Successful Strategies to Sell Ad Space on Directory Website

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How to find advertisers in directory?

Now that you have a good earning of your website’s traffic, it’s meter to get out there and find advertisers. Is there a minimum number of visitors you should have before approaching advertisers?

While nothing is set in stone, 500 to 1000 unique daily visitors is probably a good starting point. However, numbers below these can still be workable, especially if your audience is highly targeted.

Here are some places to find advertisers:

What websites link to yours?

One place to look for advertisers is in your own analytics. Look for directory that currently link to yours and that offer a service or product you could advertise.

Who’s commenting?

Visit your commenters’ websites to find any advertising or promotional opportunities.

Let Google Ad Words lead the way

If you run Google Ad Words, make note of which advertisements come up. After all, they are already spending money with Google, and Google is saying that your website is a good match for theirs. Approach them with an advertising opportunity that would give them greater visibility than what Google Ad Words can deliver.

Research website with similar content

Who is advertising on those websites? They would probably be interested in your website, too.

What names jump out?

After compiling your visitor’s interests, some businesses may immediately spring to mind. These businesses will likely gel with your content. Make a list of them and contact them directly.

How to approach advertiser’s network?

Now that you know about your website’s visitors, you will want to draft an advertising package to present to potential advertisers.

Here are a few things you may want to include:

Demonstrate visitor interest

List the interests of your website’s visitors. Advertisers want to know that what they’re selling will attract to your visitors.

Disclose bounce rate, average time on site and page views

Advertisers will want to know how sticky your website is. If much of your traffic stays for only a few seconds, advertisers would want to know that. The longer your traffic sticks around, the higher the chance that ads will be seen and clicked.

Showcase your monthly stats

Advertisers will want to know your website’s statistics over several months to see what kind of increase you have had and how many unique visitors you are getting per month. A steady climb in traffic shows great potential.

Track outbound links

You certainly don’t want to overpromise the number of clicks an ad will receive. If you’ve been tracking outbound links with a service such as Google Ad Manager, you will have pretty concrete numbers to work with when approaching advertisers.

Keep advertisers happy

So, you’ve landed your first advertiser. Good work! But getting the advertiser is merely the first step. If you want to develop a long-term relationship with your advertisers, you’ll need to know how to keep them happy:

Give them the information they want

Conversation rates are king. To keep advertisers happy, deliver information on how their ads are doing. The good news is that most ad-management services have built-in reporting that sends advertisers updates on how their ads are doing.

Promote your website

Give your advertisers your best content and promotions. That may mean holding back some premium content while you get advertisers lined up, especially if you will be guest posting or foresee a huge spike in traffic. You want all of your ads positioned so that they can take advantage of that new traffic.

Keep them informed

Introducing a new ad size? Writing a new series of articles? Give your current advertisers the first crack at these premium ads spots.

Run promotions

Advertisers love a deal. Sweeten the pot with occasional promotions. This is a great way to bring back former advertisers that have recently dropped out.

Get feedback

Ask your advertisers outright what they think. They’ll appreciate that you care, and you will receive a heap of useful information that you can use to improve your ad strategy.

Be Careful With Your Advertising Link

Not all advertisers will be a good fit for your website, and you may be forced to decide whether to run an ad that falls beyond your website’s objectives.

For example, you’ve probably seen hundreds of websites lately that advertise teeth whitening and weight loss services. While the revenue from such ads is probably good, would the ads be appropriate for your audience?

Ask yourself these questions before deciding to run an ad:

Does this ad fit the content of my website?

Would the ad offend or annoy my visitors?

Would it distract visitors from the content?

Would it call into question the integrity of my website?

Always remember that any advertisement that drives away traffic from your website, even if it pays wells, will ultimately hurt rather than help. You will hear loud and clear from your community if it thinks you have sold out for advertising dollars. Don’t let it get to that point; set firm advertising standards ahead of time.

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article tags : directory website, directory portal software, directory software