How to Get More Advertising Vendors for Your Blog or Website
Today I want to share a strategy I have used to find more advertising vendors for my niche websites that has worked very well for me over the past few years.
Few weeks back I wrote about hiring a full time Virtual Assistant (VA) to outsource routine tasks of your business. One of the challenges you will be faced with a full time resource is keeping them busy.
As a Manager, you have to effectively prioritize, train, delegate, monitor and follow up on your full time resource. This is all assuming that you have enough work to begin with. But what if you don’t?
Each one of us will run out of specific tasks to delegate to a full time resource at some point. This is inevitable. One way to make use of your resource’s down time however is to outline a set of “default” tasks that can be executed in pockets of availability.
For example, when faced with down time, you can instruct your resource to work on building back links for your website or blog, or commenting on other relevant blogs and forums and leaving a back link to yours.
One such default task I have specified on one of my VA’s “to do” list is to constantly research and solicit potential vendors for more advertising on my various websites. I have provided her with a spreadsheet with all my website URLs as well as a brief synopsis of each website, accompanied by a set of 3 to 5 keywords.
It is her responsibility to learn each website and its offering, and solicit companies to get more advertising deals. This is precisely how I leverage my VA to get advertisers for my niche content websites. More on the specifics below.
Power of Leverage
The definition of an entrepreneur in its truest form is one who moves resources from one area to another to gain an advantage, or something like that.
Even if you don’t have a full time VA, you can still benefit from this strategy. You can hire one just for this cause alone. In fact, it is much more economical to do it this way because you are not obligated to pay a full time salary.
You can either pay by task or by the hour. I have realized that most “employees” have the hourly mentality. They equate each hour of their time to a certain wage and want to get paid for that time. Because of that mentality, they and the majority of this world will remain employees forever. But that’s besides the point of this article.
Consider this example. If you hire a VA for $10 an hour in wages, and your VA is able to send out 10 solicitations, you are touching base with potential targeted advertisers for $1 each. Even if they don’t bite today, they might in the future. At least you are planting seeds so they know who to come to when business calls for it.
Would you pay $1 for each potential advertiser? Who wouldn’t? 6 minutes is plenty to spend on soliciting one vendor (60 minutes or 1 hour for 10 vendors) to get more advertising down the road.
If you read my post on how much to charge for advertisements on your blog or website, you know how easy it can be to generate $10 a month or $120 a year in advertising revenue on a residual basis all from just one small ad on just one webpage on your website.
This is not one time income. I am talking about passive, residual income. The arbitrage just works out. This is a no brainer.
How Should You Target Vendors to Get More Advertising?
I will outline a consolidated version of the instructions I have provided my VA in a few simple steps:
Step 1: Identify the keyword to be targeted
In the spreadsheet discussed above, there are a set of keywords that I have provided my VA. These keywords are ones which I target on my website from a search engine optimization perspective.
The assumption is that by finding other vendors / websites who are also targeting those keywords, they are likely going to be interested in the profile of my website visitors since they are essentially looking for the same thing.
You can really specify any set of keywords you want depending on the type of advertiser you are seeking.
Step 2: Go on Google and type in the targeted keyword
Keywords must be typed in “brackets”. Skip to the third page of results (results 21 and beyond) and start gathering contact information for those websites. Work your way down the list, moving to page 4, 5 and onward.
I have learned from experience that websites that are typically ranked higher in search engine indexes (the 20 or so websites on the first 2 pages of search results) are relatively well established and are already getting a good amount of traffic and therefore need less advertisement.
Those further down the list are likely to be more interested in advertising opportunities, especially bargain deals.
Step 3: Observe the sponsored links and go after those vendors
Vendors who appear on Sponsored links should actually be contacted first. These are vendors who are already paying for advertisement so you know they are willing and able to shell the dollars. Your goal now is to lure them away from Google Adsense and bring them to you.
To get an idea for how much these guys are paying Google for advertisement, and what you can expect to make from them, read my post on how much to charge for advertisements on your website or blog.
