How To Start Selling Private Advertisements
This is a guest-post by Rajaie AlKorani of www.rajaietalks.com. In this post Rajaie discusses how to get private advertisements to your newly launched blog.
Unless your blog brings in thousands of visitors its first day of launching, you’re going to have a pretty tough time attracting new advertisers and filling all those ad spots on your blog. And having eight of them (i.e 125×125 buttons) with “Advertise Here” in bold definitely will not make your life any easier.
To start pumping in the money, you need to provide your sponsors with reasons as to why they should pick your blog from the millions of others. No, they don’t care about your mission or about helping pay your bills. The only thing on their mind is getting the best bang for their buck, and if you can’t help with that, than you’re out of luck.
What if your blog has been bringing in some impressive results for a while which happen to be sky high, and yet the image ads are still empty?
That’s it! When advertisers see all those empty spots, their brains will automatically tell them that - something is wrong with your site! What can you do to get out of this everlasting cycle?
1 - Testimonials
Ask your existing customers for a testimonial. To make your testimonials more credible; include person’s name, the name of the company he/she works for, and the position he/she holds at the company. Also provide a link to their company website and if possible get a picture of them. I’d say that this is the best way to boost your chance of selling anything since it’s real proof given by other people.
2 - Hold A Contest
Everybody likes free stuff, so hold a contest where readers can win free ad spots, this will help fill up the empty spaces. And hopefully they will turn into regular advertisers.
3 - Do A Banner Exchange
Do a banner exchange with someone in your niche, you link to their blog and they link to yours. It is a win-win situation if both of you have empty slots available.
4 - Become An Affiliate
Most websites that sell products have an affiliate program where you earn a percentage of every sale you make. Usually they will provide you with the banners so you’ll have nothing to worry about. So instead of having 8 buttons with “advertise here” word on them, display affiliate banners and make some money at the same time.
5 - Start Exploring
If you have the idea that your sponsors are going to search for you, then think again. It’s your job to hunt down potential sponsors, not theirs. Special promotions and discounts are always welcome ;-)
6 - Be A Nice Guy
Why not just email a friend telling him that you’ve added his site to your “blogroll” or that you’ve given him a free ad spot for the month. This usually pays off in the long run where it helps develop a relationship between you and him.
7 - Don’t Be Irrational
If you just started your blog a couple of days ago, then asking for $500 a paid review isn’t very reasonable. If you want to be taken seriously, then present yourself seriously!
I believe that those are the best ways to start selling private advertisements on your blog. What are some ways you used to sell private advertisements when you first started your blog?
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19 Responses
to “How To Start Selling Private Advertisements”
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- Jun 13, 2008: Free Ad Spot Giveaway, Claim Yours Now!
- Jun 13, 2008: HighFivez.com: Your Guide Through The Blogosphere. Find Blogs and Blog Posts.
By Rice Blogger on Jun 11, 2008
nice tips…it would definitely be useful in future…
By Rajaie AlKorani on Jun 12, 2008
@Rice Blogger, thanks :-)
Although they will help you in selling private advertisements, it does not mean that traffic and subscribers don’t matter.
By Blog for Beginners on Jun 12, 2008
Though my site is relatively new, you have provided me with some good pointers on what I should do when the time is right to sell ads.
I like the idea of ‘being a nice guy’ and that’s exactly what I have done couple of days ago.
Thanks, Rajaie.
By Rajaie AlKorani on Jun 12, 2008
@Blog for Beginners, I’m glad I helped you out.
By Blog for Beginners on Jun 12, 2008
You surely did, Rajaie and it’s bookmarked.
Yan
By PPC on Jun 12, 2008
Greetings Rajaie, and thank you for your insight and tips. The one of being a nice guy really resonated with me, you most certainly got a point there. The internet is like a giant popularity contest and being a nice guy is of paramount importance if one wishes to succeed in the online environment.
By Quit Blogging on Jun 12, 2008
Nice list, Rajaie. I see very often these days new blogs with empty ad spots and it really looks pitiful, or that project wonderful whatever it is called where you sell you ad for 0.01$ per day. I mean, HELLO! you are ruining your chances with that.
Anyway, Rajaie, when is right time for selling ad spots concerning traffic, page rank etc? Thanks.
By Blog for Beginners on Jun 12, 2008
I don’t get it. You mean you sell your ad for a fraction of dollar a month on Project Wonderful. How pathetic that can be.
Ades, what’s your take on Project Wonderful?
By Blog for Beginners on Jun 12, 2008
I don’t get it. You mean you sell your ad for a fraction of dollar a month on Project Wonderful. How pathetic that can be.
Ades, what’s your take on Project Wonderful?
Yan
By Rajaie AlKorani on Jun 12, 2008
@PPC, Even though it’s a really good idea to be a nice guy, some bloggers don’t accept the idea of giving something for free, even if it will benefit them in the future.
@Quit Blogging, I don’t think there is a certain amount of traffic you have to achieve in order to sell the ad spots. But I would say around 500 uniques is a good number. As for the pagerank, John Chow’s blog has a 0 pagerank and yet he makes thousands a month. Although, it definitely does help in making up the advertisers mind.
@Blog for Beginners, I actually think that project wonderful is a good idea. Not that it will bring you the expected results, but a good idea nevertheless.
By PS3 on Jun 13, 2008
If you have started getting the odd request for advertising but have not previously offered any, what sort of level should you expect the advertiser to pay. What factors determine that?
By Rajaie AlKorani on Jun 13, 2008
@PS3, depends on the amount of daily traffic and subscribers.
By Secret Affiliate Code on Jun 14, 2008
What do you think is the best way to price ads?
Is there any kind of guidelines to go by? Obviously the daily traffic is important, but also the quality of visitor and blog is important too.
I imagine the value would vary quite a lot between markets
By Rajaie AlKorani on Jun 14, 2008
@Secret Affiliate Code, go to other blogs in your niche and see how much they are pricing ads to get a general idea, then just set a reasonable price depending on blogs statistics.
By Forumistan on Jun 16, 2008
Thanks for these nice tips. They are helpful and useful.
By facebook on Jun 19, 2008
Thanks Man Thanks
By Carnival of Making Money Online on Jul 9, 2008
Someone really needs to automate this industry. Entrecard claims they are trying, but I don’t see them making much headway.