Adspot Pricing For Blogs Exposed!
Tom
This is a topic that I know a lot of bloggers have covered but it is something that needs to constantly be addressed. It seems that every blog now has 125×125 ads – those little square ones usually in a block on 4 in the sidebar. I don’t know where the trend started all I know is that they are now pretty much ‘the norm’ when it comes to blogs and how they advertise, especially in the ‘make money online’ niche.
However, I have noticed on my extensive travels through the blogging world, past what seems like thousands of blogs, that the majority of blogs sporting 125×125 ads have their adspots looking somewhat similar to this:
They usually only have maybe one advertiser and whenever I see this I have a few thoughts:
- Their ads must be too expensive because no one is buying them.
- Maybe they dont get enough traffic to make it worthwhile advertising
So we will definately tackle what you should do when you don’t have enough advertisers to fill your spots, but that will have to be in a later post as I want to have a look at a few blogs that I believe are doing well with their advertising to see:
- How much they are charging
- What their blog statistics are (to see how you compare)
- Whether they are selling all of them or not
- A quick look at what they are doing right.
Big Time Bloggers
Let’s start at the top and have a look at some of the biggers blogs that could be charging up to 100+ times what you will be, but it is nice to dream isn’t it?
Blog Name: TechCrunch
How Much:$12,000
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 907,000
- Technorati: 2 (2nd most popular blog!)
- Alexa: 2014
- Unique Page Views P/M: 2,800,000
Are They Being Sold? This is a hard one to guage, but by looking at the sidebar and seeing all 10 spots taken, it would be fair to say they are sold out.
So How Are They Doing This?
Apart from having amazing traffic, being the second most popular blog on Technorati and carrying the authority they have in the Tech world I did notice a few things that they did that really enhanced their chances of selling their adspots.
- They have a minimum term of two months for adspots. This allows you to keep your sidebar full even if you have a bad month in adsales.
- They have a great ‘Advertise’ page. Their page is filled with all the relevant information to help potential advertisers make informed decisions based off hard evidence. NOt only that but they flaunt their past advertisers such as Microsoft and Adobe to try and impress.
- Bi-Weekly ‘thankyou sponsors’ post. This added link love and exposure would be a great deal sealer considering the traffic that the blog is pulling.
Blog Name: JohnChow.com
How Much:$500
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 27,425
- Technorati: 104
- Alexa: 40,050
- Unique Page Views P/M: Over 200,000
Are They Being Sold? Well considering he made $15,140.00 from all his private ad sales (not just 12×125 adspots, I think we can conclude that he does sell all of them.
So How Are They Doing This?
I one word ‘hype’. I remember when he first started charging $500 and everyone was in shock that a ‘make money online blogger’ could charge that much for an adspot. Everyone was talking about it and I saw numerous bloggers doing ‘tests’ and writing reviews about how they went. This was promoting John’s adspots for him!
I will say that he does get good traffic, has a nice mount of subscribes and the stats to back up his price, as well as the fact that if they are selling out every month then there must be a valid reason for it.
Large Bloggers
These are the bloggers with 1000-5000 rss subscribers. Lets have a look at a couple ofthese large bloggers to see how 125×125 adspots are doing for them.
Blog Name: JohnCow.com
How Much:$100
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 3,688
- Technorati: 2,373
- Alexa: 109,764
- Unique Page Views P/M: 750,000 page views a month (no unique count)
Are They Being Sold? I noticed that one of them is a pepperjam ad so that leaves 5 – which all seem to be sold. Not a bad way to make an extra $500 a month!
So How Are They Doing This?
I have no idea! They only have a advertise page (with a click here to purchase button which just links to their home page. The only conclusion I can draw is that advertisers are so keen that they just contact ‘John’ directly through the contact page.
Blog Name: TylerCruz.com
How Much:$40
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 1,642
- Technorati: 10,217
- Alexa: 130,188
- Unique Page Views P/M: 23,000
Are They Being Sold? His advertising page states that his 125×125 adspots are sold out and you have to be placed on a waiting list if you wish to grab one!
So How Are They Doing This?
Tyler would have to have one of the best Advertise pages (Mark from 45n5.com agrees). He lays out all the details needed to help you make an informed decision about purchasing advertising. As well as that he is significantly cheaps than most blogs with similar statistics.
Medium Sized Blogs
These are the blogs are get getting close to hitting it big time. I have categorized medium sized blogs as those will 300-1000 subscribers.
Blog Name: TheUniversityKid.com
How Much:$35
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 559
- Technorati: 7,335
- Alexa: 106,888
- Unique Page Views P/M: 23,088
Are They Being Sold? His advertising page stats that there is only 2 of 8 spaces free. This means he has sold 6 adspots this month. No bad at all!
So How Are They Doing This?
Jason has built himself a great following by really being able to network well within his niche. He has come quite popular in the ‘make money online’ niche and also owns a blogging forum, BlogPremiere.com which I am sure has boosted his profile even more.
He has said that he does not actively seek advertisers and I guess that if you are active in your niche and well priced you don’t really need to – because they will come to you.
