In my last post I talked about how to make your blog more attractive to advertisers. Although the post you’re about to read is similar to the last one, it is a little different because I will be explaining how blogs with minimal traffic get advertisers. You have to put some work in, but in the end I believe you will be ecstatic with the results you get.
Your problem is that you are a rather new blog with low traffic. You realize that you do like blogging, but you really wish that you can make some extra cash every month for the hard work you put in. You’ve looked on many different blogs that are supposed to be about helping you make money by blogging, but haven’t found any real help. You sit there wondering why contextual advertising isn’t working for your new blog, but you should know that contextual advertising shouldn’t be put on a new blog.
You then decide that maybe you should try to make money through private ads or so-called direct ads. However, you realize you’re not a marketer so you do not know how to go about that. Then when you start to think about having ads on your blog more, you persuade yourself out of it because you do not have very many readers. So what you do when you don’t have very many visitors or subscribers?
Steps You Should Take to Get Advertisers
Make sure you have room on your blog. I talked earlier in this miniseries about making sure to leave enough room on your blog design for ads later on. If the time has come that you want to put advertising on your blog, then I sure hope you left room on your blog.
Put together an advertising page or advertising package. I hit on this in my last article. If you are wondering why you need an advertising page or advertising package when you know people currently do not want to advertise on your new blog, then remember that once you finally find a subscriber they will want to know the kind information you have write on this page. Compile your stats, rates, advertising options, reader demographics, and any other relevant figures into a professional looking document or a new page in your blog. Of course leave your contact details. Always add any testimonials you might receive from any of your visitors or readers. You can always ask some of your readers to get give you one also because a testimonial is a persuasive technique. When you have a new blog you have to persuade people into advertising.
The main way you will be able to get advertisers on your blog is by tracking advertisers down.
- Go to the more popular blogs in your niche and see who is advertising there. Make a nice list of companies that are currently advertising on other blogs in your niche. You can also find other bloggers in your niche that have a fair amount of subscribers that could possibly be an advertiser. Write these companies down with the other ones.
- Next you are going to have to pitch your blog to them. Offer companies a free advertisement on blog for a month. Send them an e-mail or call the company’s that you will be giving a free ad. All they have to do on their part is send you the size of the ad you are currently accepting. Send them your ad package document or send them the link to your advertising page to get all the information they need. Links are clicked less when they come in an e-mail. I recommend just adding all your advertising information at the bottom of the e-mail. Make sure to explain to them that you are trying to get noticed and that your blog is a great target for their potential customers. Be completely honest with potential advertisers. With that being said, you can leave some things out such as that you’ll be wanting them to advertise on your blog the next month for a fee. Instead, just wait til the end of the month when they’re free ad is about to expire and pitch them for a paid ad.
- Let your advertisers know that they’re free ad on your blog is beneficial to them. How do you do this? Setup a way to track how many clicks and impressions they are getting from your blog. Keep them updated on this information so they realize that they are benefiting from having an advertisement on your blog. There are many plugins for WordPress that can track clicks and impressions on ads you put on your blog. Note: If you do not get a lot of clicks and impressions, then you probably do not one to provide this information to a potential advertiser.
- Now of course you always have to close the sale. Right before the one month is up, send a summary report to the potential advertiser. If the report doesn’t look good then do not use the information when you try to make the sale. You should ask them if they’d be interested in purchasing a spot on your blog for a very low rate. Make sure to stick with the rates that you put on advertising page or ad package. If you didn’t include this, then this would be the time to decide what would be the best price to make the sale. Each price might end up being different if you think you can get more money out of one advertiser than another. Of course make sure the top ad placement on your blog goes to the highest payer. Be persuasive by including testimonials that you’ve got from your readers and subscribers. Then at least give them five to 10 reasons why they should advertise on your blog.
Other Tips to Make the Sale:
Don’t provide your ad rates until right before you try to make the sale. Go to their blog and see how much you think they would be willing to pay to advertise on your blog. Since your blog is newer, you should probably try to settle for a little lower than what you think they would be willing to pay to advertise on your blog. Getting as many advertisers as you can is beneficial to you because then you have a better chance that you’ll have an advertiser the following month.
Keep in direct contact with advertisers. This will allow you to negotiate pricing so you can make a sale much easier. Even if they’ll buy an advertisement right away keep them updated on any new information that you are able to include on your advertising page or package.
Have as many pay options as possible. Many advertisers only make payment through one specific method like paypal. The more options you have the better chance that you will find someone to pay for an ad unit on your blog.
Already have advertisements on your blog. At least put affiliate advertisements so that it looks like your blog is a place for advertising. It is just another way to persuade an advertiser to buy an ad unit on your blog without you even having to say anything.
Other Ways to Find Potential Advertisers
There are many webmaster and affiliate marketing forums that have marketplaces where you can sell ad space on your blog. The marketplace is very competitive so a lot of times you’ll have to offer a cheaper price to make a sale. But if you do not have any other advertiser on your blog then a lower price would be worth it.
Go to other forums that are in your blog niche. Make a new thread asking for advertisers for your blog. This is just like making a pitch through e-mail or phone. Use the tips I included above.
It does take a lot of work to find advertising for a blog that is new. However, if you put the work in to sell your blog as a potential place for advertisers, then you can get private advertising or direct advertising. This concludes my miniseries on private ads. I listed all the articles below just in case you are not able to read any of them. If you have any questions make sure to just contact me.
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More great tips on blog advertising. I’m really enjoying this series. Keep the great content coming!
Mike Collinss last blog post..Article Marketing – The Traffic Generating Machine
I’m glad you’re enjoying this series. I did not see a series on private advertising or direct advertising on the Internet so I decided to create one myself. I will try to keep the great content coming. Thanks for the kind words.
another slap of head when I read “make an advertising page” . I really really should get around to this!
the hard thing is determining rates, is 300 clicks per week good? how about 500? what would I be able to charge for that and would it be more than if I used my own affiliate ads? It’s hard to determine a price without some sort of benchmark.
Andy Baileys last blog post..Tell me what you want, what you really really want……. (please, no zigs or ahs)
You could probably get $10 for every 100 clicks. That is something like $.10 a click. If you find advertisers that are in your same niche than they should be willing to pay for that easily. I should probably put some advertising up on this blog so that I can show everyone ad sizes, ad placement, and what you’re asking about, ad rates.
Great article! I think being persuasiveis everything. 101 Ways to be Persuasive is a good book. Get more paid ads!
Persuading people to advertise is what you have to do.
Aren’t you suppose to wait 6 months before adding ads? I heard that somewhere.
It’s up to you.
Quick question, what are the basic ad rates I could go by?
I will do a post!
I’ve just found your blog and subscribed! I’m very tempted to read this post as i have not yet begun to charge for advertising, but first a silly….should I read 1-4 first or are they pretty much “stand-alone?
Like I said, silly question perhaps, but I’m really trying to get more organized.
Dennis Edells last blog post..Guest Post: DaBlogger Tells His Experiences with Social Bookmarking
They are stand alone but could help. Ad placement is important and so is part 5. Thanks for subscribing.
Great articles here. I have been reading your blog a little while now, mostly from my inbox but now it’s bookmarked for good. Very informative and I’ve learned a lot as a newbie in blogging world.
I will now start to learn how to write a good advertising letter, as beeing a non english person myself