How to set ad rates on site with monthly pageviews over 700,000?

by mrpals
21 replies
Not sure if this is the proper thread or not,

Would like some ideas or suggestions on setting advertising rates for a fast growing site with over 200,000 monthly visitors and over 700,000 monthly page views?

I am attempting to set oiopublisher with 3 main zones top banner 728x90 seen on all pages, left sidebar 160x600 seen on all pages except index and 8-100x100 right side bar seen all pages except index.

Any ideas as to what would be a reasonable monthly rate for each zone?
Top zone will rotate beween 3 clients giving each over 200,000 impressions a month left side bar the same each of 3 clients rotate getting 200,000+ impressions a month, right side bar, 8 100x100 to rotate between 10 clients giving each 200,000+ impressions a month.


I would like to set price to sell, but be worth the effort and server expense. Any udeas or suggestions.

Thank you all in advance, Im learning as I go
#700 #monthly #pageviews #rates #set #site
  • Profile picture of the author oliverjones
    Out of interest what site is it?
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    • Profile picture of the author mrpals
      The site is in my signature if that is what you are asking. Just needing some advice on setting advertising rates properly
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  • Profile picture of the author oliverjones
    If I were you I would speak to an ad agency and get their views. They could fill your backfill for you, then you could go it alone for any sponsored ad sales on top of that. Request a media pack form some competitor sites to get a benchmark of how much they charge but remember to always knock a 1/3rd off what they are asking for as they rarely get it.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrpals
      Forgive me I am not fully inderstanding what you mean. What does backfill mean? I understand about the competitor sites, I had not done that but is a great idea thanks, most of those require sending emails, then they want to see site and all before the give a price. I will look at more and see what I find.
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  • Profile picture of the author oliverjones
    No just email (from a grmail account or something that does not contain your url) them saying "I am interested in promoting my site on yours but am currently not in a position to be able to give you the URL of my site as we are in the process of re-branding". Say you have a budget in place and wish to see their media pack. You are sure to get a response.

    Backfill is basically any ad impressions you have not sold. Meaning that if one month you don't have an advertiser on board, the spaces will still generate you revenues. The other option is to use google ads for backflill.
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  • Profile picture of the author jaoyingnoi2009
    great :-) ds
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  • Profile picture of the author mrpals
    That is a great Idea about sending the mail i will use that I will use google as a fill although I am not happy with them at all. Last month gave google over 700,000 page impressions but their ads are trash and pay very little, not to mention displaying the same ad in all zones ona single page makes no sense or if 1 word in post doesn't make their bot happy they show nothing.
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  • Profile picture of the author oliverjones
    I would advise you to move away from google. When you are trying to sell space to an advertised, they will be more impressed with a site that has agency ads on there in the first place as it shows you are a real player. Anyone can get google ads but to sign to an agency you need a fair amount of traffic. Also agency ads look shinier and prettier than google ads in my view. I am sure loads of people will disagree (like the owner of plentyoffish) but hey its just my opinion. Good luck with it and give me an invite onto the private island when you make a billion.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrpals
    I agree about prettier ads, no doubt about that. Im not too sure about a private island though. That may be the land far far away Main thing is just being about to keep paying server costs and keep growing on a monthly basis without too much back stepping. Word Press gets pretty darn heavy and resource dependant.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrpals
    @Oliver I sent out several emails and waiting to hear back from them.

    Anyone else have any ideas to add?
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    • Profile picture of the author kcom
      You could also, go to a site like buysellads and get some comparisons from averages. Another good thing about this is you would be able to see many different ad layouts.
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      • Profile picture of the author mrpals
        Originally Posted by kcom View Post

        You could also, go to a site like buysellads and get some comparisons from averages. Another good thing about this is you would be able to see many different ad layouts.

        That is a pretty good idea, however most of those I have found to be on Per Click basis and not really an Impression one.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeLiving
    I would sell on a case by case basis and seek out potential buyers. Advertisers related to my niche would naturally be charged more than more general advertisers. Sure you could talk to an agency but they are just going to short change you in the end.

    I would definitely charge per impression, and in your case I think you could get a solid $1.25 to $2 per CPM unless it was specific--then I'd go for the gusto and try to get like $4 or $5 per CPM. Also I would partner with a blog carnival platform like 2Leep to drive even more traffic to your site.

    EDIT: Scratch my last, looks like you are already rocking the 2Leep connection.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrpals
      Originally Posted by MikeLiving View Post

      I would sell on a case by case basis and seek out potential buyers. Advertisers related to my niche would naturally be charged more than more general advertisers. Sure you could talk to an agency but they are just going to short change you in the end.