Here is what sponsored links look like. These vendors are given preferential position on search results because they are paying for it through Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.
Step 4: Deploy Sample Ad Solicitation Email to all (see draft copy below)
Step 5: Negotiate and execute the agreement.
Direct all vendors who have agreed to an advertising contract to AdBrite. AdBrite is an Ad Management system that automates the entire payment tracking, collection, renewal and ad removal process.
Vendors that find my websites on their own are often directed to an “Advertise” section on my website where they can interact directly with the AdBrite platform. This eliminates the need for me or a VA to intervene and thus automating the entire process. My VA helps me solicit those that don’t know about my websites’ existence (new meat).
I highly recommend implementing AdBrite, especially as you get into more advertising deals. It doesn’t cost anything to implement, and you pay a small fee on payments processed on the back-end. I love their technology and what they have been able to do for me over the years.
Consider this. Even you if you receive no advertising interest from vendors initially, remember that your VA has reached out to them to introduce who you are and what you can do for them. When they are ready to advertise, they will come running back to you.
Spreading this awareness is just like planting seeds. Once the seeds have been planted, the plant can grow at any time. You never know when the vendor comes back to you for their advertisement needs. This works for you long after your VA has already done their job and moved on with their life. Like I said, this strategy is a no brainer.
Step 6: Rinse and repeat
Sample Solicitation Email
Here is a sample ad solicitation email. My VA maintains a copy of this. All she has to do is plug in the name of the contact person and revise some minor details.
“Hello (INSERT CONTACT HERE OR LEAVE IT TO HELLO)
I found your website while searching for the keyword(s) (INSERT KEYWORD(S) HERE).
I am the author of (INSERT WEBSITE/BLOG NAME HERE – MAKE IT A HYPERLINK TO THE HOMEPAGE) and would like to extend an offer to you to advertise on my website / blog.
(INSERT SITE/BLOG NAME) is currently visited by (INSERT #) unique visitors daily from the following continents: (INSERT CONTINENTS FROM YOUR ANALYTICS SOFTWARE).
The website experiences (INSERT #) page views per month and is currently ranked (INPUT ALEXA SCORE) of all websites online.
By advertising on my website / blog, you will instantly get exposure to (INSERT # ANNUAL VISITORS) new eyes each year. I would be glad to discuss your goals in depth and discuss ways that I can help you meet your business objectives.
I am currently offering an early bird discount and I hope you will take advantage of it.
Sincerely,
(INSERT NAME OF WEBSITE OR BLOG AUTHOR – since many of my niche sites contain various pen names)
(INSERT WEBSITE URL)”
When entering the subject of the email, instruct your VA to enter the following: “RE: (INSERT KEYWORD)”. So if the keyword under research is “Iron Golf Clubs”, the subject of the email would be: RE: Iron Golf Clubs.
As you can imagine, the process is relatively easy and streamlined, and one that doesn’t take long at all to execute (6 minutes per vendor remember?). As basic as the email above is, it receives a lot of attention and response. You can tweak it anyway you want to fit your industry’s norms.
Reinvesting Online Earnings Back In the Business
This strategy is just one example of how I reinvest my online earnings back into my business rather than cashing out. Why would I cash out and pay an effective tax rate near 50% when I can spend all 100% of it on growing my business?
Investing in my business today will pay off in multiples down the road. At the same time, I will benefit from tax savings in the short term and maximize the chances of a higher payout in earnings on the back-end.
One day, some day, when you decide to pull the plug on spending on your business, the residual income from more advertising deals would hopefully have grown exponentially. Remember, the money you invest today in business related expenses also becomes extra profit later when you stop spending.
Are you advertising on your website? How are you finding, negotiating and booking ads? What do you think of the method above to get more advertising? Are there any other tips you can add from your experience?
Read my thoughts on how to determine pricing as you get into more advertising deals.
Previous: Do You Know What the Best Rewards Credit Card is For You?Next: Do you Have a Back-Up Plan if you Slip from the Corporate Ladder?
