Make Advertising Space Available On Your Blog

Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 9:04 am

: Image by sirwiseowl via Flickr

If you are an enterprising blogger, you can sell your real estate in an effort to make money. Start simple and work your way up.

Getting Started Advertising on Your Blog

Direct advertising takes some gumption. In order for people to take a chance by advertising on your blog, they need to know you. Your marketing plans for your blog can take care of that.

Yes, you will need a marketing plan if you want to monetize your blog. Again, we are talking about the big “C” here – commitment. Advertisers want to know that you will still be around in a year or two and still growing.

To gain a higher visibility and get the ball rolling on more direct advertising, move beyond your blog. Visit other blogs that you like. Get involved in conversations and post comments. Comment in blog forums that meet your interests. Others are out there trying to do the same thing as you and both of you can be of help to each other.

Market your articles to top article submission sites. Include a link back to your blog so you can gain the traffic you need. Don’t forget to use relevant keywords so that search engines can pick you up preferably on the first result page. The more you outfit your blog to meet the needs of the readers, the more you will attract advertisers.

Like advertising programs (Google AdSense), you can choose who and what types of products are advertised on your blog. Just like with backlinks, if you have the wrong sort of advertising on your site, you could do damage to your image and lose some readers.

Drumming up Business

Increase the interest in your blog, offer link exchanges. Some of your readers may take you up on that offer. As long as you are not in direct competition, this will work well as a fair exchange. But, this is only the beginning.

You can offer banner ads to advertisers. Consider how much flash you want and if it will turn off your readers.

From there, you can branch out into other ad spaces on your blog page. The price can depend on where on the page the ad is to be posted. The best ads will be the ones that mesh well with your blog topic. Some offer ad space on the sides leaving the top available for themselves.

It takes more effort to sell direct advertising space on your blog than signing up for a program, but you can set your own prices. As your blog grows and you add more blogs, that advertising space will become more valuable to you and others.