Blog Name: TheNetFool.com
How Much:$20
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 3,86
- Technorati: 11,980
- Alexa: 95,088
- Unique Page Views P/M: No monthly traffic stats available
Are They Being Sold? While a few of the adspots seem to be taken with affiliate links, I would guess that about 6 of the adspots are currently sold.
So How Are They Doing This?
I have a feeling that Jim just makes good use of a great Advertise page, as well as his subcribers and position in his niche.
Up And Coming Bloggers
This is for the blogs that are just starting to find their own. Their traffic and rss feed count is starting to increase and things are looking great. 100-300 Subscribers.
Blog Name: MrJavo.com
How Much:$25
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 197
- Technorati: 16,025
- Alexa: 134,350
- Unique Page Views P/M: 8,000
Are They Being Sold? While one or two of them seem to be affilaite links, it seems that the majority of the spots are in fact sold. Which I think is great considering the price he is getting for them.
So How Are They Doing This?
I am guessing he is just using his traffic and network to generate the adspot sales as he does not seem to mention them apart from his ad page.
Blog Name: MoneyBites.com
How Much:$10
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 161
- Technorati: 25,360
- Alexa: 127,947
- Unique Page Views P/M: 6,250
Are They Being Sold? All 125×125 adspots on this blog appear to be sold!
So How Are They Doing This?
Half of the 125×125 adspots as well has his banner ad all advertise MarketLeverage.com so I am not sure if this is part of a deal or what, but this would make it much easier to sell all his adspots.
As well as this MoneyBites has created a list called ‘The Ad List‘ which details blogs and how their 125×125 adspots perform based on their CPC. Although MoneyBites is not mentioned in the post I am sure it would get people thinking about advertising there.
He has said that he does not actively seek advertisers and I guess that if you are active in your niche and well priced you don’t really need to – because they will come to you.
Small Blogs
Everyone has to start somewhere and it is good to see so many small blog selling the ad inventory. Here are a couple of bloggers successfully selling their 125×125 adposts while having under 100 rss feed subscribers.
Blog Name: RajaieTalks.com
How Much:$10
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 55
- Technorati: 151,711
- Alexa: 382,355
- Unique Page Views P/M: No Data Available
Are They Being Sold? From looking at the ads it seems the MarketLeverage ads are both affiliate links (2 different ones so maybe they are sold) and the OIO ad seems to be an affiliate as well. However the other 3 adspots all seem to be sold.
So How Are They Doing This?
I would like to know how you can sell adspots on a blog where the Advertise page has no statistics! Rajaie, I am looking forward to hearing how you have sold your ad spots.
Blog Name: EliteBlogger.net
How Much:$1 -no that isn’t a typo!
Statistics:
- Subscribers: 64
- Technorati: 617,471
- Alexa: 450,489
- Unique Page Views P/M: 571
Are They Being Sold? Suprisingly not as fast as I expected they would at the price. I bought one over a week ago and it doesn’t seem like anyone has since. Seems like only one other ad is actually paid for.
So How Are They Doing This?
Instead of how are they doing this? I want to ask why are you not buying an ad? I mean if I get a couple of clicks plus some nice branding to all visitors I will be happy.
————————————–
I hope this has given you a nice overview of the current 125×125 adspot market in your niche. Now is probably a great time to look at how your ads are selling and consider what you can do to improve your sales.
I know I have learn’t a fair bit, and will be implimenting a few new ideas over the coming days. And for those of you who are interested, I only have one 125×125 adspot left of this blog as just yesterday I had 2 bloggers email me wanting to purchase – their ads will be up shortly.
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| 3.7 (1 person) |
Thanks for the mention. The MarketLeverage banners are part of a deal and are all paid for. I am sold out most of the time but I guess that’s just how it is. This was an interesting post. Jim and Jason should watch out (TheNetFool and TheUniversityKid) cause they both know I’m hot on their heels
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well aside from mentioned techcrunch also serves ads via federated media (a cpm network). Btw, netfool pretty much offers a very affordable price. i have had campaigns on their sites and it has pretty done well there…
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Thanks for the great post. There are some really good deals on advertising.
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Hmmm. Looks like you have done a lot of research on this subject. Good to know information. Thanks for sharing it.
Great post. I’ve wondered how well “make money online” bloggers do with private 125 ad sales, and you’ve cleared it up very well. I was a little surprised as TechCrunch / John Chow prices, but when you think you’re the best in your niche, you can do that.
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Great post Tom, nice how you broke down each site, very similar to what Max does, but different. I like it.
Techcrunch charges $12,000 per ad! lol….hahahahahaha man
anyway, good stuff.
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I am just writing up an advertise page, so if you do this again be sure to include me! Also where can you get the traffic information, not just from the advertise page but where do those blogs get it? I notice that usually people have an image that they display so people will know what they say is correct. Think of anything Tom?
I am selling my 125×125 spot for $10/30 days. I currently get 15k UV’s a month. I get all my spots filled monthly and it bothers me to no end when I have a vacant spot. thankfully, most of the time my current advertisers renew their subscription.
i read you post and just catched the $1 spot from eliteblogger hehe
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MoneyBites – