Selling Banners And Joining Affiliate Marketing

Selling Banners by the Impression and also Affiliate Marketing

A final type of banner ad is sold by “impressions.”  Less popular than pay-per-click ads because the advertiser is simply paying for his ad to be seen and not acted upon, they can still be a profitable way to sell ad space once your readership grows.  Let’s say, for example, that your blog is dedicated to investments in the natural resources sector.  Your readers are also potential investors in the companies that inhabit the market you talk about, but there is no way to know if a reader buys (or sells) stocks or investigates companies based on your writing. 

In this case, selling ad space directly to a company that will pay you to simply feature their banner can be worthwhile.  You promise the company that a certain number of people will view their banner or that it will remain on your site for a certain amount of time, and they pay for the link. You’ll know how much revenue to expect every month and you won’t have to share it with an agency that takes a cut for bringing advertisers to you.

While potentially more profitable than pay-per-click programs, selling banners by the impression has several drawbacks, the most difficult of which is convincing advertisers that you are worth their money.  That’s why your expertise and contacts are so important in choosing your blog topic.  Once you become a clearinghouse for information, you can be sure that companies – especially small ones in small industries – will know you. If you have a million readers a month and are an acknowledged expert in their industry, they may be happy to pay to have their name in front of their readers, especially if they can measure the number of people of visit their site as a result of your ads. It can be compared to "How to use articles to make profits from affiliate products and service."

But watch out for conflict of interest, real or perceived.  When you feature a company’s ad, you may feel (and will be perceived by your readers to feel) pressure to treat your advertisers with kid gloves.  It’s a part of the deal: your advertisers are not paying you to have you bad-mouth their company on your pages.  So it’s essential that you be upfront with your readers when mentioning companies, informing them if you are a shareholder or that the company is an advertiser.  It’s often best for your reputation to never mention a customer company or its main competitors directly, and while this can reduce your ability to sell these profitable ads, it can also help you avoid the reputation of being a shill and can help keep your commentary (or at least readers’ perceptions of your commentary) independent.