25 Responses to “How to Get More Advertising Vendors for Your Blog or Website”
Leave a Reply
Earn Extra $1K Per Month
Subscribe & get a FREE copy of my report
"How To Make a $1,000 Residual Income Stream in Just 180 Days!" - All in your spare time!
Your Business at Your Own Pace
Previous Blog Posts
Blog Posts By Category
- Affiliate Marketing (7)
- Analytics (1)
- Authority Site Duel (4)
- Authority Websites (5)
- Back Link Building (11)
- Blogging (46)
- Capital Leverage (1)
- Career – Office (33)
- Credit Cards (4)
- eBooks (15)
- Email Auto Responder (2)
- Forum Websites (1)
- Freelance (6)
- General Entrepreneurship (146)
- Get Paid to Do Stuff! (21)
- Giveaways (5)
- Google Adsense (4)
- Guest (22)
- Income Reports (4)
- Internet Marketing (63)
- iPhone Apps (1)
- Keyword Research (2)
- Money Humor (1)
- Niche Content Websites (41)
- Outsourcing (5)
- Paid Surveys (11)
- Pay Per Click Advertising (1)
- Personal Finance (61)
- Productivity – Time Management (8)
- Real Estate (6)
- Retail – E Commerce (13)
- Reviews (5)
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (18)
- Site Build It! (SBI) (8)
- Social Bookmarking (1)
- Tax Planning (13)
- The Extra Money Blog (12)
There are various opinions with regards to advertising on your blogs and users tend to complain about the distraction of ads. I wondered if it would be better to have one blog to provide information and another one for advertising. Any thoughts on the matter?
Katie,
Welcome to the blog. Good question, and I think it highly depends on the audience you have. I personally do not like viewing or serving invasive / obtrusive ads. I’d like to let the market / public demand be the determinant of that. However what I have seen is some blogs and sites with excessive ads continue to be patronized, which makes me conclude that the readership is willing to negate the ad effect due to quality of content?
Spreading content between two active blogs in my opinion just spreads one too thin, until and unless one blog is to the point of self sustaining. What do you think? Have you experimented with this? How did it go?
I have seen your site, you’ve got a nice niche going for you. I am curious why you chose this niche and how it is doing for you. I have over 10 books on ClickBank and it is one of my favorite avenues of monetization for my niche content sites.
Thanks for the sharing Sunil.
I’ve yet to hire any VA before, perhaps will in the coming future?
Welcome Jia Jun – You will find that hiring a good VA expedites progress exponentially. I wished I realized it sooner. What are you into and what part(s) of the process do you plan on outsourcing?
I’m not sure what am I into and what part(s) of the process I plan to outsourcing, as for current I can do everything all by myself, so might not need it now, just think of in coming future how can I leverage VA to help boost my blog’s growth, perhaps.
Most definitely Jia Jun. Would love to hear about your progress – please keep us posted.
I started my website in late August of 2010, and I’m just starting to get advertising offers, without searching out advertisers myself. I feel that if I really buckle down and seek out to fill the remaining advertising slots myself, I could easily make over $200 per month.
Your tips are awesome, and it’s really inspiring me to reach out rather than passively accepting offers. I’ll be sure to report back on my experiences in the near future.
You are definitely doing a good job blending in the ads with your content. I was just on your site and didn’t feel the “ad effect”. Congratulations to you for getting ad offers, and I am sure you will more than surpass the $200/mo. mark relatively soon, especially if you or your delegate(s) reach out to potential advertisers. I would love to hear about your experiences.
Again – congratulations.
Hey Sunil!
Just thought I’d follow up on this post. I really made an effort to reach out to advertisers and test your theory. It really didn’t seem like I got much response, but at the end of the month, I realised what a difference it made. I made $571 in the month of April. I was so excited! Thanks for the tips, and I’ll definitely continue to read your stuff.
Derek
It’s amazing how seeds planted consistently over time yield fruits down the road. Glad it worked for you!
I will look into an assistant in the future because I can’t keep doing all of the work myself. Adbrite is also something that I have been looking for.
