» February 14, 2008 in
You would think that with gazillions of blogs there would be some general rule of thumb for what we should charge for advertising on our blogs. There isn't, that I can find.
Some people charge by cost per click. That's silly considering my visitors may only click a few times in the month but they are staring at the add day in and out every day.
Some people do an auction and value the ad at what people will pay. I think that is silly also. I'm not going to let the advertisers set the price on my blog.
Those are just two solutions, both of which aren't very popular.
The current state of blog advertising
Most people just appear to wing it. Raise your prices and lower them until you find a spot you are happy with.
But what if we wanted to quantify our prices or create a metric for our advertising, what would it be?
For instance, it might be
-daily unique visitors
-average time on site
-origin of visitors
-% new readers
However I'm just guessing.
What Should We Charge For Blog Advertising?
How do you value your advertising space?
With gazillions of blogs already out there already, Is there any sort of "rule of thumb" to go by? Or are we still inventing the wheel?
Now go check out affiliate fortune cookies who has been talking about advertising metrics lately.
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Vlad () says on February 14, 2008:
This kind of interesting. First of all I have to tell you that ShowYourAdHere brought me $11.25.... I here not to brag about it just stating a simple fact.To be honest I have no idea what is appropriate price for any of my zone. But lets rewind a little bit.... ShowYourAdHere had me at "ad management solution for bloggers" an opportunity to make some money came with it as a "topping on a cake".
My primary intention to use your system to rotate affiliate banners. I have not done this yes but I will try to tack for these affiliate banners and than base my price to sell that spot, based on these figures.
If an affiliate banners will bring me $10 per day, I would not be willing to sell that space for five....
Just my 2 cents..... By the way, good move on not allowing cents ;)
45n5 () says on February 15, 2008:
thanks for the input vlad.And about showyouradhere.com. Hopefully the affilaite program will put more money in your pocket shortly ;)
Michael Mosby says on February 15, 2008
I think blog advertising should be similar to any other advertising medium.
Each blog should develop a rate card in order to define their own rates. Then it is up to the advertisers to decide which blog provides them the best opportunity to target their specific audience for the best price.
And just like in every other free market, the price will be dictated by the demand.
Pageviews and unique visitors are all great to know but at the end of the day it is your ability to attract the advertisers target market which dictates your success as an advertising vehicle for that particular advertiser.
Mike
45n5 () says on February 15, 2008:
thanks Micheal. just added your blog to the top100 database. hope you don't mind. you should show up in the moneylinks shortly and on the top 100 list this weekend."And just like in every other free market, the price will be dictated by the demand."
You are almost suggesting an auction system no?
I don't think it's the same as traditional advertising because there might be a demand however the advertisers have a hard time finding the bloggers. I reckon it's because it's on a small level now but I think there is a gap that sells bloggers short.
It's also not like comparing apples to apples in a market, the variables are all over the place.
And even if you are 100% correct, which you might be, how do we educate advertisers, how do we show them our apples are the same as other apples, but for cheaper, what are the apples? Which ones are most important?
Tibi Puiu says on February 15, 2008
Interesting post Mark, this is a question I've pondered myself many times, but as of yet failed to come up with a system that could properly evaluate a blog's fair advertisement rates. That's because it varies from blog to blog, but if'd be dead on to create advertisement package, I'd charge considering ad placement, unique visitors and page views, RSS subscribers and that's about it. In the end you'll come up with a CPM, that I like to keep at about 5$ per thousand impressions.
Also what you've got to keep in mind as a advertising publisher is to never sell yourself cheap. Can't expect to make any real money if your mocking your own work, by charging low rates, just to get advertisers. Charge at least a decent amount and although advertisers will be low number, they'll make up for it and It'll make you look more serious too.
Paid Surveys says on February 15, 2008
It is very hard to quantify what to charge for advertising since it depends on so many factors...subscribers, traffic, quality of traffic, niche, ad positioning....
I think the best way to go about it at this point is to develop your own pricing based on what your market will bear. If you can easily fill five ad spots then maybe the next month you'll want to consider raising your prices. Do this until you reach a price where you can fill your ad space without doing so too cheaply.
Advertising on blogs is so new it will obviously take some time until we have a solid grasp on a formula for ad pricing. Until then get what you can.
Michael Mosby says on February 15, 2008
Let's use a radio station as an example.
Larger radio stations have advertisers contacting them to advertise on their station because they have developed a loyal following of listeners.
In the blog world, we'll equate that to John Chow's blog. People actively pursue John in order to get their product featured on his site.
Smaller radio stations (and even the large ones) have sales reps who actively recruit advertisers from the local area. They contact local business owners and send them a media kit. (http://www.q1075.com/mediakit/Q1075MediaKit2-08.pdf this is from one of the larger stations in the Memphis area.)
The goal of the media kit is to give the advertiser an understanding of the radio stations target audience, their reach and advertising power.
Who says bloggers can't do the same. In the radio stations media kit, they detail services they can provide to the advertisers and what sets them apart from other stations.
My proposal is that bloggers develop a media kit for their site and actively pursue companies within their industry for advertising dollars.
Don't wait for them to find you, it won't happen. Be proactive, demonstrate your value to the advertiser and the price will work itself out in the negotiations.
I just had a great idea, email me if you'd like to discuss this further.
Mike
Michael Mosby says on February 15, 2008
Oh and thanks a lot for adding me to your list! I hope your readers find value in what I'm offering.
digitalnomad says on February 15, 2008
Hate to say it, but I think blogging is still at the "wheel" stage.
Sapphire says on February 15, 2008
Mark, my reply is turning into a novel, so I'll post it on Blue Mushrooms. ;)
45n5 says on February 15, 2008
"My proposal is that bloggers develop a media kit for their site and actively pursue companies within their industry for advertising dollars."
I agree 100%, but the question of my video is when we are doing that, what do we ask for payment? What do we charge? How do we know what to charge?
Obviously a "fair" market value hasn't been established because we are actively pursuing the advertisers.
I agree with nomad, think we are still in the wheel stage. For instance, with gazillions of blogs, this is open to debate ;)
Look forward to it sapphire.
Feed Flare says on February 15, 2008
Great post Mark, I am thinking it should be based on 2 factors, page views as well as Uniques visitors but com,ming up with a cost is something I could not tell you.
WineInWashington says on February 15, 2008
As the 2nd largest wine domain owner in the world, I call the shots.
All I say is
Your Wine is only as good as it Sells
and
if you do not advertise on my websites, your competitors WILL
That call CONTROL!!!
I make more money than any wineries and yet I don't even make wine!!
Zac Johnson says on February 16, 2008
Web site traffic and "Your Brand" is what you should base your advertising rates on. You can advertise on two different blogs that have the same amount of traffic, but if one has a much better reputation, wouldn't you want to advertise on that blog. This can be seen on the big players blogs... you will see high end affiliate networks and services, advertising because they know they have the traffic and brandability to bring the quality traffic they are looking for. To find an actual cost... that's up to you. I use a method of traffic, ad location/availability and "my brand" power. If you are continually selling out on ads, you are on the right track.
Tom Beaton says on February 19, 2008
Mr Park of Winning the Web discussed this here http://www.winningtheweb.com/why-private-advertising.php
He has a rough formula of multiplying your monthly visitors by .003 to get average monthly price. Therefore 8k visitors becomes roughly $24.
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