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Monetizing Your Blog with Advertisers

Critiqued by Cowboytf | January 23, 2008 .

If you haven’t taken advantage of direct advertising sales yet, you should be!  It doesn’t matter how small your blog is either.  An advertiser may see information on your blog that is relevant to their needs/products and be instantly interested.  I also highly recommend you use the OIO-Publisher plugin to cut the middle man out and keep every dime for yourself! 

Pros of dealing with advertisers directly:

  • Set your own rates!  Say you have 2 advertisers.  One wants a 400 word post with 3 links and the other one wants “buzz”.  They simply want a link inserted in a post of 100 words or less.  They obvious shouldn’t pay the same price.  By cutting out the middle man, you are in control so when the rate needs to be adjusted, that is something you can do.
  • Payment methods.  Instead of getting paid once a month or every other month, you can negotiate with the advertiser on a set pay, pay date, and how.
  • Advertising options.  Since you are communicating with the advertiser directly, you can offer several choices to meet their needs. 

Cons:

  • Finding an advertiser.  This can be difficult to do on your own, especially with little experience in this area.  You can advertise freely over at Advertising Blogger!!!
  • Time consuming.  Because you are dealing with the advertiser yourself, you also have to do all the work.  This is another reason I recommend the OIO-Publisher plugin. It manages so much leaving you less to deal with.

What does an advertiser look for?  Blog statistics.  They want to know traffic details like pageviews and unique visitors.  Obviously the more visitors you get, the more they will get.  Displaying your Alexa rank, as well as, your technorati rank may come in handy though I would hope that an advertiser didn’t look at that one.

Creating your “Advertise” page and what to include:

  • Ad options.  You need to clearly define the options available and include price if you choose to do so.  If you prefer, you can have the advertiser contact you to discuss pricing options.
  • Policy.  You need to state whether or not you will be disclosing paid posts or if you will be letting the advertiser choose. 
  • Rules.  Make it clear on what is allowed and NOT allowed. 
  • References/Recommendations.  If you have done business with advertisers and it was well received, then you should try to get them to write something up as a testimonial.  This is GREAT to show off.
  • Contact info.  Make sure your email is valid!! Can’t stress that enough.  You can also add your IM and phone as well. 

That should get you started.  Stay tuned for my next episode on “Finding Advertisers”!! 

Posted under Blogging Tips & Tools, Business | Like this article? Subscribe to our RSS feed

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5 Comments so far
  1. Leigh  January 24, 2008 10:54 am

    Thanks for the info. I stumbled ya! I am going to have to look into this, this weekend!

    Leigh’s last blog post..Four Years, Books, Dreams and Death

  2. Tara  January 24, 2008 12:29 pm

    um… please excuse my complete stupidity but what is Alexa? Just curious.

    Tara’s last blog post..Ok… I won’t jump

  3. Cowboytf  January 24, 2008 1:28 pm

    Alexa is something that measures your traffic. You’ll see the little widget on MANY blogs. Maybe I’ll write a post about Alexa next week:)

  4. My 2 Cents 01/25/08 | Blogging with Cents  January 25, 2008 12:02 am

    [...] Advertising Blogger.  All you have to do is give him a holler and tell him about your blog’s advertising options and he’ll announce it on his blog.  Best of all, it’s all [...]

  5. Jenny  February 1, 2008 9:53 pm

    I suck at making money with my site LOL but I will definitely try some of these tips. :)

    Jenny’s last blog post..Possible 2008 Blog Party?