Reputable site wants to purchase ad space on my site.

OK great, but what do I charge? Determining ad-space value & a fair quote

[anon123]

Hi,

I run a site about a popular music band, and the company that wants to buy ad space on my site sells merchandise about the band.

I actually sold ad space to them about 6 months ago - and last time just came up with a number off the top of my head of what I thought seemed like a fair price.

Everything went really smoothly - they paid up front & in full with PayPal, and their ad campaign was run as we agreed.

It was easy money on my part - and their campaign must have been worthwhile to them, because they are now back and asking to buy ad-space again.

Only difference this time around is, they are asking for way more information, and numerous different specific quotes for what it would cost to run another ad campaign.

I really don't know what I should charge and I have no idea if I overcharged or undercharged last time.

I just want to come up with a fair price, and be able to tell them the reasons for how I came up with the number.

What are the factors?

I imagine of course that #1 is probably pageviews and/or unique visitors.

What are the going rates these days?

One quote they've asked me to give them (they asked for multiple scenarios, site placements, etc.) is how much it would cost for a sitewide, top placement banner ad, for 30 days.

Looking at my last month's stats, I had roughly 20,000 pageviews and 10,000 unique visitors on this 1 website alone. (They may buy space on all my sites which would be more visitors then that, but lets just use this 1 site and scenario as an example)

Can a quote be determined with that information alone? Or at least a close enough ballpark figure of what that ad-space is generally worth, and what a fair price is for both of us?

If not, what are the other key factors I should use to come up with a quote?

I have Google Analytics with millions of other stats I can pull if that's necessary to help come up with a quote to give them. I'm sure there are probably more factors in determining a quote besides pageviews, how many days the ad would run, and where on the site it would be placed.

What would you quote? Can anyone help point me in the right direction?

Not looking to be greedy and over-charge them, but also don't want to short-change myself.

Just need help coming up with a fair price, and the reasoning for the quote given in the end.

[LifeinAsia]

One question- are you running any other ads (e.g., AdSense) on your site? If so, use those numbers to start. For example, if AdSense is giving you $5 eCPM, then you could justify that as the going rate for your site.

[anon123]

That makes sense, good idea.

I do use Adsense, yes. I'm gonna research the numbers a bit and that should be enough to give me an idea of a quote to give them.

Thanks LifeinAsia.

[ken_b]

Remember that Google keeps 32% of what the advertiser pays. So if you are using AdSense income as a guide you may want to charge something more like %7.35 rather than %5.00 at a minimum.

Double what AdSense pays is probably more reasonable, considering the time and effort involved.

[topr8]

... aslo if your site is about a specific band and they sell the merchandise, that is about as good a fit as they could hope for, so i would consider charging x3 or x5 what you might make with adsense

[Swanny007]

What I do is take the AdSense rate and add about 25%, and then the ad goes in rotation using DFP so AdSense backfills in the same spot. I have deliberately overcharged with some potential advertisers because I didn't really want the extra effort. If I was you, I'd charge more than that given how highly targeted it is, add probably 50% to whatever you charged them last time ;-)

[ken_b]

Apparently I got my %'s mixed up with my $'s in my previous post!

I need to take a proof reading course! :)

[bluemonster]

I guess you should get an idea what other blogs in your niche are charging with same pvs. you can refer buysellads to get an idea. else if you have blog in your niche with same stats, email them with a fake id (as a company that wants to buy ad space) you will get an idea on the price they quopte.