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Blog Ad Sales - A Competitive Advantage for the Little Guys
There’s a post over at Problogger about strategies to find advertisers for a small blog in a niche topic. It set me thinking how small size and nimbleness can be used as an advantage.
Darren Mentions approaches based on emphasizing the quality of traffic (”never mind the width … in a niche that is not so important”), providing more detailed information about your readership, and starting with small clients.
I have some points to add to those that can be used particularly well by smaller blogs. They will work especially well in a niche, and give the little guys a competitive advantage.
The key principles are exploit your flexibility and use your size to develop close relationships.
1. Put a Response form on Your Blog for your Advertiser
If you have only one or two advertisers, you can change the format of part of your blog or add a feature just for them.
Newspapers do coupons - we can do enquiry forms.
Plugins for Wordpress and other blog platforms make this straightforward to implement.
2. Customise your Offering.
If you are a niche blog, you do not need to start with “this is what we do”, “this is how we operate”.
Leverage the fact that you are the owner, and can do whatever they want … at a price.
3. Try Sponsorship Instead
Small businesses can be a little lairy of “advertising” or “marketing”. Why not offer a sponsorship of your blog, or a category within your blog. This can feel less “commercial” than advertising, and can fit more easily with the ethos of some businesses.
4. Offer a Free Sample
In addition to the classic “free sample”, why not offer a smaller freebie - a link or link on your blogroll. You can both monitor the traffic you are sending them.
Make it part of your pitch - “I will do this for you for two weeks free and we can talk about an appropriate payment then”.
5. Take away their risk - Offer a Definite Result or a Variable Payment
You could offer to take a payment based on how many leads you generate, or to display an advert until they have received a specific number of referrals from you.
6. Throw in a Bonus
If you are able to offer - for example - 9 months for 6 months charges, you will get the attention of small businesses. They count the pennies in their own businesses and love the deals with savings or bonuses.
7. Let Them Pay to be a Guest Blogger
This one needs careful thought, especially in relation to any existing advertisers.
They could provide you with articles (again with full disclosure). This is similar to the “Advertising Features” in many newspapers.
8. Send them Traffic in Advance as a Sales Tool
Blog about the target advertiser - review a product, mention a sales event etc. Ask those who respond to mention your blog. This is the same technique used by magazines printing adverts when they ask you to mention the “Anytown Advertiser”.
Heck, this could even be part of a customised package (with full disclosure of course).
Anyway, that’s my take.
Tags: niche blog, monetise your blog, the little guys, niche market, competitive advantage, blog advertising, small business advert
[tags] niche blog, monetise your blog, the little guys, niche market, competitive advantage, blog advertising, small business advert [/tags]
Now, you may not like this because your blog looks nice…but….many years ago I was at a company (which I was working for) launch where they were presenting their new window display paraphernalia. I was sitting in the back row and watched everything with interest but had difficulty with the typeface from where I sat. I said nothing and approached the director, who had presented the launch, after the show, told him my worries and looked suitably ashamed when I was told in no uncertain terms i was wrong. 3 months later they withdrew the originals, changed the typeface and Lordy, Lordy sales increased.
What was the difference? Everything had been made easier to read.
Now. When I read your blog; even explore this section, I find it is beautifully designed but is washed out. It looks to me as if it has been set up to make people strain to see it.
And, as we Scotch say, there’s the rub.
I like your blog but the font is too small, the colours are too washed out and I find it hard to run through i.e. skim, and if it is interesting stay and explore.
So , whilst I agree with most of what you have posted above, I am annoyed that it has been hard work for me to do it,
STB