One of the challenges for a new-ish blog and blogger is finding those first advertising dollars, for the first time. It’s tough because you have a lot of competition and you’re most valuable assets aren’t as competitive, yet.
Or is it? I think that selling advertising on smaller blogs and websites isn’t as tough as you might think. I’ve written some good articles already in the Making Money Blogging series and Getting Started with Blog Advertising series but I wanted to spend a little bit more time just talking through some of my thoughts about advertising sales on low-traffic blogs.
The thing is that most bloggers think that you need the following to be successful at selling advertising inventory:
- Lots and lots of traffic.
- Lots and lots of social proof, fans on Facebook, followers on Twitter, etc.
- An experienced track record of advertising.
Naturally, most bloggers who have just started out don’t have these types of things and feel like they are automatically disqualified because advertisers and businesses won’t find them attractive.
But any good advertiser knows that traffic is only part of the equation – a smart and strategic advertiser cares about one thing primarily: Conversion, especially high conversion rates.
What they need are blogs and bloggers who can deliver that value proposition to them with the right type of traffic with the right type of visitors.
Know Thyself:
The first thing you really need to do is know your own blog as well as you possibly can. The only way that you can do this is use website analytics.
This is the only way that you can really know what you’re actually offering to a business and potential advertiser. If you haven’t set this up then you must do that now and you must wait for a least a month (or two) to make sure that it’s tracking as well as to have a good history of metrics and statistics.
There are tons of options for you but without question you should have at least Google Analytics, and if you have WordPress I’d recommend also having Jetpack.
Know Your Visitors:
The second thing you need to do is make sure you know your visitors as well as you possibly can. Either you’ve picked up on who they are over time or you can ask them directly by polling them directly via something as simple as PollDaddy (I used it here recently).
You can ask them who they are, what they like, and even what their purchasing patterns surrounding content that you talk about. Who knows, you could learn a thing or two!
But don’t forget to stay updated via Facebook and Twitter and other social networking outlets that may be sharing your content and/or talking about your blog and brand.
Conversations are happening... make sure you're a part of them!
Again, you could probably learn a thing or two. Don’t forget to check sites like Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and other such sites that might be indexing your content as well.
Find Your Future Advertisers:
The next thing you need to do is to simply find the advertisers that you want and that need your blog (but just don’t know it yet). There are a few strategies that are incredible places to start your search:
- Linked Blogs – The blogs that link to you may have advertisers already and the fact that they are linked to you may mean that the advertisers might want to advertise on your blog too if the content and niche are similar. Perhaps emailing them directly would be a good strategy! You could mention the existing link relationship and how you could serve their target audience as well!
- Your Community - People who comment obviously love your blog and some of them may have businesses (or relationships) that may have advertising needs. Sometimes they just don’t know it yet or the thought hasn’t really crossed their mind. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pinged someone and they said “Wow, I never thought about that…!”
- Research - You probably already know your niche pretty well and the other blogs within your space, many of which you look up to and admire. These blogs, with similar content, have advertisers and make sure to note who’s spending money!
- Intuition - You instinctively know what businesses probably would like to advertise on your blog. Make note of these as well and even drop them a line and see what their advertising needs are.
These are some of the very easy ways for you to engage advertisers even if you don’t have a super-duper-mega-popular blog!
Now, the next step is taking advantage of some of the other posts that I’ve already written on how to engage a potential advertiser:
- 10 Tips to Create the Best and Most Effective Advertising and Sponsorship Page Ever
- Crafting a Simple Blog Advertising Contract or Agreement [Examples Included]
- 5 Guiding Principles that Will Help You Choose the Right Advertisers
- 10 Practical Tips on How to Handle Your First Advertising Sale
You’ll definitely want to check out these posts!
It Never Hurts to Ask:
The bottom line is that you, too, can start advertising if you engage properly and wisely. And, as my father taught me, it really doesn’t ever hurt to ask by pitching to these advertisers and contacting them directly.
Honestly? You have very little to lose! Advertising on a smaller blog isn’t too difficult if you do it wisely. Of course, try multiple different methods and approaches, track your progress and provide them the most information possible. Go above and beyond and you may end up with a sweet return.
And good luck!
At the moment, my biggest stumbling block to advertising is the thought that my blog “isn’t good enough” for advertisers to care about.
Maybe I’m the only one who struggles with that.
I can tell you flat out that is a lie! You’re blog is definitely worth an advertisers money. You’ve got some great content on there, and if you start brainstorming on potential advertisers, I’m sure you’ll find some real ad/affiliate gold!
