One of the two sessions I attended during BlogWorld Expo specifically addressed blog advertising & sponsorships. Led by Wendy Peirsall, who had her Sparkplugging team sponsored by Epson to attend the event, each speaker discussed their experience with sponsors and with selling ad space.
In the video below, you'll hear Dave Taylor's "lazy advertising method" which is actually very good advice. Dave, of AskDaveTaylor.com, earns a steady monthly income from the ad space across his blogs so it was particularly interesting to hear exactly how he manages that...
Dave talks about using Google Adsense to establish stats, as well as a great tip for using the alternate ad option. His "lazy method" concept being to focus on content and community development, and to take a more natural approach to advertising sales.
He also advises against having space on your site that blatantly reads "your ad here" or similar. This tells potential advertisers that you are trying to sell ad space (unsuccessfully).
Instead, put a banner of your own there - or use that space for an affiliate promotion until it is sold to an advertiser.
There is another video I'd like to share with you as well, and this one was a personal interview that Wendy did with Dave Taylor prior to their BWE session. In this video, Dave goes into more detail about how he manages ad sales, and how he deals with advertisers that are interested in buying ad space on his blog...
One point that stood out to me was that Dave lets advertisers approach him. From there he gives them a very simple 'cut & dried' option. His goal being to focus on his community, and not to become engrossed in the position of Ad Management.
I like this stance myself, simply because without a focus on content and community... your advertisers are not going to get the best value. An ad is best served on a site where the publisher has a good relationship with their readers. Or at the very least, unique content and a strong readership.
While listening in to the session, the debate going on in my mind was selling ad space versus serving your own ads. And by that I mean Affiliate Marketing. It has never made good sense in my head to sell space to someone else when I could use that same space to advertise or sell products myself.
Take the ad you see to the right there in my sidebar (-->) for HostGator. It is a hand-picked recommendation for my readers, and offers great value (free month of hosting). I would be hard pressed to find an advertiser that is willing to pay more than what that spot currently earns.
I posed the question on Twitter while I was sitting there: Selling ad space... or using that same space to put affiliate links to sites you personally recommend: your preference?
I got the response I expected, which was that ad sales are guaranteed income while affiliate sales from same space is not. My question back to you is this:
If you cant sell products in that space yourself, how much is that space really worth to an advertiser?
Obviously there are exceptions in regard to value, as some advertisers are simply purchasing text links for the purpose of increasing PageRank.
Not a good idea, and for two reasons: 1) text links in static sections of a site or blog carry less weight than links within the content area, and 2) buying & selling text links for the purpose of increasing PageRank could potentially backfire on both the publisher and the advertiser.
That said, there is no reason that you cant sell advertising on your site or blog and promote affiliate programs at the same time. If you scroll up and look in the right sidebar, you'll see that I use the ScratchBack widget here on ClickNewz.
ScratchBack allows advertisers to purchase sitewide exposure on my blog (and at a ridiculously low price I might add). The process is completely automated, which eliminates the need for hands-on ad management, and gives you full control over display & pricing options.
Dave Taylor is right- managing ad sales can become a full-time job, and its simply not where I want to invest my time and energy. That said, I'm not opposed to the ocassional 'under the table' deal when the offer is right so I also keep my options open.
I'm curious how you manage ad sales, whether you even sell advertising on your web properties -or would consider it, and what your take is on the debate of 'affiliate vs advertiser' in your own virtual real estate.
Best,
p.s. Whether you are promoting affiliate programs, or setting up a deal with a potential advertiser, you may want to read Best Placement For Affiliate Links or Banners for ideas on increasing value and profit potential.
About Lynn Terry
GREAT post Lynn! One of the things that's important to remember with online advertising is that sometimes (especially for big brands) it's not about the direct conversion. Ad agencies know via studies that usually it takes 5-7 interactions with a brand via advertising before a consumer will take action. There's sometimes no way to know where your online view fits in to that model. Your ad could have been the 2nd view, and a billboard be the 4th view, and a magazine be the 7th view.
That makes one of the pluses in the ad network model - most of the big brands like this won't buy directly from small publishers. 🙂
Very good point, Wendy. I'm curious which Ad Networks you recommend. After TLA took a major hit in the Google update last year, I'm skittish about having relationships with ad networks at all.
Obviously a publisher has to be very choosy to avoid taking hits along with networks like TLA.
Your thoughts?
And you didn't even mention that he's single and he lives right up the road from me. NOT that it matters to my happily-married self. I'm just sayin' ...
So, Lynn, do you accept/reject the ScratchBack peeps? I like the idea of the automation, but also the ability to reject the weirdo's. Obviously not a problem on MY blog which, despite Dave's assertion, is really only worth about $2.89.
