If you have a blog, you should be monetizing it by now. If not, check out this post on how to monetize a website for a few ideas to get started. Let’s take it one step further now in this post and cover some more blog advertising tips which specifically relate to dealing with advertisers.
I’ve broken this into blog advertising tips for getting new advertisers for your blog, tips on how to deal with existing advertisers, and tips for dealing with past advertisers who have discontinued their promotion on your site, as well.
Blog Advertising Tips
Getting New Blog Advertisers
Look at other bloggers in your niche with advertisers. Contact those advertisers and talk about your traffic and how your audience is similar to the other blogger’s. They’ll check out your latest great content and likely be sold on the spot if they have the budget (after they likely check out your traffic for themselves).
I recommend that you create a press/media kit which you can email to potential advertisers when you are initially contacting them about advertising on your site. This is a special email or web page which includes details about your site which in this case are targeted specifically at advertisers.
On your press kit you should include: your company logo at the top, the background and purpose of your site, your traffic reports (screen shots of Google Analytics, Alexa), your site’s primary demographics, testimonials from other advertisers who have promoted through your site, and your pricing plans. The purpose of this press kit is to ask then answer why someone should advertise on your site and motivate them to do so. Ultimately emailing this special press kit is a great deal more professional when reaching out to new subscribers as opposed to just emailing them with your site’s statistics.
Many bloggers do not have a press kit or even go out of their way to contact advertisers, so you’re really going to impress anyone whom you send this to which is REALLY going to motivate them to take action and advertise as this shows that you are serious about the business (and it is a business) of your blog.
I recommend also having your press kit listed on your site somewhere like under your “About” section or if you have one your “Advertising” section, but you should email your press kit to new potential subscribers rather than making them visit your site just to see it.
Dealing With Current Advertisers
You should not assume that any existing advertisers are planning on continuing their promotion on your site once their contract runs out.
Before their advertising contract runs out with you, hit them with a personal email in which you offer them a discounted up front and more extended bulk rate which they can take advantage of to lock down a larger commitment than they have right now but at a cheaper price. Even if the discount isn’t significant it can still be worth mentioning if you promote it in the right way.
Mention the traffic boost which your site has (hopefully) experienced since they signed up in the first place for that extra motivational push.
Dealing With Past Advertisers
No matter what you do, advertisers are going to leave you at some point. With advertisers who maybe once contributed to your blog but have since parted ways, send them a personal email and ask them why they left in the first place to get some valuable feedback
Just like you did with existing advertisers, offer them a discounted rate compared to your regular rate and remember to mention any increases in traffic which you have experienced since they left.
Ideally you can send this personal email out to many of your past subscribers near the end of the year as this is the time of year when many companies have a surplus in profits and are looking to get some tax write offs from advertisements.