Private Ad SalesIf you are trying to monetize your site then I am sure you have considered every option available to you to produce Revenue right? Well maybe not. I am writing a series of articles for beginning bloggers discussing ways to Make Money Online with their blog.

My first article series simply listed a number of the various ad serving programs available that I use on my niche sites and on this blog, so a beginning blogger might see some options that they may have otherwise missed.

Today I will discuss the topic of Private Ad Sales. Private Ad Sales has always been the revenue channel that I wanted to maximize in order to generate revenue for my blog. I am not much of a Pay Per Post person as I think it cheapens your blog. I have nothing against it, so all you Posties out there relax. I do know a lot of bloggers that are able to make a decent amount of money using it, it’s just not my choice for this particular blog. Different strokes.

Private Ad Sales allow you to sell advertising space on your site, generate revenue and maintain the quality of the content of your blog. They are essentially a “billboard” on the internet superhighway and they can produce a lucrative amount of revenue if you are able to sell them out on a regular basis.

Let’s discuss some of the pros and cons.

Why Private Ad Sales:

  • No Sponsored Posting that is off topic and not relevant to blogs main topic.
  • No SEO penalties from Google for Sponsored content.
  • High Potential Revenue.
  • Consistent Revenue. No need to “convert” your clicks to sales as in Affiliate ads.
  • Builds a network with blogging community.

How To Maximize Revenue:

  • Revenue will increase as your “stats” increase. PR, Traffic, Technorati….you need em.
  • Build your traffic before offering your ads. A site with no traffic will NOT sell ads.
  • Offer premium real estate. Banners, Image Ads, Text Links, Feed Ads, etc.
  • Network with other bloggers to Sell your Space.
  • Consider a SitePoint Auction.

Things to Consider:

I have only been writing on this blog for approximately 2 months. I have not worried too terribly much about monetizing my blog as my online income comes from niche sites, but I think I have built this blog up to the point where it can produce some extra revenue for me. I would be an idiot not to try and take advantage of that.

If you are considering selling private ad sales on your site then make sure that you have factored in these points of discussion below. If you don’t then you may set yourself up for a great deal of disappointment.

Authority: I have built a PR2 and a predicted PR5. Advertisers will look for this as high PR blogs are looked at as authority sites and authority sites can typically command higher prices. Don’t be fooled though, an authority site with no traffic is still not a good advertising bargain for anyone. You need both.

Traffic: I haven’t offered private ad sales until now because I didn’t have the confidence in my traffic level. I currently have 12k ish hits per month but my recent trend is heading towards 20k or better quickly. At these traffic levels, you should be able to sell your ad space.

Technorati: Technorati authority adds to the credibility of your site in many people’s eyes. Technorati authority is based around incoming links, so it’s a given that a blog with a high number of sites linking to it is likely producing great content. Tech authority is not the end all be all by any means, but a number of people pay it a fair amount of attention, combined with traffic and authority, it adds to the value that you bring to your advertisers.

Real Estate: If you expect to command premium pricing then you need to offer up premium real estate on your site. I currently am offering a 468*60 banner over the top post, text links and image ads in the right sidebar. These are not unique and nor did I re-invent the wheel here. They are simple, highly visible and they work. A number of other options are available such as post level ads, feed ads, footer links, sponsored reviews, post level text links…the possibilities are only limited by your creativity. I subscribe to the KISS principle and the last thing I want is to look like Manhattan at night.

Pricing: Here’s where most new bloggers go wrong in my humble opinion. They look at other blogs in their niche and try to emulate the pricing that they are charging. Big mistake, especially if the other site is far more established than you. I definitely recommend researching your competition BUT make sure you are looking at a similar site to yours. You cannot command premium dollars without a premium blog.

Advertise: If you expect to sell, you need to advertise your ads. You can start with a GOOD Advertise page. Include your traffic, page rank etc. You need to show why you are a better choice than other sites. My Advertise page is not a good example. It has all my stats, but it’s ugly. I will be revamping it over the next few weeks. It’s functional and will get the job done, but I can do better. I need to practice what I preach on this one.

Also consider selling your adspace on SitePoint of Digital Point Forums. Both sites offer a number of visitors who are very interested in purchasing ad space. Consider posts on either of these two forums a commercial for your Advertise page. Draw them in, sell them the ad, close the deal, collect the money and move on. The life cycle of the Make Money Blogger.

Update:  If you like this article then check out the next one in the series….I discuss Ad Server software that will help you sell your ads.   I have begun using one and have sold 2 ads in the first week.  I will be writing a detailed article on that in the future but for now…if you want to read about Ad Servers..click the link.

This is my plan to sell private ads……anyone have ideas that I missed?


Build Your Own NicheStore in Minutes

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