Justin – Adbrite has been an excellent partner for me over the years. That is likely a big understatement. I’d like to hear more about your experiences with them.
Wow Sunil!
This is just a wealth of information. I have not actively sought out advertisers, but am definitely ready to do so (I have received a decent amount of interest from people just contacting me, but see that I can perhaps double my income by seeking them out). Also, I am in the process of hiring my first VA and reinvesting a bit of money into my website to hopefully reap the benefits for years to come.
I like your “default tasks” for your VA–great idea and great utilization of time.
Glad to hear the info was relevant. I’d definitely be interested in how this pans out so please keep me posted (both seeking out ads and VA). How/where did you finally end up finding a suitable VA?
Sunil,
This is a fantastic post and full of great information! I am just starting out really and don’t have enough traffic yet to advertise, but I will definitely refer back to this when I do get to that point.
Thanks for sharing!!!
Karen
Karen welcome to the blog. Traffic is just a matter of time. Please keep me posted of your progress. I’d be interested in what you are most interested about reading more about.
You’re most definitely welcome
After reading you posts I realized that we are leaving a crap load of money o the table. I am going after sponsors starting tomorrow.
Kyle welcome to the community. You wouldn’t believe how much money is out there up for grabs. Please keep me posted – I am interested in your experience.
Hi Sunil,
You have really mentioned an awesome method to get targetted advertisers. Thanks a lot for writing this tutorial, going to be helpful in getting advertisers.
Regards
You are welcome Shiva, glad you found it useful. Come back and let me know of your experience once you have tried it.
Hi Sunil,
I followed you here from a guest post you did on Yaro’s site (How to set up an Amazon Store on your site…). I have been here for nearly two hours now and could not believe my luck when I found this post amongst all the others I have been reading.
After more than two years and in spite of text links to Amazon and Clickbank products in many of my posts, I still have not made any money. So the last few weeks I have been thinking about other ways to monetize my site.
Advertising is one of the methods I am interested in but I did not know how to go about it to contact companies in my niche. Thanks to your generous sharing of the e-mail your VA has to send to companies, I can now sit down and make a list of possible party vendors to contact and who knows, maybe there will be one or two who will be interested in advertising on my site.
I must be honest, I am about ready to throw in the towel – if you put your heart and soul (and endless hours) into building a site and nothing happens, you often wonder if it is worth it.
Then again, not to go on and at least try a few other methods to earn money from all your hard work, would be equivalent to giving up on life. So I will give myself a few months more to try other methods of monetizing and concentrating more on all the other things one has to do to get targeted traffic and turning them into buyers.
Thank you again for sharing such good information – you have given me quite a few things to think about and that I am going to implement on my site.
Regards from South Africa
Elsie
Elsie – welcome to the blog. Glad you found the content useful.
Remember that most that succeed online have likely invested several months and years before their efforts came to fruition. In addition, most have experienced several failures prior to as well as along the way. My single advice to you is to not put a timeline. Do not give yourself X months or Y years, just continue to do it and do it well. It is just a matter of time when success will come knocking on your door.
Please browse through the archives as there are other similar articles you might find helpful. Hope to see you here more often.
Hi Sunil
Just to let you know I followed your advice and decided to go on with my site. I already added 5 new posts this year, put up Adsense and I also added an Amazon Store yesterday.
There are a few things I have to do to streamline these things (e.g., I have to make small changes to my template to accomodate the store) and also have to change the look of the Adsense ad, but at least it is a start.
With the consistent posting of the past two weeks, I have seen a considerable increase in the number of visitors per day again.
I also started a short report/e-book with links back to my site that I will eventually go and upload on the free e-book directories.
And at the moment, the cherry on top is that I received a request from somebody who wants to do a guest post and is willing to pay for a “permanent” link to his site.
Is it possible that I can send you an e-mail about this one, please? I think I need a little bit of advice on how to answer this. Or maybe you can write another post about these kind of requests?
Regards from SA
Elsie
Sure Elsie, email me and let’s have a look
Thank you, Sunil, I’ve send you an e-mail