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Pricing ads.

Direct sales vs adsense type programs.

         

ken_b

8:50 pm on Oct 21, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



For the sake of this thread lets say that adsense, or some similar program, delivers a CPM of $1.00.

That's an easy dollar to make, put up the code and cash the check.

If that's a the baseline, how much more is it worth to a website if they have to sell the space directly and manage the accounts?

Or is it worth more?

If so, why?

If not, why?

jasonlambert

11:45 am on Oct 22, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



If that's a the baseline, how much more is it worth to a website if they have to sell the space directly and manage the accounts?

Depends. How much can you get away with charging. :)

How much do your competitors charge? What is the value of the products your advertisers are selling? There are way too many factors to consider.

Think about this for example:
In general a relativly non-competitive area will have low Adsense CPC. BUT if the advertiser makes on a sale > $10k profit (figure: rand()), then they may be willing to spend up to $5k or more on advertising just to make 1 sale.

Low competition in ad(senseŚwords) means they dont have to.

Like i say, there are more things to consider than how much money adsense makes!

Or is it worth more?
Depends. Having fortune 500 clients advertising directly can raise the image and perceived success & popularity of your site, thus making a better impression on visitors (esp corporate types).

Nobody wants to advertise on an unsuccessful crapsite, but having 1 F-500 company will generally attract others seeking to advertise :) If you are able to create enough demand - to a point where demand exceeds supply - then you can increase prices. (which means more $$$ for you).

You will proberly want to keep adsense on the site to fill unsold inventory however.

Also consider what type of site you have and how visitors use your site. For example, CPM billing for forum based sites will have a lower CPM rate because a majority of visitors may be repeat visitors, and the number of page views per visitor will typically be 4x - 10x the number of page views for the same user on a content/news type site, thus presenting the advertiser with less unique eyeball's per CPM.

PeteM

6:20 pm on Oct 22, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I have divided my pages into the following categories:-

a) Home page
b) Forum pages
c) All other pages.

I use Adsense tracking to calculate the income from each category of page.

If someone want to advertise on my site then I can offer them ads on either a), b) or c). I charge them double what I make on Adsense. That way I get extra income and I don't end up having the same banner on every page.

Hope this helps.

Pete

ken_b

7:32 pm on Oct 22, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Thanks Jason and Pete.

Jason; Yes, there are a lot of variables to consider. Basically I'm looking to sell the traffic that I have no real solutions for, send themoff to sites that more closely meet there needs.

Pete; Twice the adsense income is about what I was thinking. Do you leave adsense on those pages too?

PeteM

9:18 am on Oct 23, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I would leave some Adsense but like you I don't want ads all over my pages. You run a similar site to mine (I've added it to my profile) so I'm sure that you'll know what I mean.

Essex_boy

11:40 am on Oct 23, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Ads all over your pages - Ive just sold asite to a guy whose done exactly that.

Crying shame.