Things that Make Me Want to Spend Money to Advertise On A Site
& Some That Don’t
1. Ad Placement: Many webmasters bury ads or give them
inappropriate placement. For example, on some popular freelance writing blogs, I
saw ads that were placed below the “About”, “Feeds” Categories” and “Archives
sections.
If I’m spending money with a site I want my ad to be as prominent as possible.
To me, this signals that you think your “Categories” section is more important
than my ad.
The reason I was
turned off when I saw this is that many sites have quite an extensive
“Categories” section. This means in some cases that ads are near the bottom
quarter of the page where it’s less likely to be seen.
So, if you’re
seeking advertiser, give them the most prominent placement possible; after all,
it’s what they’re paying for.
2. Traffic Generation Stats: I ran across one site that said
something to the effect of “we’re growing; take advantage of low ad rates now.”
But, there were no hard and fast stats.
Don’t make
advertisers search for your traffic generation stats. If you’re seeking ad
dollars, the most important reason advertisers are considering advertising with
you is your traffic generation.
Many webmasters try
to monetize their sites too soon – ie, when their traffic levels are not high
enough to justify seeking advertisers. What should this standard be? I don’t
know, every niche is different.
As for freelance
writing sites, I did some poking around to find out traffic levels of some of
the most popular sites to see how they all compared. And, you know what, even
wildly popular freelance writing sites don’t get as much traffic as one would
think. I’m not naming names because I don’t want to offend. But a couple of the
most popular sites I checked get between 3K-10K/day.
I was surprised
because I expected much more. Makes me feel good about the 1,000+ visitors/day
my site gets.
Want to get a good
handle on the traffic a site generates. Mosey on over to StatBrain.com. And,
thanks to Paula Mooney over at PaulaMooney.blogspot.com for turning me on to
StatBrain.com.
FYI, in case you’re interested in this kind of stuff, I get lots of helpful tech
hints from Paula’s blog. She’s an online entrepreneur who was a techie in the
corporate world. A non-techie myself, her occasional tips and hints come in
handy.
3. Advertise Button: One major pet peeve I had with some blogs/websites
who marketed for ad dollars is that they made it hard to find the information on
their site.
This bowled me over.
I mean, if I want somebody to buy something from me, the least I’m going to do
is make it easy to find out what the requirements are. A simple universal
“Advertise,” or “Advertise with Us” button will do.
4. Announce My Ad: Finally, one thing I would like to have seen more
of is something along the lines of “Please Visit Our Sponsors” category.
While this is
paid-for advertising and people will ignore it, many won’t. It calls attention
to the fact that, “Hey, there are some products/services here that might
interest you.”
5. Explaining Rate: A few websites/blogs I visited made it hard to
understand exactly what their rate was. I hate it when things are explained in
terms of “CPM” or “Ad Units.”
While this is
standard Madison Avenue ad agency jargon, many don’t understand the jargon. I’ve
been in publishing forever and should understand this terminology, but it still
confuses me and I have to stop and figure it out. In most cases, this just seems
ostentatious and unnecessary. A simple $30 for $30 days will do.
One of my sisters
majored in Advertising & Communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology
in New York and one of the rules of advertising she learned was, “If you confuse
the customer, you lose the sale.” Sage advice.
For better
or worse, these are the things that stood out to me as I actively went to spend
some ad dollars. If your ad sales are not what you think they should be, perhaps
some of the reasons listed here are why.
NOTE: I'm working on an e-pamphlet right now on the most economical
places on the web for freelance writers to advertise their products/services.
If you have a website or blog you want included, email it to me and I'll check
it out for possible inclusion. Tentative publishing date: April 15th.
Sincerely,
Yuwanda Black, Publisher
http://www.inkwelleditorial.com/
http://www.inkwelleditorial.blogspot.com/
http://www.SEO-Article-Writer.com
http://www.SEO-Articles-For-Sale.com
http://www.Money-Making-Videos.blogspot.com
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Originally posted
2/5/08.