Advertising has been one of the first and still is one of the most effective means of monetizing web properties. But some websites have always done it much better than others.
What is it that makes some websites irresistible to advertise on while some fail miserably? The way to success is probably the most open secret on the internet today.
Its all about pleasing your users - your target audience.
User is KING!
Happy and satisfied users will keep coming back to your site resulting in a sustained and increasing rate of traffic for your site. You need to figure out what is it that makes your users tick. Get your users and the rest will follow.
Understand the Advertiser's Psyche!
Getting a good ROI on advertising on the internet is extremely hard today. With so many options both in terms of advertising platforms as well as publishers to choose from, choosing the right and most relevant one can be really hard for advertisers. So they tend to choose publishers that are the most relevant to their target audience. So that the pain point you need to target as a site owner.
Choose your Audience
If you are starting afresh, you have the freedom to go after an audience that are a good audience for advertisers. If you have an existing site, usually you will have made this decision already. However engaging users continuously is not an easy job and the wider your target audience the more expensive it will be to keep them engaged, both in terms of effort needed as well as money spent.
Enhance your Value while enriching your users
Become a resource your users can't do without. Build your entire strategy around building value for your users. Always keep thinking about what you can do to delight and do for your users that they think will be awesome.
A big part in this will be producing relevant and useful content for your users. You will have heard “Content is King”. When you think about it you will realise that its actually derived from “User is King”. Content will only become when its what they want. Give your target users the content they want to read.
Value addition does not stop at just content. You can also consider building unique features and tools on your website that are useful for your target audience. Sometimes building a small nifty tool could even be cheaper than the content input you need for getting the same amount of traffic.
Don’t Sell Ads before you are ready
Remember your secret to revenue lies in getting sustained advertising business from your target advertisers. They will only stick with you if you can ensure they a good return on investment (ROI) on their Ads on your site. So make sure you have enough traffic and enough engaged users before you start offering advertising on your site.
Publish your stats
Now that you have invested in building a good brand and a loyal audience, its time to start putting out your data in easy to understand metrics and charts. This is what is going to get your potential advertisers interested in you. Make sure you publish and update your statistics regularly.
Influence their decisions
When it comes to starting with something like advertising, no one wants to be the first. Seeing a site with Ads already running is a huge confidence booster to advertisers. Contact Family and friends or even better relevant strategic partners in your space and offer them free advertising.
Make it easy to find and advertise
Make sure you show ‘Advertise Here’ links near your ads and a prominent link to a page talking about benefits of advertising on your site. The same page can also contain statistics about your site and its users.
Start your Promotions with your own users
When you are in a niche market, its more likely than not that some of your own users will be likely customers for your ad space. Reach out to them and offer them early bird pricing or free getting started coupons. Here’s a nice template for you to get started.
Empower your Advertisers with Control and simplicity
Online advertisers love to have a control on their budgets. How much to spend, who to show ads to, how long to advertise, how should their Ad look - If advertisers have control on this and more, they feel empowered and trust you better. This is shameless plug but SocialAds for Joomla does this better than most other systems. And we’ll love you even more if you use it :) .