Although we have any new types of blog monetization methods at our disposal such as native and video ads, banner ads are still widely popular among the bloggers and the brands. And truth be told, many new bloggers start to monetize their website using banner ads and brands love these ads thanks to its power of increasing brand awareness and getting prospective leads.
But before you move anywhere to sell your website space for banner ads, you need to decide what the right price or rate you will be charging the brands for the banner ads. And many new bloggers mess this part up.
In this article, we’re going to show you how you can figure out a sweet spot and charge just the right rate for your banner ad space in your website so both you and the brands will be happy.
So, without further ado, let’s begin…
Find A Sweet Spot
Before you get started with anything, first, you need to figure out the ideal price you should be charging for the banner ads to monetize your blog. Ideally, the price should be high enough to make decent revenue and yet low enough to actually attract the clients.
One of the biggest mistakes the new bloggers make is that they undercharge their clients. And it will become a problem for both you and other similar bloggers in your niche. While it may seem like a reasonable option to undercharge your clients, especially when you’re new, just to sell more website space, it will make it tough to get a reasonable price for your banner ads in the future.
So, before you start with anything else, make sure you have a good idea what is the right price to charge for banner ad space in your blog.
Well, there are several ways to figure out the ideal rate for your banner ads. But whatever method you choose, make sure that it’s flexible enough so you can charge your clients reasonable prices according to the total space the ad occupies and the actual ad placement.
So, before you even place banner ads or offer ad space for money on your website, it would be better to work with a brand who will compensate you with data. This way, you will be able to gather the information about the click-through rate of the ads in your website and total sales which will come handy when you are trying to negotiate deals with your first paying client for banner ad space sales.
Understand The Parameters
There are generally three methods that advertisers use in order to figure out the ad cost and they are:
- CPM: The ad cost per 1000 views.
- CPC: The cost of ads every time a person clicks on your ads.
- CPA: This is the cost per every desired action of the ad which can be anything from an email sign up to app install to making a purchase.
But in this article, we’re going to calculate the optimum price you should charge for your banner ads depending on the CPM model. In short, the more people see the ad, the more you charge. And we will help you decide what that amount should be. Of course, this is assuming that you’re selling your ad space directly to a brand and not going through any third-party arrangement.
Use Simple Formulas
The best and simplest way to figure out the price you should be charging your brand is to charge them $1 for every 1000 visitors per month your website is getting, especially when you’re just starting out to monetize your blog using this method and have no clue about your CTR or CPA.
And there are three simple reasons why you should go with it at start:
- You can figure out the optimum price to charge for your banner ad space with ease; no sweat.
- You can easily explain the reasoning behind the charges.
- This particular method allows you to charge more money as your page views gradually grow over time.
For example, let’s say one of your web pages is getting 30,000 views per month on average. So, you can charge the brand $30 per month for a singular banner ad space. Of course, you can vary your CPM between $0.75 and $1.25 as a good rule of thumb. But you might have to lower your CPM from $1 if you’re getting quite a high amount of traffic.
Another simple way to make the pricing decision is to see what your daily page view is, divide the amount by 10, and use that number as the monthly price for your banner ad space. Let’s say, you’re getting a total of 600 page views per day. Then you can charge the brands $60 per month or $15 per week.
Now, it might not be a permanent method since you have probably noticed that the cost is much higher to advertise for the brands. Thus, this method is better utilized for a short amount of time during special occasions or any special events.
Get Google Analytics And Proceed With The Sales
As you can see, in order to succeed in charging the right amount for your banner ad spaces, you need to accurately measure your daily, weekly, and monthly traffic and other valuable states. And you need a proper analytics tool for that. And we, at ForeMedia, recommend Google Analytics. The stats from Google Analytics are not only reliable, but they are quite credible too. Some times, the brands may even ask for your Google Analytics screenshots of your website to verify your claims.
Once you have the credible ways to show your website stats and fix the rate for your banner ad space, it’s time for you to find your first paying client and make the sales. Many bloggers choose to give special discounts or offers for a limited period of time to attract customers. But whatever method you choose, it’s ultimately up to you. So, get out there and get ready to make the first sale.
