It may come as a surprise for many webmasters and bloggers, but the truth is that waiting for advertisers to come to you is generally not a good idea. Unless you already have a famous site, of course. If you aren’t that lucky yet, it’s time to realise your site won’t be easily found by prospects. So, having an “advertise here” page won’t be enough. If you really want to make some money by selling ads, you will have to approach potential buyers.
Are there potential buyers for my ad spots?
Many advertisers are willing to purchase ads on smaller sites and blogs. Some are looking for branding, others for link juice, and others yet buy very large amounts of ads on hundreds of sites because they hope to have them eventually seen. Identify what your site can offer… and go offer it.
Is my site ready for potential advertisers?
Do you keep it updated? Are there any broken links on it? Can any coding problems be detected? How attractive is the current design? Think about these things before you go around offering advertising deals, because no one is going to buy any ads before visiting your site. Hence, you must make sure your prospects will like what they ‘ll see.
Is my “advertise here” page useless?
Of course not! First of all, it’s not totally impossible that a prospect advertiser read it without having been previously contacted by you. Secondly, you can use it to your advantage when you take the initiative to contact potential clients. Here’s how:
- Put on your “advertise here” page all pieces of information that might help a prospect ad buyer make a decision: your site’s typical audience, stats, prices and so on. Then, send emails to your prospects, but don’t repeat all that info. Instead, provide a link to that special page of yours, so your prospects can learn more about your site there. The email itself must be a summary of what matters most to a potential ad buyer (basically, why he/she should buy an ad from you?). Save the details for the appropriate page and also offer to provide more details on request.
- While you’re at it, why don’t you offer a special advertising deal that cannot be found on your site? Point your prospects to your “advertise here” page to show them that the price and/or conditions proposed to them aren’t available to the general public. This way you’ll help them perceive your deal as truly valuable.
Now, go look for some potential ad buyers and show them that your site is ready to promote their products or brands — and/or to give them some link love.
