perspective coming into an industry as a newcomer. Everyone has their own views, that’s what makes you different.
My site/blog theme just isn’t that good and I don’t have money to change it.
Again, don’t be afraid to explain that you are new and working your way towards great things. Explain that you plan on taking your first few ad sales to upgrading the overall look and feel of the site. Make sure to follow up with the changes if you tell them you are doing this.
Some good tips…
- Pick up the phone and call potential advertisers. It is a lot easier for someone to say no through email.
- Talk to the boss. Try to cut out the marketing reps. In most cases they need to get approval from the boss.
- Once your ads sell out start a waiting list.
- Offer discounts for prepaid ads. Sell your ads in one year increments if possible. Doing this also protects you from my fun fact below.
Fun Fact: The first cut businesses make during down times is their advertising budget.
I can honestly say to you that I am practicing what I preach because I have done and continue to do everything you read in this post. These tips have allowed me to turn my blog into what it is today.
Good info Chef, ad sales can be a big stress point, especially for people just starting off. I like how you have outlined a staged approach with “bite size” pieces of info that everyone can use.
Thanks for the post Patrick. I have to say before DnKitchen and ChefPatrick came along, I really didn’t know how to start making money thru blogging. Watching your strategies over the last year have been very inspiring! Keep up the good work.
Yes, your blog has been fascinating to watch from the beginning. You have implemented many different methods of attracting viewers and subsequently sponsors.
Keep up the good bloging.=)
“Talk to the boss. Try to cut out the marketing reps. In most cases they need to get approval from the boss.”
This is probably the most important step, in my opinion, when it comes to finding possible advertisers. However, it is also the most difficult to implement. Do you have any suggestions on the best ways to do this?
Thanks for the compliment Troy.
My tip for you is find out who the “boss” is and ask for them directly when calling. If that doesn’t work try finding them on linkedin or facebook and reach out to them there. As a last resort Google their names and see what other contact methods you can find.
I know it’s a little extra work but will pay off when you deal directly with the decision maker.
Great Post, I think selling ad spots for one year is such a great idea in the end it helps out both parties involved. Your blog is proof that your tips work, thanks for the tips and keep them coming!
TeenDomainer
@ Patrick
Thanks for sharing!
We spent 5 months building content and traffic to 1,000 visitors per day before we tried to sell advertising on Oakville.com
Once you have the traffic, do your research – like you explained in your post – and start selling those ads ! Advertisers with budgets are not hard to find, even in a this economy.
- Richard
I would do like Richard said I suppose, until the site has enough traffic you could monetize with Adsense combined with other affiliates such as GoDaddy hosting, and other related products.
I personally do not think a site owner has to wait until they reach 1,000 visits per day to sell ads. It really depends on the ad price. The higher the ad price the more information the ad buyer will require.
And yes, affiliate link along with ppc ads are great. This article is geared more to selling ads. In fact, some may make more using affiliate programs over ad sales. That’s an entirely different blog post though.
Patrick, Thank You for sharing this with us. This information is like gold. You rarely get the behind the scenes scoop of running a successful blog. Kudos to you!
Nice set of tips Patrick. I think many people are a little scared to make that first step of asking for money for an ad on their site rather than just waiting for PPC revenue to come in. With the right approach (which you outlined above) the money will almost always be better than PPC.
Some good points here, Patrick.
One caveat about selling for a year at a time. If your traffic is on an upward trajectory, then you’re ad rates probably are, too. If you sell for a full year then you might sell yourself short; if you do it for 3 or 6 months then you can raise prices at that point.
I also recommend adding some sort of media kit to your web site, including prices. It weeds out people contacting you who don’t have the right budget, and makes it easy for people to get a handle on the options.
-Andrew
Very true, selling ads for a year can certainly cut yourself short. On the other hand it can give you the money needed to get started and security if that companies ad budgets are cut. It’s one of those catch 22 situations.
Great point about the media kit. Not only post a media kit to an advertise page but keeping it updated. I’ve seen too many that are dated from over a year ago. Speaking of which I need to update mine, prices just went up
I’ve started using OpenX a while ago ( after viewing your source =D ) and am working toward opening up my site to advertisers… When your affiliate revenue goes down, you need something else to cover your beer money…
Regarding the “My blog design stinks and I’m too poor to change it”
You can get some really awesome themes from Themeforest.net for under $40 a pop. If you can’t afford that you’re probably in the wrong line of business.
Everyone has to start somewhere
oh, oh.. this just reminded me of a blog post I started about a month ago but never finished.. Time to get that done lol