Continuing our discussion of things you could be doing right now to improve your blog, today’s tip is:
3. Optimize your advertising page
When I mentioned I was writing this post on Google+ (connect with me here), Nick Roshon suggested auditing your advertising page.
If monetization through selling advertising is part of your business model, then this one should be a task you build into your regular schedule of pages to update.
Keep your advertising page up to date with the latest options for advertisers to advertise, update your stats so that advertisers know what reach they’ll have, and make sure that this page is prominent on your blog so that they can find it.
Do you have an advertising page on your blog?
I actually don’t have an advertising page yet, but it’s in the future.
I don’t have ad pages on my sites as my blogs are small potatoes compared to this one. I’ve always been of the opinion that ad pages are for larger websites (like problogger) which can dictate advertising terms more easily because, well, they can, because they force advertisers to work with them in their respective space because they dominate said space. This does beg an interesting question though: How big should you be before you should develop an ad page?
Great question Brad. I, too, am interested in the response from others on this.
I developed mine right from the start – why not?
I have an interesting perspective because I work for an interactive agency, and I also run my own blogs. When I try to find blogs for my clients to advertise on, there is nothing more frusterating than not being able to find contact info and general advertising options on a site. Often, clients want to go after smaller, more niche-sites, so I wouldn’t worry about waiting until you are a certain “size” to start an “advertise here” page – it’s useful information to generate leads, start discussions, etc.
An added advantage is that if you start with one, you can expand and expand on it over time. Maybe you’ll build some links to it in the meantime, or establish trust in the search engines. Maybe you’ll rank for “photography blog advertising” and generate a ton of leads, who knows. But I don’t see any problem with starting your advertise page and giving it some attention, as it can be a very valuable way to grow your site & revenue.
I’m not monetizing via advertising but it’s good advice. Whatever means you’re using to earn money from your blog should be regularly looked at and optimized to showcase the benefits of doing business with you.
Do you or Nick have any specific tips on truly optimizing your advertising page/options? Apart from the high level ‘display up to date stats and advertising options’.
Definitely use some SEO and optimize your title tag, H1 tag, on page copy, etc. Many people find my advertise page from queries like “car blog advertising” or “car blog guest post” etc, etc.
Then also build traffic to the page & interlink to it – if there is a logical place to insert a link to your advertising page within a post you’re writing, link to it in that post. It will build internal links to the page and establish the page as more important in search engines. It will also drive traffic to the page, and build awareness of the advertising options available.
Another trick I see a lot is an empty ad space that just says “Advertise here” that then takes the user to the Advertising page to explain the options & rates. It’s a nice call to action to get the interested parties to realize their ad could be right there next to the content they’re reading & enjoying.
I don’t have one, I just have a link that says advertise here for unused spaces that links to my contact page, I know that’s horrible, but I never had time to do it, but it will be up and ready with the new website on September 10th.
Like AzAkers I would love to hear some specific tips to optimize the page.
I gave some tips above on what has worked for me, but to sum them up:
* Optimize the page for relevant keywords (“keyword” blog advertising, advertise on “keyword” blog, etc where you replace keyword with the subject area of your blog)
* Link to it throughout your site
* Include calls to action on the page to compel people to contact you
* Set up goal tracking in Google Analytics to see how many people are viewing the Advertise Here page versus how many people are actually contacting you
* List out of all of the options & benefits of advertising
* Update blog stats & benefits to advertisers as much as you can
* Run promotions occasionally if you are dependent on ad revenue
* Promote the page through social media where it makes sense
* Proactively contact businesses you might think would be interested in advertising on your blog, especially if you’ve seen them advertise on similar blogs (be reasonable with your cold calling though)
* Ask friends & partner bloggers to direct interested parties to your Advertising page
I’m sure there is more, but that should hopefully help you get your creative juices flowing!
I am so happy to find your site through this commenthour party. I will be returning to learn more ways to improve and optimize my website. You a lot of great information.
i recently added one and it really helps to boost your blog.
I had one but the table that I had it on disappeared with a wordpress upgrade. Sadly, I have been negligent in redoing it.
I used to have one. But honestly, you make hardly any money with advertising. You can make a lot more by promoting affiliate products/your own products/opt in pages instead. Just my personal experience, I think advertising sucks as a business model. Always stick to your own stuff.
I think it totally depends on the subject area of your blog. Some blogs can do well at it, others just aren’t the right area and something like affiliate & contigent monetization structures are better. But, if you think people might be interested in advertising, or maybe submitting free products to you to be reviewed, or guest posts, etc, you might as well put an advertising page up and see what’s out there.
Thanx Darren Rowse for this information