Ask a Blogger: Determine Ad Value

This weeks informative post is courtesy of Madame Deals!

I have to admit I had no idea how to answer this question until I started receiving offers. Then I had to decide. The first thing you need to do is visualize your site. You have to determine where you would like to place ads and why?I have seen sites that look like a train wreck . I mean they have so many ads I can’t find the content. I use my ads to pay for my content. I try to find ads for products I use and like or services that I think my readers would be interested in. I also try to pair my ads with my content. If I am talking about how to have cheap dates . I put in my links for the sites I can get a referral credit for that offer cheap food and experiences. I may not make actual money but I do then get a discount on my next date if someone signs up. The other thing you will notice on my cheap date post is a link for an advertiser. I asked the advertiser if they wanted to sponsor my post. They said sure. I get a gift card when I post their link that I use for giveaways or gifts.

What is it you want to say? Does your site confuse people? Does your site help people. I would ask a group of people to look at your site and see if it is pleasing. The more time people spend on your site the better. You can find out more about ad placement here. You will need to know standard ad sizes . I use the ones I found on Google adsense as a point of reference. Then you need to look at your numbers.

What numbers? You have to look at your page views and unique visitors to your site and finally your page rank. I also ask myself is this ad going to take away from a source of income I have already. I have an ad going up for free coupons. I researched what I make from people printing coupons about $36.00 monthly (I actually only net $7.00 after I pay for my database). I know shocking so why do I do store match up when my profits are low? Advertising. People use my list and put my link on their site. It is a service to my readers. The more times they come to my site that results in an increase of page views. The more time a user spends on the site they are more likely to find one of my ads interesting enough to look into it.

When an advertiser contacts me I immediately send them my media kit. Then I looked at what they are asking for. I figure out what I need to profit to make the change. In the case this week the ad that this ad would replace currently makes about $200.00 monthly. I determined I would have to make $236.00 or more to replace the present ad I have with this new one. I also looked at what the ad I have currently advertised. It advertised shoes and canvas prints. I am actually an affiliate for both of those products so I could still offer them and make a profit. I figured this profit to be about $40 a month. They offered me a page per view price so for every 1000 page views I get a certain amount. I know I have a lot of high ticket contests going on like one for an IPAD2 so I was willing to give this new ad a try. I strongly feel that with the sign on bonus and the page views I will have I will make over $300 on this new ad. This will be coupled with the $40 in profits for the month for the products the old ad showcased. i hope to net $140.00 and if not I can put back on my other ad the following month. I keep a spreadsheet so I can make informed decisions.

I decided to take on the new ad even though I had guaranteed income with my last ad. I hope this new revenue will offset my larger hosting costs and some site design upgrades I will make in the future. I think it is important to think about what spots on your sites net you the most revenue and then do an average and determine if you are able to make the change. If your ads are not making you money there isn’t a reason to keep them on your site. You are not reaching your target audience and they are taking up space. When I began this journey my biggest ad was making me $12.00 a month. I laugh about that now since I make more than that in a week.

What would you like to ASK A Blogger? Dana and I would be happy to answer.

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