Forum Moderators: skibum
The above organization is hosting their site for free and don't have access to log files and I really doubt that the site gets much traffic. Most likely they can get some advertisers interested though because it is a local business related site and they are interested in local advertisers. Still, I think the prices they were proposing, flat monthly rates, were too high.
Anyway I found some information on another site a while back that gave what seemed like good advice about getting advertisers for your site, only it was 2 years old. I would like to summarize what I found there and elsewhere and see if anyone here thinks this information is still accurate.
1) You need to be getting around 30K impressions per month.
I'm guessing the local business organization could get away with less, if they want local advertisers only. What do you think?
2) Should have documents to prove your statistics information.
3) Information about demographics of your visitors should be available. Demographics data should include sex, incomes levels, education levels,? - what else should be included? I also read that you should have surveyed at least 200 people - any thoughts on this?
4) Have an advertiser page/rate card page on your site. Should include: the type of ads you will accept (Banner, Sponsored links, Newsletter ads, etc.), how will you charge them (CPM, Monthly fee, etc.). Anything else? Is this information something that you really want available to the general public on your site?
5) You should have an ad serving script to provide reports to your advertisers. It should include Total impressions, CTR, banner name, etc. I've heard of a php/mysql script called www.dot-banner.com, has anyone had experience with this one? Any non-php/mysql script suggestions?
6)Create a Media Kit for your advertisers. This was vibgyor79's idea from a previous post. He said the kit should include:
a) Your website's description and its target audience.
b) User demographics and site statistics
c) Ad Specs and rate card
What else could be included with the media kit?
7) Contract information - Any suggestions on what to include in it?
Also, I've heard that CPM rates can go from as low as $1 to $60, this sound pretty accurate?
to sell space, just like anything else is a question of persuading your buyers to pay...
i know of one company that sells space on websites without any of the services (such as counters , viewable statistics etc) you listed.
... and they make a lot of money
bottom line ... i think it depends how web savvy your clients are
Seriously, the $50 is just a guess... but some of the PPC bids on related terms are $1 plus, so I'm guessing that the market is attractive enough to support higher-end PPVs.
Maybe, but the $50 CPM rate is usually reserved for the big, name-brand sites, like CNN and the buys are made by large media agencies (who aren't prone to digging into small or mid-size sites). I deal with a few small and/or specialized media buyers but they typically want premium placement for not-so-premium pricing. The best I've been able to get via private sale is $15 CPM, and I'd say the average is around $6, though I should add that these are typically long-term sponsorship deals which I structure to "set up and forget."
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Trisha, you've got the right list. I pretty much agree with every point.
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I don't do contracts, only operate on a "gentleman's agreement." Contracts only waste time and effort, because I can nuke them in a heartbeat if they don't pay. If my sites don't perform as expected, I'd release them anyway. This is another reason I bill monthly.
I think that's where the salesperson earns his/her commissions. This site clearly presents far better targeting than a big news site, and should be a better value proposition. The trick is to present it the right way to the right person, which is where I'm coming up dry so far.
I set up 3 columns (by placement in the network) with 3 types of quantity buys each. This gives them something to go by, but most everyone emails and wants a quote. Ratecards really mean nothing in the ad business, except to confirm that you're in the business.
rogerd - that's a good point about how do you get someone to sell the ad space for you. I remember on another message board where someone was talking about approaching companies to advertise on her site and she mentioned that some just wouldn't take her seriously. It would be nice if there were publisher reps for the web, like you mention there are for print.
Anyone else with experience with this?
