Selling Website Advertising: Just Add Traffic…No Marketing Savvy Required?

It’s an incredible opportunity. The Internet levels the playing field for all content publishers, no matter their budget. We can publish and sell ebooks and info-products…no need for a big-time  publisher to take us under their wing. We don’t need to publish an expensive glossy magazine to get advertisers to pay good money for  advertising within our content. It’s a pretty good gig, but it still takes good business skills and marketing know-how.

You may have heard that if you create a high traffic website, advertisers will be willing to pay good money to advertise on your site.

The truth is it can and it does happen.

You may have been given the impression that all you have to do is  focus on building traffic and you’re set.

That is less likely. The thing is, you still need to know how to sell and market to  make it as a proprietor of advertising.

SELL: You Gotta Sell Your Advertising

You’ve heard the amazing stories of owners of high traffic sites who  are contacted by big name companies who offer thousands or tens of  thousands of dollars to advertise. While that is a content publishers dream, it doesn’t always happen that way. And if we’re being completely honest here, it’s a rare occurrence in the grand scheme of things.

You need to put together a compelling opportunity to advertise on your site and in some cases, you need to go out and solicit advertisers.  Put together information about your site’s traffic, its demographics and what types of companies would be ideal advertisers.  Include information from satisfied advertisers, available click-through statistics, etc. The more prepared and thorough you are, the easier it will be to convince a potential advertiser that your site is the place to advertise.

And ultimately, the goal is to get regular advertisers…but to get to that point, you need the second piece of the puzzle…

MARKETING: You Need a Solid Marketing Plan

Let’s put it simply…

If your traffic is crap, so is your advertising opportunity.

Sure you’ve got a lot of visitors and advertisers should advertise  with you, but when the website visitors don’t click the ads…or if  they do click, but don’t buy, why would an advertiser continue to  shell out cash?

In short, you’ve not only got to deliver traffic to your advertisers…you’ve got to provide results.

Not all traffic is created equal and if you want satisfied advertisers…you may need to switch your focus.

If you want quality traffic that is responsive to advertising, here’s where you might focus your efforts (I have attempted to list them in order of effectiveness -  your results may vary):

1. Keyword-Based Search. That means referrals from search engines where people are looking for specific information related to your  advertisers offers. Put effort into targeting money phrases.  i.e. Phrases that indicate someone is looking to buy something. For example, product-based searches, reviews and comparisons

2. The Targeted Buyer. If you’ve put all your focus into simply getting traffic from people who are interested in a certain topic…you may be missing your market because having an interest in a topic, doesn’t imply an interest in buying a product. Even though you may not be selling products yourself, you want to reach people who are willing to whip out a credit card when they see a compelling offer. If you need a hand with this, here’s some info on finding your target market of buyers that  might help (You can also pick up the Target Market & USP Blueprint)

3. Regular and Faithful Readership: It may seem surprising to list this as #3 on the list, but think about it. Our faithful readers are there because they want our content or the experience our site provides. They aren’t  so interested in the ads. Of course, it increases the ongoing eyeballs on the ads and regular readers have benefits (word-of-mouth, good reputation, linkability), but in terms of value directly to an advertiser…it may not be as high as targeted search traffic specifically looking for something.

5. The Social Media Drive By: Everyone’s Stumbling, Digging and Sphinning. Then they tweet and post to Facebook…potentially bringing a lot of traffic back to a site.  But let’s face it, this is largely drive by traffic. For the most part, they aren’t buyers (which is what advertisers are looking for, right?). They’re just curious about what’s on the other side of the link. Sometimes social media traffic falls into the category of targeted buyer or faithful readership, but most times they’re there for a looky-loo and then they’re gone.

**AN IMPORTANT TRAFFIC SOURCE: Links from other Sites**

This source of traffic isn’t numbered because the value of links will vary. They also have benefit beyond traffic (ie. improved reputation with search engines). The value of the links depends on the source, the reason for the link and other factors. By all means, you should build and encourage links. It just doesn’t fit into a precise chronological order on this list.

If You Want Satisfied Advertisers Who Come Back for More, Consider These Tips:

• Focus on traffic sources that provide your advertisers the most results.
• Adjust your target market to reach buyers, instead of simply readers.
• Work on different ad types, positions and sizes.
• Provide tracking and educate your advertisers on making the most of their advertising dollar.

While other websites who sell advertising only go part of the way by bringing traffic to their advertiser’s ads, you can set yourself apart by going further. Give your advertisers buyers…instead of just traffic.

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About the Author

Alice Seba is the owner and creator of Contentrix.com. With a focus on using content to create relationships, loyalty and results from writing, she loves helping online business owners get more bang out of their content.