How to Develop an Alternative Revenue Source for Beginner

Selling advertisements on a website is one of the most efficient and easiest ways to make money online. Many bloggers and webmasters utilize ad networks like Text Link Ads and ReviewMe, both of which take a huge 50% cut of all your ad earnings.

These third party ad brokers dominate our monetization strategies because of the strength and trustworthiness of their brand as well as their advertiser reach, which gives them the leverage to demand a cut of our ad earnings.

Alternative profit schemes are not often considered because of the lack of know-how when it comes to direct advertising sales, which simply refers to the selling of ads directly to advertisers without the assistance of middlemen.

Do you really need to sign up with as many advertising networks as possible in order to make some decent money from your websites? When was the last time you actually sold a link or review through these brokers?

More importantly, why not supplement or replace these ad brokers with direct advertising initiatives?

As such, I’ve decided to start a series of articles on how to increase your direct ad sales revenues. In the next few posts, I will examine the steps you can take to increase your ad revenue without sharing it with ad brokers.

Topics covered will include learning how to determine the ad value/pricing for your site, ways to find direct advertisers, advertiser-oriented site optimization as well as various types of direct advertising options available.

I’ll start things off with a brief introduction to the pros and cons of direct advertising before going into suggestions on creating an advertiser sell page, which should be the first step you should take.

Benefits of Direct Advertising

* Set your own Ad Rates. Not all brokers allow manual price setting and this is obviously one of the greatest benefits of direct advertising. Another key point is that you can utilize variable pricing to fit specific advertisers.

* Direct Contact with advertisers. You can negotiate pricing without having to go through any middlemen. This direct contact increases the likelihood of having long-term relationships and arrangements with advertisers.

* More Payment options. Some advertising brokers only allow you to receive payment once a month through a specific method like PayPal. Direct advertising allows you determine how you want to get paid and when.

* Diverse Advertising options. Direct advertising increases the type of ads you can sell. Advertiser networks and link brokers usually go by predetermined space allocations or ad types but direct advertising allows you to sell any type of ads or links you want without having to sign up with various networks.

Disadvantages of Direct Advertising

* Potential disputes. Some buyers might break long term ad arrangements and ask for a refund. You’ll have to assume the possibility of such disagreements occurring and take the responsibility of resolving them, instead of leaving them to ad networks.

* Difficulty of finding advertisers. Ad networks usually have a large inventory of ready advertisers who are looking to buy ads. Direct advertising requires you to find your own advertisers.

Should I still consider Direct Advertising as a revenue option?

My answer is simple: Definitely. I’m a very big advocate of direct advertising because of the freedom it gives and the potential for higher earnings. I love working with advertisers personally because it allows for a better fit between both party’s needs and goals.

The disadvantages involved in potential disputes can be resolved by finding reputable advertisers and having verbal/written agreements in place before committing to an arrangement.

Finding advertisers is also not as difficult as it seems. I will be dedicating an entire post in this series to the topic of marketing your ad space and ways to find relevant advertisers.

Getting Started with Direct Advertising: Create an Sell Page for Advertisers

An advertising sell page is basically a one-pager which tries to ’sell’ the benefits of advertising on your website to potential advertisers. An excellent sell page should also include the following details:

1. General traffic statistics. This includes monthly pageviews or daily visitors for your site. Using a graphic with values over time will make your stats easy to read and understand.

Statistics should be considered a compulsory requirement because most advertisers are concerned with the amount of eyeballs who will view their ads.

If you are uncomfortable with displaying them in public, give general figures and ask the interested advertiser to contact you for more information.

2. Third-Party Ranking Schemes. This refers to ranking schemes like the Alexa Rank for all sites and Technorati rank/RSS subscribers for blogs. If your site doesn’t fare well on third party ranking systems, do not list them because it might deter immediate advertisers.

3. Types of Advertising Options available. Indicate what type of ads you will be willing to sell on the site. Try not to overwhelm the buyer with options and do not include advertising networks. Advertisers are drawn to ad options that are clearly defined and uncomplicated.

4. Disclosure Policy. Inform the buyer about your stance on paid links. Will you be declaring them as sponsor links and how will you be doing so?

5. Advertising Guidelines. If you don’t want to sell advertising to websites of a specific genre (adult, gambling, Made for Adsense etc.) you should indicate this so that you’ll only get quality queries from buyers.

6. Advertiser Testimonials or List. Including testimonials from previous advertisers will make your site more attractive to potential buyers while allowing you to gain their trust. Note that not all advertisers are willing to write testimonials so an alternative would be to put up list of previous advertisers.

7. Site Awards and Reputation. This is where you get brag about your site’s achievements and list out any awards it might have won. Include quotes from notable bloggers and places where your site content is syndicated. This adds to the overall ad selling value of your site.

8. Call-to-Query note. This should be placed at the bottom of the sell page and should request that the potential buyer contact you if they are hesitant about buying an ad. See my post on buyer pre-emption for an example of a call-to-query note.

9. Contact details. At the very least, you need to provide a valid email address or contact form. Internet Messengers or telephony can also be helpful but are optional.

This advertiser sell page should be placed as a banner or link at a prominent position such as your header, or the top left or right sections of your site.

Using Variable Advertising Rates to Your Advantage

Do not list your advertising rates because you should not assume to know the budget or expectations of the buyer. Two things may happen if you list your advertising rates openly:

1. You are liable to lose buyers if they find the ad price to be even slightly above their budget. You also automatically forfeit the ability to negotiate with buyers who can easily afford to purchase advertising on your website.

2. Openly declaring your rates will stop you from using variable pricing because you’ll have to charge each advertiser the same rate, which is exactly what the middlemen are already doing.