Direct ad sales are among the best monetization methods that a blogger or webmaster can use. However, I’ve seen a certain mistake being made by numerous site owners. They don’t seem to realise how harmful this can be to their monetization strategy. But I won’t let you become one of them. I’m going to draw your attention to this problem and teach you some simple solutions to this.
What’s the main mistake made by webmasters and bloggers who sell ads on their pages?
No one will be getting too many interested advertisers while their site or blog isn’t popular. It’s only natural. Most advertisers are interested in either branding or direct traffic. The exception to this rule are link builders seeking for favourable Google rankings, but they’re out of this article’s scope. So let’s go on analysing only the typical ad buyer.
Suppose I’m searching for blogs where I could place ads to promote a new site of mine. Your four-month-old blog happens to belong to my niche and I find it after some googling. I like its header and its overall design. I also notice that the top article’s title look very appealing. But before I proceed to check the content’s quality, my eyes instinctively look for ads. After all, I need to know where and how my banner will be displayed if I buy a spot. Much to my surprise, all I see is a group of four buttons that read “Advertise Here.”
Do you know what I think about it? “Hasn’t anyone bought any of these ad spots yet? Why? Should I really buy any ads here? Maybe it’s not a good place for advertisers.” Oh, I’ve omitted my thoughts about lack of professionalism.
Why displaying several “advertise here” buttons is a mistake?
As an advertiser, all I need to see is one or two links to your “advertise here” page. One of them should be an easily findable text link and the other one can be an unsold button. Show me more than this and you’ll probably make me lose interest in your ad spots.
This is amateurish, people. You don’t want to let potential advertisers notice that you have sold few or no ads. You want your pages to look reasonably attractive to ad buyers. Having unsold inventory is normal and understandable, but there’s no reason to make it too obvious. Otherwise, your site or blog will look more suspicious and less reliable than it could. A prospect advertiser could think that your site is a total failure, or that your traffic numbers (in case you mention them) are fake, or that previous advertisers may have had negative experiences with you, or that you’re so desperate for money that you need to beg for advertisers…
How to fill your unsold ad inventory
Now you must be wondering how you can fill those unsold ad spots until real advertisers show up. Here are some suggestions:
- Exchange banners with friends. But let them know that this is a temporary offer and that their banners will be replaced by advertiser ones as soon as you sell some spots.
- Promote other sites and blogs of yours, as long as they relate to the same niche.
- Use affiliate ads. If they do well, mention this fact to potential advertisers. This way you’ll prove that ads displayed on your pages do convert.
Of course, following my advice isn’t a guarantee that you’ll attract lots of advertisers all of a sudden. But I do guarantee that if you make the mistake mentioned above, you’ll lose ad sales. Don’t let that happen to you. You just never know when your site will be found by a prospect advertiser.