I think I'd stick to affiliates even when I do hit the Big Time because those are the ones I've personally tested myself. Of course I may not have the same standards by then.
Annie
I have my ScratchBack set to auto-approve, simply to keep it automated and easy for my readers. I havent had anything questionable posted there yet, but would certainly remove something if it happened to show up.
Moderating it is probably a good idea. But when it gets to the point of being a hassle for me, it wont be worth having it on my blog. I would much rather spend my time writing content, and would gladly replace the widget if it became "high maintenance". But that's just me.
Wait, I'm single? Well, as I say on Facebook, "it's complicated". 🙂
Nonetheless, a splendid, thoughtful post, very nicely done. With some irony I will note that I powered up a new ad block on my site because I hooked up with b5media to sell some of my ad space. We'll see how that goes!
Thank you, Dave. I look forward to hearing about the results. Are you displaying ads for b5media specifically, or do they have their own ad network? I really need to swing back by there (b5)- its been awhile...
Excellent information both in your interview with Wendy and during the live session. Advertising sales is not something I've done heavily so I really got a lot out of the tips shared from personal experience across the panel.
It was great to see you again too, of course. Glad I finally caught up with you there at the tail end - and thanks for the cool stickers 😉
A very informative post and a content rich video Lynn. After watching this video I too realized that I was too a victom of the " YOUR AD HERE" mistake.
I went back and have taken down that JPG from my blog and covered it up with something else for the time being.
Never expected that I could also make decent doe from the ad space on the blog as I am not getting that many visitors.
But now the concept seems much logical and doable.
Thanks for this
John
This is something I need to learn. I never ran any ads (banner ads or google ads) on any of my blogs.
1st reason: Google adsense doesn't suit my audience. Most site visitors are mostly geeks and are aware of google adsense. They hardly click on these ads, leaving no scope for any earnings.
Reason 2: Initially it didnt seem fair to charge for ads to a new blog with few page views a day. As the blogs are picking up, I'd rather use that space to build my list, promote my affiliate programs.
I wonder, "How early should a blog strat monetizing, especially through ads?
Thank you Lynn,
I only have 100 pages of 65% affiliate product reviews and short fiction stories about future technology.
I was thinking I would wait until I had traffic before I added "sold" advertising.
I like the host gator idea and am planning on advertising on your blog this weekend. Now that I know how easy it is.
I think I will try adsence for one of my sites and get the set up and maintenance experience.
Personally I like this site and the level of ads vs. content and would tend to model after Click Newz as a start.
Instead of selling ad space myself, I think Adbrite is the best. I have used it and I did get many advertisers for not so popular website.
Adbrite was a big disaster. They closed down and didn't pay the publishers. I was one of them. Lost about $40.
I know that blogs that pertain to certain topics like making money, etc. have a great opportunity to bring in adsense income and affiliate income but what if your blog is a personal blog about your life and you want to make an income from it? I know Dooce.com makes 1000's just writing about her life but what would you suggest advertising for us little guys since adsense doesn't really zoom in on the right topics?
Right now, affiliates and freebies for some that helped me a lot. I should start selling space soon to see how it goes.
I don't have a huge subscriber count yet, but with the promotion I do, they are very responsive readers
I use a little bit of everything to make money from my blog. I do paid insertions, I promote affiliate programs and I sell text links. The thing that I do is make sure that the things I promote are things that fit the theme of my blog. If the site or product isn't something that I can tie in to running a small business, it doesn't get into the blog. Now I realize that this means I miss out on some advertising opportunities, but I don't want to confuse my readers. One of my online buddies always says that "A confused mind says no." That's why I keep things simple.
Hi Shri,
It is good practice to start out with content before you start monetizing your domain. Let's say for example that you start a blog on "cat care" that you plan to monetize through affiliate programs and advertising. In the beginning you want to populate your pages with pure content. This helps you to get inbound links more easily, since your site is less "commercial".
Once you establish content & inbound links, you can start monetizing by blending it in naturally.
Obviously you need to have your monetization plan mapped out upfront, as that helps you structure the site properly from the start. But its best to launch with content and invest in growth in the beginning.
Hi Tess,
Even with a personal blog you are going to have a specific demographic. Who are you writing to, who would be most likely to read your content, what is your primary objective? - are all questions you should be able to easily answer.
Once you answer those questions, define what those people have in common and how you can tie that in to a monetization strategy.
Heather Armstrong (Dooce.com) is successful with her model due to the sheer volume of readers. But with a smaller readership you have to be much more targeted with your advertising and advertisers.
"They" say 10-20 good quality posts is a good minimum before monetization.....with the possible exception of Adsense.
Even "they" seem to put it right in there from the get-go LOL