      I would definitely charge per impression, and in your case I think you could get a solid $1.25 to $2 per CPM unless it was specific--then I'd go for the gusto and try to get like $4 or $5 per CPM. Also I would partner with a blog carnival platform like 2Leep to drive even more traffic to your site.

      EDIT: Scratch my last, looks like you are already rocking the 2Leep connection.

      Forgive my not so brightness, but what is CPM? cost per million? I used 2leeps mainly when just starting out but that will soon come off. I would like to see pricing set simple and fairly for all, not more for those in the same niche, Im just funny that way, would like I was taking advantage of someone.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeLiving
        Originally Posted by mrpals View Post

        Forgive my not so brightness, but what is CPM? cost per million? I used 2leeps mainly when just starting out but that will soon come off. I would like to see pricing set simple and fairly for all, not more for those in the same niche, Im just funny that way, would like I was taking advantage of someone.
        To each his own, and after all it is your site--so at the end of the day you have to do what is best for you! Anyway, CPM stands for cost per thousand impressions.

        Thus if you have 700,000 page views that would indicate you could sell 700 units of CPM's.

        To make it even more simple. Let's say you charge $1.25 for each 1000 (CPM) impressions their advertisement runs on your site. Say they want to run an ad for the whole month.

        700 x $1.25 = $875 for ONE advertiser.

        The more you can get an advertiser to pay per CPM the more money you are obviously going to make. I sold advertising for a site in the Disney theme park niche. Because of the niche (very specific) I could get damn near $4 per CPM and they had LESS traffic than you do.

        I've said this time and time again, if you offer a product or content that people in certain demographics are interested you will have plenty of advertisers just itching to put their own product in front of your audience.
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        • Profile picture of the author mrpals
          I really like the idea of CPM, Im not sure if I can achieve that with oiopublisher though. I thought it would do impressions when I bought it but so far have only figured out how to set it for days.

          Selling the ad spots would be the next challeng, have few prospects that have already enquired by email, that is why trying to set something up and do it close to right
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeLiving
            Originally Posted by mrpals View Post

            I really like the idea of CPM, Im not sure if I can achieve that with oiopublisher though. I thought it would do impressions when I bought it but so far have only figured out how to set it for days.

            Selling the ad spots would be the next challeng, have few prospects that have already enquired by email, that is why trying to set something up and do it close to right
            Bonus points if they have already contacted you. That means they already feel what they are advertising is a good fit for your site. Those are the people I would send a higher cost CPM feeler to!

            If you are looking for something simple and easy, just charge a flat rate based off the previous months volume. So if last month you had 700,000 page views, take the CPM rate (whatever you decide) and multiply by the 700 number. Then give them that quote. If this month's traffic doesn't equal the same as last months, give them a discount on next month's run.

            Whatever you do, DO NOT even indicate a certain conversion rate or click thru rate to your advertisers unless you have a SOLID way to track such information. That can come back to bite you in the ass and hard.

            Better yet, with the holiday's coming up, why don't you throw up some affiliate links to maybe draw in some income on the side?
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  • Profile picture of the author mrpals
    Seriously the CPM really sounds the best way to go, that would give more people opps to buy and set how much they spend. Set the rates different per zone maybe the higher for the top next level the big sidebar and the $1.25 for the smaller units on right sidebar
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    • Profile picture of the author sammville
      Hello,

      Adclays helps you sell your ad spaces directly to advertisers. We keep only 15% fee for hosting. this is much lower than others out their. Our expereinced staff can also help you to determine a good price for your ad space and help you set it up. We allow you to also put a google or adbrite code in the settings so when you don't have any advertisers you can still earn money. contact me and i can help you personally.

      Disclaimer: I work for Adclays..
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      • Profile picture of the author mrpals
        Originally Posted by sammville View Post

        Hello,

        Adclays helps you sell your ad spaces directly to advertisers. We keep only 15% fee for hosting. this is much lower than others out their. Our expereinced staff can also help you to determine a good price for your ad space and help you set it up. We allow you to also put a google or adbrite code in the settings so when you don't have any advertisers you can still earn money. contact me and i can help you personally.

        Disclaimer: I work for Adclays..
        I took a look at adclays and though I am sure your service is wonderful it would not be suited to our media. For 15% of our ad revenue it would be more feasible for us to create our own ad servers, which we are in the proccess of now. Also your system is still in beta and we would not be a good idea to be generating 8 to 10 million ad serves to a single site while you are still testing.

        We will keep an eye on your service and perhaps it maybe something we can use in the future.

        Regards
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        • Profile picture of the author humbledmarket
          Banned
          It highly depends on the niche...
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