Monday, February 13, 2012

Your Feedback On Sponsored Ads

Today, for those of you who may have any knowledge or experience with sponsored ads, I would greatly appreciate your feedback.

Allow me to start off by saying that bloggers who choose to host sponsored ads on their blogs has never, ever bothered me. It takes time, effort, dedication, and consistency to blog, therefore if a blogger can make even a small profit through what he or she enjoys doing, then why not? Yet, pop-up ads or ads that are plastered over every inch of a blog to the point where I can’t even FIND the post is a bit overkill.

I also think it’s important that a blogger sponsor ads that they genuinely feel consciousness about.

I myself have never wanted to post sponsored reviews on my blog, but again, if some bloggers wish to do that I see nothing wrong with it.

Anyway, the point of this post is to say that within the past three weeks, I’ve gotten five emails from companies offering to compensation me for running a sponsored ad on the sidebar of my blog.

To be honest, I've often thought about the possibility of offering ad space on my blog, yet have never actively pursued it. But since these companies are suddenly approaching me first, I’m taking it as a sign that perhaps it’s time to see if I can make some extra income by creating an Advertising Info Page on the navigation tab below my header.

I’ve done a bit research on what the average and above average rate is for running ads on a blog, but it’s all very vague. So I’m having difficulty in coming up with a ‘fee menu’ on what to charge for a monthly rate. I do realize that fees for ads will vary, depending on the size of the ad. But so far, the rates that have been offered to me seem ludicrous.

I had one company offer me $100.00 for THREE YEARS to run a sponsored ad on my sidebar.

I also had another company offer me $40.00 to run a sponsored banner for a YEAR.

To me, these offers just sound WAY too low.

I read a very interesting chapter in a book last week where a professional blogger gave his advice to those who wanted to run ads on their blogs, in which he said that it’s very important not to undersell yourself, even when you first start out placing ads on your blog. I realize that what a blogger charges for ad space, greatly depends on their blog statistics – traffic, page ranking, readership, etc.

I’ve had this blog for almost 5 years now, and am very blessed and fortunate to have a loyal following and readership. My stats are not HUGE, but they’re not small.

I just recently checked my Stat account, and on the average I get over 8,000 unique visits per month, January I got over 12,000. So I do get a bit of traffic and think it might be a good idea to try offering ad space on this blog and just see how it goes.

I mean if I don't try it I'll never know the experience.

And I’m not only posting this today for myself, but also for anyone else here who has ever considered doing this.

It can be like a learning forum.

Therefore, if you have any advice or tips as to where we could find out more information, or have first-hand experience with ads yourself, please let us know.

Thanks everyone!

Have a SUPER week!