Forum Moderators: skibum
For a start, I'd use GoTo bids on your key terms to see what others are bidding by the click.
That said, your first advertiser is crucial to getting more advertisers. I offered 'bargain-basement' deals to the first ones willing to sign up. I also told them upfront that this was a new field for me and I would be working closely with the site and would report anything -good or bad- that I thought they should know about their online ad dollar. If I didn't produce results, we'd part friends. This was a very successful strategy for me.
I never call anyone on the phone. Six or seven times over the past few years I have emailed a company that I knew would do well on my site -that never worked, it was a waste of my time.
I do have special links and 6 or 7 specialized "answer" pages that cover different types of advertisers (basically, real estate, hotels/motels/B&B, or products), but 99% of the "feelers" just come in as a straight email. I usually reply by email and point to the web pages. I save all of my replies and keep editing/refining them as my answers get better.
I have also had a few local site developers that bring their clients to me for traffic. That's a tricky area to negotiate at first, but once the relationship is established it can produce some very solid advertisers.
I do strongly recommend developing professional-looking media kit and rate card pages. Even though no one ever seems to reference them directly, they serve to establish your professional image as a publisher. I've also found that it helps me to have a "fixed point" to reference when I'm estimating a campaign's cost for a potential client.
added:
But, and I cannot emphasize this enough, don't be afraid to turn down or even eject an advertiser if (A) their presence on board will tarnish or diminish your site's image (B) you know that their product or service just isn't going to "perk" with your traffic.
