Been contacted about advertising, need advise

[Torbjorn]

This is my first post on WW; Hi all! :-)

I have a small hobby website, it's something I just play with now and then, but do try to do regular updates to it. I've never done any advertising for the site, as I never seem to be satisfied about it. ;) Always try to implement and/improve the technical solutions of the site. I've received a lot of good feedback, and even been nominated for a Hugo (sort of the Oscar in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy world).

Now I just got a mail from an advertising company (which I have checked out, and they seem legit and big. They request ad rates on possibly marketing on my site. And if I possibly could provide rates for a $5K and $10k plan?

Well, this is all Greek to me, what should I answer? My site doesn't have that much traffic, I've only served 16.000 + sessions so far this year. MSNBot messed up my page views, so I don't have reliable page views right now, have to regenerate the logs. :-(

Any help/info would be appreciated.

[ScadSense]

You could look at your competition or related sites and see if they have rates posted (or ask them).

When I get these kinds of inquiries, I also think of it as an opportunity to post my rates for all to see, and provide an easy way to be contacted, or to sign up.

I don't have the background to address some of your other questions.

[gamb]

What would make you happy? Do you currently serve ads, and how much do you make from them?

Tell them you'll do $1,000 per month for 6 months etc or whatever you think is fair). Tell them they can be your official and exclusive sponsor over that time frame.