Building an Advertiser Friendly Website
If you’re a sports fan like I am, than you’ve heard the quote…”If you build it they will come.” Yes, this is true in the fictitious world of cornfields and baseball…but, not always when it comes to making money on the internet. Building a website that retains visitors and ATTRACTS advertisers can be tricky business. Let’s take a look at some of the most common ways a webmaster can make a site sponsorship friendly.
Run Relevant Ads
When a visitors stumbles across your site, they will decide in matter of seconds whether they 1.) Stay on the site, and, 2.) Become a loyal visitor. This is based on a number of factors…one of those being relevant content. Even though visitors do more skimming than reading (unless the purpose is content – such as news), things still have to be attractive to the eye. One of the ways you can do this is, staying on topic with your ads. A Gossip & Entertainment site has no business running Black & Decker Drill ads. This is like the kid who would be better served hanging out at the science fair than the pep rally. Potential advertisers need to feel like they are wanted and their product will be a good fit. Surprisingly enough, your existing ads show how much you will pay attention to this in the future.
Act Like You’ve Been There Before
Even if you haven’t received a dime from advertising, there’s nothing wrong with placing “filler” ads until the real ones come along. The potential sponsor needs to imagine what his ads will look like and where they’ll be placed. This is like test driving a car. If you happen to be selling other products, there’s no better place to advertise than your own site. It should be free right?
Avoid Looking Cheap (Adsense)
For all you Adsense lovers out there, it may be hard to come to grips with this…but personally, when I run across a website with Ad Sense splashed all over it I immediately think “this person is just trying to make money.” I know this isn’t always the case…but, when it comes to signing a potential sponsor, the term Opportunity Cost should come to mind: would you be willing to sacrifice a hundred bucks a month to land a quality advertiser? If you’re looking for serious money, consider removing Ad Sense and put up quality looking affiliate offers – such as Best Buy or Go Daddy to name a few.
Keep It Professional
Even though $&#* might sound better than the G-rated version…it could potentially scare away advertising revenue. Just like a political candidate will distance himself from a ranting and raving pastor (remember that? it’s only been a year), the same will happen to you and your website. Keep it clean and professional…unless you’re Howard Stern and that’s the driving purpose.
You Gotta Show Your Stuff
Don’t be afraid to divulge certain site statistics on an Advertisers page. If you think you’ve got it goin on, than show it. You’ll find out, it won’t just be advertisers who care how many monthly visitors you have, or total blog subscribers…this also builds loyal readership. People like to know whats up. The more you present your site as a potential marketplace for business…you’ll start seeing the dollars roll in.
The next time you roll out a new feature, or write content, please keep the above concepts in mind. There plenty more of ideas we could cover in dealing with this topic…but build on these and you’ll be miles ahead of the competition.
