advertising questions (from a publisher)

I run a relatively successful information/content site. we get around 10,000 - 15,000 unique visitors a day or around 80,000 - 100,000 pageviews a day.

a company basically found us and asked to advertise.

when something like this happens (either they find you out of the blue, or through some sort of "advertise here" sort of thing), what sort of payout is typical? do they normally request PPC, CPM, or a flat fee?

we were offered a flat-fee which was quite a bit higher than what I figured I'd be making (and quite a bit higher than I was making with adsense, actually). it almost seems too good to be true, but they're very, very eager to advertise with us.

is this sort of thing really atypical (them finding us when we don't even mention that we're looking for advertisers)? should I try to negotiate a higher fee as my traffic goes up, even though they're really my only supplier of ads, and they're already giving me a pretty nice rate?

 

I only agreed to go month by month, so I can definitely negotiate if I want to.

it's just really odd that they're showing so much interest in us; at first they wanted to buy us out (they offered $8,000, which was much more than I thought the site was worth), and I told them I wasn't really interested in selling, and now they just wanted to advertise with us.

should I bother putting up an "advertise with us" page and have a sort of informal bidding process to decide the prices? although we get a decent amount of traffic, I just can't imagine that there are that many advertisers- it's a much less commercial niche than say, webmaster or SEO resources would be (or at least what it seems like from the outside)

I had no idea how legitimate they were and I had some concerns, so I actually requested that they forward a portion of the monthy fee before we put their ads up- they agreed, although they seemed to think it was odd I asked.

how are payments normally handled for something like this?

 

Hi Disgust.
Wow, I wish I had your problem.
I haven't had anyone ask to advertise on my site.
I don't want to go and list on a links for sale site.
But, I thought some similar theme sites would ask once I hit PR7.
But, nothing.

I thought it interesting that you thought about having, "a sort of informal bidding process to decide the prices?" I never heard of anyone doing that. If you do go that route, can you let me know how it goes. I wouldn't know how much to charge for an advertising spot on my site. And, having to bid on the advertising might help get an acurate market rate. But, I'm not sure how that would work...

Well, good luck with your new advertiser. I wish you much success.

 

What's the PR of your site and how do they want the advertising (banner or text?)?

They could be just looking to increase PR to help their rankings rather than actual traffic from your site.

 

Another option I suspect Shawn accepts is paying via Western Union ... ;-)

 

Disgust,

A couple general comments about your situation;

First off, congratulations - advertisers and "free" $ is always a good thing. We know it's really not free, as I'm sure your site didn't build itself

I think creating an "advertise with us" page is a good idea. You may never get a single lead from it, but it doesn't cost you anything to put in place so why not do it? It's obvious that people are interested in advertising on your site - make it easy for them. Make sure the page sells the benefits - advertisers want to know what's in it for them - they don't care what's in it for you.

About your 1st advertiser - how you treat them & what you charge them depends on what you expect out of the relationship. If you think they will be short-term advertisers on your site, get all you can while you can. Make sure you remain competitive though, or you may be assisting in shortening the length they advertise with you.

If you're looking to build a longer-term relationship with them, do what you can to demonstrate that to them. How can you do that?

- Announce a advertising price increase, but send an e-mail to them letting them know that as a valued advertiser of yours they will not effected by the rate increase.
- Send out a monthly/quarterly e-mail to your advertisers letting them know about what's going on at your site; new pages, sections, forums, etc. Throw some traffic stats in there too - advertisers like to see then numbers.
- After they have been on with you for a month or two, send them an e-mail out of the blue offering them a discount or giving them a free month of advertising - this demonstrates your commitment to their success…at least from their point of view.
- If you have a membership (from a forum or other subscriber list for example) do a monthly update e-mail to them; include your advertisers in this e-mail also. At the close of the e-mail, include a "sponsored by" section and include a link to your advertisers website. They'll see the e-mail, and be impressed that you're giving them more than they thought they were getting. It's the old saying - under promise and over deliver.

Those are just a couple ideas to get things going. Hopefully you'll find them of use, or at least they will help you come up with some ideas more specific to your situation.