How to know what to charge/pay for links

I was wondering if there is a general guide out there on the internet that provides what a link is worth based upon the traffic/page rank that a cite gets (we all know that the top and sides are worth more than the bottom). If there is not, why not put our heads together and come up with a general guide. I am always worried that I charge/ask too much or ask/charge too little for links that I sell or wish to buy. Anyone have any thoughts? I think this would be an invaluable resource.

Thanks for any input.

 

Three ways to look at this;

One is that you should use a link bidding system, so that people who want to buy the links will bid off each month with others for your front page.
Second is you set a flat rate of $5 or something and then slowly move it up as you get people taking up the offer
Third is that you look at who would want to market to your readers, and then you offer them a yearly flat rate of a few thousand dollars.

 

This is a good question and while it appears simple enough understanding "price points" in any business whether it be selling an item or in this case creating a price for advertising on your site can be partly science and partly gut feeling. With regard to your site and what you should charge for linking from it you need to know what are the CPC (cost per clicks) others sites with similar traffic in your keyword/focus site are paying now.

If you use a product like Market Samurai you can find what the average cost per click is being charged by Google Adwords for a particular keyword. Example $1.65... now if your site gets a lot of that traffic lets say 100 visitors/a month that click that banner on your site for that AD then the same fee from Google would have been $165 for that month. but, being new you'd want to offer a something better and perhaps charge $100 a month for those same clicks. You could even offer lets say $75.00 for six months or $50 a month for 12 months to sweeten the deal for them and give you a consistent income stream.

The part I/you would need to research is how to track and properly record how often a banner on your site would get clicked through, etc.. that would/could play a role on being able to prove your value to your customers because I'm sure they will be able to track this from their end.

 

I am not sure whether there are some standard packages regarding this. It all depends upon how well you bargain and sometime depends on the nature of work done. Quality always has its cost and it is better paid off often.

 

These are great responses, so I think you would all agree that there is no simple structure like (assuming on the same part of the website - ie: side link, home page)
PR 1 - $5/month
PR 2 - $10/month
PR 3 - $20/month
etc.
Because we all know that one PR1 cite can get 100/visitors a month while another PR1 can get 1000/visitors a month and a third could get 2000/month, 1500 of which are not real visitors.

I am very appreciative of your time in responding

 

The rate you have suggested are more than double...........dude!

 

if you're selling site-wide links on every page, then it should be more depending on your traffic too.

I've seen sites with a pr of 4, sell links for $50/month

 

Are these links you talk about just for backlink purposes or advertising? You mention about "at the top and sides are worth more than the bottom" so I presume you mean advertising. Traffic is only one factor in determining price here; also very important are things like the nature of the website (a sex/gambling website is more lucrative than a knitting website) and the demographics (age/income factors) of the visitors.

 

Hi afs, If i were to buy links i'd look at what your competition is charging. I use one paid source for paid links: I get one permanent link per day each month with a 3+ PR site thats 21 links a month back to my site for $147 (don't know if its still that price now). I can stop or cancel at any time. So that's a base line for you to consider if you are going into that market. I hope this helps?

 

I don't understand this response. I was not suggesting any rates, I said that we could all agree that there is no simple structure like {the ones I listed}

Steve Marino: I am more concerned with advertising, not with backlink purposes.

Daniel boone: According to the plan you are on (The $147/month) if you stop do all of those links go away? Do you find that you are getting traffic? Is that why you are doing it or are you doing it to increase your PR?

Thanks