Webmaster Resources Series – Selling Advertising
Friday, August 28th, 2009A great way for webmasters and website owners to generate revenue through their websites is to set up set priced ads.
These can be in any format you wish, but you should always follow a simple plan.
If you want to use leaderboard and skyscraper adverts on your site, always try to include formats that blend in well with the structure of your website. What I mean is if a large 728 x 90 pixel advert fits well in a 800 pixel page then use that as a top or bottom horizontal advert. If on the other hand, you have a standard length page and a central text format for the main body, you may want to include a 120 x 600 or 160 x 600 skyscraper advert down the left or right hand side of your pages.
Whatever you choose, the ads should always blend in with the template of your site, so people feel they have almost met with the website’s approval. This adds credibility to the site and the CTR (click through rates) for the ads could increase significantly.
Remember, online advertising is only appealing to visitors if it is seen to be relevant and targeted to their experience. If you want to sell more web advertising, then you should always test the ads in different formats before you decide on your favourite.
You may also want to try your internet advertising formats on a few of your friends or even offer freebies to potential advertisers for a limited time. This will then give you an idea of what works and what doesn’t. You never know, the free advertisers may also come back and pay next time!
If this is what you want to happen, always make sure that you have some kind of basic tracking in place to ensure that all clicks are monitored. This is a very important part of your long-term business plan.
