I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this for the last few days. As some of you know, I run a few blogs with fairly decent traffic. Actually, my blogs do quite well. So, the other day, I was approached by a site owner, who wanted to buy banner space and text links on my blogs.
That in itself is not weird, but what is weird, is that he has a new affiliate program for the sites(also new), which I was one of the 1st to join. My question is, why would you want to buy banner space, when I’m going to put reviews, updates, banners and text links on the blogs anyway, with my affiliate code?
I tried to explain this to him, but he stills wants to buy banner space. The only reason I can see, would be the obvious - banner space would cost him much less, than I could make as an affiliate. Or am I missing something here?
Maybe I am, 'coz I’m not very experienced, when it comes to selling banner space, but I’m getting approached at least once a week now, which is good, but I don’t think there’s any point, if I’m promoting the site as well.
Banner space is what you charge for it. It may be less that what you make as an affiliate or more.
The most obvious reason is that he wants more control over how much coverage he gets and the placement. If your blog has high traffic there maybe branding considerations as well.
I have bought banner spots on sites that market us as well. I wanted more control over placement. (Meaning I didn’t want the webmaster to give that spot to someone else a week later etc.)
[QUOTE=Intense_Lloyd;59947]Banner space is what you charge for it. It may be less that what you make as an affiliate or more.
The most obvious reason is that he wants more control over how much coverage he gets and the placement. If your blog has high traffic there maybe branding considerations as well.
I have bought banner spots on sites that market us as well. I wanted more control over placement. (Meaning I didn’t want the webmaster to give that spot to someone else a week later etc.)[/QUOTE]
ok cool, that makes sense. Guess I was just being careful, as I always am with new companies etc.
[QUOTE=Tanker;59952]He might also be buying the banners spot for the hard link he will get!
its good for SEO in most cases especially not going through a referral link code[/QUOTE]
something else I didn’t think of - it’s terrible being sleep deprived, can’t think str8 this week… now, that would make even more sense, especially for new sites.
Time to work out a fair price - is there anyway I can get some guidelines, apart from BlogAds? I’m thinking he should get some kind of discount for 6 blogs.
i’ve known a few program owners who did this. they did it because either they wanted that banner spot in addition to the reviews and stuff. the others did it because they were new and hadn’t a clue. they just got it stuck in their heads and couldn’t be dissuaded by logic or explanation.
Time to work out a fair price - is there anyway I can get some guidelines, apart from BlogAds? I’m thinking he should get some kind of discount for 6 blogs.[/QUOTE]
Do you know what it is worth to you as an affiliate? There are many ways to appraise a banner spot. PM me if you want to give some details and I can give you what I would consider a fair price.
I’ve found that many new companies and some reps use the “interested in buying adspace on your site” as getting you talking to them and interested in their products / sites. Once you’re interested and ask more specific about the “buying” part you soon find out that they actually mean they want you to become an affiliate and not really offering to pay for adspace.
I use paid advertising, combined with my affiliate program.
For me, it’s very simple. When I pay for a banner, I track its sales. I create a reseller number with zero commision, so I can know exactly how much the banner sold.
If the cost per member is below the affiliate cost … why not using it?
I also buy pay per click, if my rate of conversion is good it usually results in lower costs.
But I recognize that resellers are key for success as well.
As a site owner, I will have to fess up and say that Bjorn is probably correct. Being new to this business, I thought that dangling the “let me buy ad space” carrott would bring in affiliates. Well, I was wrong. At the end of the day, if I have a product that will make an affiliate money then they will promote it regardless of if I buy ad space or not. I have yet to find a successful paid advertising campaign that gives us a better return than our affiliate program.