Dustin, that’s a huge encouragement! Thank you
i totally agree with this. do you have the traffic numbers?
These are great tips, and I will try to implement them.
I have been trying to get some ads through Beacon Ads, and am on the first page of the “Christian Living” category, and have priced my ads super competitively, but no buyers in over a month…
So, maybe I will get out there and pound the pavement myself.
it’s a marathon… not a sprint! stay at it.
Great advice! I found it’s easiest to get people who have commented/engaged with my site. Cold-calling has worked a few times too though.
this is true!
Interesting post John! There’s plenty of new things I need to work on! Ouch…
get started today….!
Advertisers realize that small bloggers can seem more honest and have more loyal followers. I still would like to wait until I get the magic 250 unique visitors…after that I will boldly demand advertising…well maybe just ask meekly,lol.
~ So funny to see my SocialSciMedley, twitter handle up there, lol.
Yep, that twitter account is for my social science blog. I was quite startled to see it at first, lol.
that’s awesome. glad it’s immortalized…!
Very good article John..
This is really the way of advertising that fits me best,
Good article, John. I have a few advertisements on my blog, but nothing special. I need to focus my attention on providing niche-oriented content…and keep it regular and constant. This is, obviously, one of the hardest parts about blogging and it is essential in new blogs, as I’m learning. Thanks for your content.
content is where it’s at. don’t stop at that…!
Has anyone given away free space for a few months and that turned into a paying advertiser?
i know this has worked for a few people but i’ve never personally tried it.
I wouldn’t have even thought about placing an ad on my blog as new as it is. And I, too, lack the confidence that it is good enough for advertisers!
start small. start easy. there’s no harm in trying.
Was able to successfully register for buy sell ads for http://synapticlight.com/ but no one was biting when I had the space advertised. More than anything it wasted resources so I removed them.
But I think that my new blog (http://journeyofiron.co.za) is good for advertisers, but I just do not have the traffic to warrant attention, yet it does not hurt to try.
Question is what mechanism? Manual? And what costs. Hmmmm.
It’s a fun problem.
manual?
I think I’m moving closer and closer to pulling the trigger on this
Our conversation at the Blogger’s meetup was a big help. There comes a time when you have to stop making excuses, stop wondering and speculating, and just go for it (I’m trying to motivate myself here) 
awesome! have you been back to another one? haven’t had time recently….!
Really helpful and timely. Thanks, John.
yes, i saw you started advertising… how’s that going?
Doesn’t look like this has been asked yet so I will… What would classify as a “low traffic blog?” We’re at about 500-800 unique visitors daily at this point at around 700-900 pageviews daily. Not really sure what the categories of high and low traffic consist of.
i’ve talked about 250 uniques a day as being a good spot.
Yeah, I’m with Ebbs. I read about why you waited so long to offer advertisements, so what’s your recommended benchmark? Although I’ve had the domain for a while, I just decided to use it as a blog a few days ago.
250 uniques is a good place to start. a day, that is.
Hi John,
Great article. Thank you!
It’d be awesome if you could write an article on how to write a good pitch letter for people like myself who are shy and less assertive when it comes to money making–unless you’ve already written one.
i had a post that could help with that.
http://tentblogger.com/advertising-contract/
how’s that?
Thanks for sharing this. My blog launches tomorrow morning and the wife and I were just talking about how to get started.
awesome! did it go live?
Great post John… I needed to read this today. And I also needed to re-read the other posts you so kindly linked to within this post. I’ll be getting to work on advertising this week! #chyeayuh!
go for it….!
So Finally another gr8 article from John.
I was thinking when I should start monetizing my blog but after reading your article i am confident enough that i can start looking for some advertisement.
Thanks for article
awesome! go for it!
Very good article John, thanks..
sure thing!!!
Hi John
Thank you for this blog. Thats all I can say. You most definitely have made this blog into something thats eye opening and important. You clearly know so much about the subject, youve covered so many bases. Great stuff from this part of the internet. Again, thank you for this blog.
sure thing! enjoy! let others know about it!
I never thought about contacting people who had commented or interacted with my site. It’s pretty obvious – I just wonder why I never thought of it, heh.
great tips for selling ads.
Thank you
Hi John
Thank you for this blog. Thats all I can say. You most definitely have made this blog into something thats eye opening and important. You clearly know so much about the subject, youve covered so many bases. Great stuff from this part of the internet. Again, thank you for this blog.
Hi John
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
ah, thanks for that!
Can i sell ads on my blog,I am getting more than 400 to 550 visitors, 40% from search sites,40k to 50k pageviews,if yes what should be the price ,price shold be more than or less than 100$ for my blog?