Aren’t you a bit baffled every time you see banner advertisements that are way too expensive? Or perhaps overpriced? Will you advertise on a site that is “popular” but the traffic is not good enough? When I look for possible banner advertisement spots, I always ask myself the following questions first.
Is the site’s traffic good enough?
When I say traffic, I mean good quality traffic. It does not matter to me whether they are referrals, direct or from search engines. But if I were to choose between two sites with same traffic stats, but with different sources, I would pick the one with high traffic from search engine. But it doesn’t end there. I must see the bounce rate and it must not exceed 75%. Next, I would like to see how long visitors stay in the site and then the percentage of the returning vs new visits. A returning visitor is unlikely to click ads because they are already used on them.
Use Alexa to have an idea of the site’s blog traffic. Take a look at their Google Analytics for the detailed statistics.
Is the placement good enough? How many advertisements are placed on the page?
If the site’s two sidebar, header and heck even footer is filled up with ads, how will your banner be noticed? Remember that when you purchase an ad, your banner needs to stand out on a page.
If the banner is rotated, you should check how many cycles there are and the proportion of the traffic to the banner rotation.
Check the ad spots available beside your ad and it’s ratio to traffic. I suggest buying space on sites with few ad spots available beside you for less competition. This way, people would really notice your ad. Even though it might be little expensive, it is advisable to purchase them because you will get higher conversion rate.
Geographic
I remember watching in one of Donald’s Trump episode when one team loses because they didn’t pay attention to the geographical visitors of the mall. It turns out that most people in the mall only speak Spanish and the team failed to communicate. Just like in choosing your ad spot, think of the audience of the prospect site. Because no matter how high the traffic is and people are not interested on what you are advertising, it’s just a waste of money.
Side notes
You do not need page ranks or their feed subscribers. Those are only needed if you are buying paid posts.
It is all about timing
I am fond of playing “Tycoon” pc games. The game is about selling a certain product and there are forecast whether people would like to buy my product or not everyday. My tactic would always be like this. If the forecast says “People do not want to go out”, I would set my price low, enough for me to generate a decent income. Then, when the forecast says that “It’s salary time” or “The weather is hot, people wants to buy your product” it is then that I increased my prices. But not too high or people would not leave your store thinking your product is overpriced.
Just like in blogging, when your blog isn’t that hot enough yet, why not keep your ad prices low. And, if they are selling like hotcakes, that’s the time to increase your ad prices!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Sometimes it’s better too to let the advertisers negotiate with the price (especially when you don’t have a private advertiser yet)
I guess Alexa ranking can be a good tool (although not accurate) to measure a blog’s traffic
Michael Aulias last blog post..Congratulations for your new president, guys
[Reply]
The big blogs use alexa, technorati and readership base numbers to justify ad cost… I tried asking Problogger’s marketing team the cost an ad on Problogger.net and was blown away… after reading his numbers it made sense.
eric tans last blog post..Spam Cook Off
[Reply]
I agree almost completely, but… search engines are the only good traffic?
Dennis Edells last blog post..Do You Have Good Follow-Through?
[Reply]
Search engines are definitely the best traffic. Traffic from social networking sites and ptc are reciprocal views in most cases and the bounce rate is very high. Search engine traffic is deliberate, and the viewer typically views more than one page.
Cheapest Airfares last blog post..Tip #9: It’s Okay to Change Airlines
[Reply]
Yea any contribution from your end will do great all i can say is thanks for sponsoring my contest i shall post the details soon
It will be great to have you as a sponsor .. I will make sure my sponsors get some traffic from my contest and of course some more publicity 
Good luck! Have a good day 
chethans last blog post..Looking for sponsors for a contest
[Reply]
Very good post. I can only add one thing. Bloggers should unite and set minimums, otherwise the Internet marketers/Advertisers will continue lowering the blog advertisement prices.
Mert Erkals last blog post..Widgadget - Create and Publish Your Own Widget
[Reply]
Thanks for the details, very informative post
George Serradinhos last blog post..Happy Birthday Gary
[Reply]