One of the two sessions I attended during BlogWorld Expo specifically addressed blog advertising & sponsorships. Led by Wendy Peirsall, who had her Sparkplugging team sponsored by Epson to attend the event, each speaker discussed their experience with sponsors and with selling ad space.
In the video below, you’ll hear Dave Taylor’s “lazy advertising method” which is actually very good advice. Dave, of AskDaveTaylor.com, earns a steady monthly income from the ad space across his blogs so it was particularly interesting to hear exactly how he manages that…
Dave talks about using Google Adsense to establish stats, as well as a great tip for using the alternate ad option. His “lazy method” concept being to focus on content and community development, and to take a more natural approach to advertising sales.
He also advises against having space on your site that blatantly reads “your ad here” or similar. This tells potential advertisers that you are trying to sell ad space (unsuccessfully).
Instead, put a banner of your own there - or use that space for an affiliate promotion until it is sold to an advertiser.
There is another video I’d like to share with you as well, and this one was a personal interview that Wendy did with Dave Taylor prior to their BWE session. In this video, Dave goes into more detail about how he manages ad sales, and how he deals with advertisers that are interested in buying ad space on his blog…
One point that stood out to me was that Dave lets advertisers approach him. From there he gives them a very simple ‘cut & dried’ option. His goal being to focus on his community, and not to become engrossed in the position of Ad Management.
I like this stance myself, simply because without a focus on content and community… your advertisers are not going to get the best value. An ad is best served on a site where the publisher has a good relationship with their readers. Or at the very least, unique content and a strong readership.
While listening in to the session, the debate going on in my mind was selling ad space versus serving your own ads. And by that I mean Affiliate Marketing. It has never made good sense in my head to sell space to someone else when I could use that same space to advertise or sell products myself.
Take the ad you see to the right there in my sidebar (–>) for HostGator. It is a hand-picked recommendation for my readers, and offers great value (free month of hosting). I would be hard pressed to find an advertiser that is willing to pay more than what that spot currently earns.
I posed the question on Twitter while I was sitting there: Selling ad space… or using that same space to put affiliate links to sites you personally recommend: your preference?
I got the response I expected, which was that ad sales are guaranteed income while affiliate sales from same space is not. My question back to you is this:
If you cant sell products in that space yourself, how much is that space really worth to an advertiser?
Obviously there are exceptions in regard to value, as some advertisers are simply purchasing text links for the purpose of increasing PageRank.
Not a good idea, and for two reasons: 1) text links in static sections of a site or blog carry less weight than links within the content area, and 2) buying & selling text links for the purpose of increasing PageRank could potentially backfire on both the publisher and the advertiser.
That said, there is no reason that you cant sell advertising on your site or blog and promote affiliate programs at the same time. If you scroll up and look in the right sidebar, you’ll see that I use the ScratchBack widget here on ClickNewz.
ScratchBack allows advertisers to purchase sitewide exposure on my blog (and at a ridiculously low price I might add). The process is completely automated, which eliminates the need for hands-on ad management, and gives you full control over display & pricing options.
Dave Taylor is right- managing ad sales can become a full-time job, and its simply not where I want to invest my time and energy. That said, I’m not opposed to the ocassional ‘under the table’ deal when the offer is right so I also keep my options open.
I’m curious how you manage ad sales, whether you even sell advertising on your web properties -or would consider it, and what your take is on the debate of ‘affiliate vs advertiser’ in your own virtual real estate.
Best,
p.s. Whether you are promoting affiliate programs, or setting up a deal with a potential advertiser, you may want to read Best Placement For Affiliate Links or Banners for ideas on increasing value and profit potential.
