Lessons in Blog Advertising

I think if I had to pick the most frustrating part of owning a blog and a blog network, it would be finding advertisers. I admit, I wasn’t very aggressive about this in the past and while I’ve obviously done OK, I know I can do better. Now that I have this network up and running, and people to pay, I have to get more aggressive in ad sales and campaigns. I realize however, I have a lot to learn.

Clickers Not Buyers

For instance, I’m learning my readers are clickers, not buyers. It’s very rare affiliate links sell unless they’re for courses or ebooks geared towards helping freelance writers and bloggers. Every now and then, and this is a very rare every now and then, I might sell a book from Amazon. The people who visit FWJ don’t want to spend money. So I have to either sell ads directly or use a pay per click network like Adsense or Today (both of which have been very good to FWJ, by the way.)

One of your missions, should you choose to sell advertising on your blog, is to figure out who your readers are and whether or not they’re clickers or buyers. If the are buyers, you’ll want to figure out what products will have the most success. If they’re clickers, you’ll want to figure out which ad programs bring in the best results.

Direct Ads vs. Blog Advertising Networks

I have used ad networks in the past with success. Performancing Ads was very good to me, for instance. The downside to networks such as this, is that I have to split revenue with the network and I’d rather keep all that for myself. Which means seeking out advertisers or hope they come to me. I’m really not a salesman but to get the ads I have to sell. When choosing an ad network think about whether or not you want to go for the convenience of having someone else do the selling over keeping all the revenue for yourself.

Here’s one thing I don’t like about some ad networks – I don’t want it to be too difficult to install ads. Give me some code and I’m good to go. Anything more than that and you lost me. Technically challenged people have issues searching for folders, installing plugins and uploading into the proper location.  Lame? Yes. And I’m learning. But give me some code or a widget and I’ll love you forever.

Do Your Research

Clearly I have a lot to learn about blog advertising. But I’m takin some time out each evening to learn about the different programs available, how well they pay and how they will benefit my community.

If you’re considering ads for your blog, first take the time to research your readers and your community and then take some times to research the various advertising programs. Going into it blind will only lead to frustration. Trust me, I know.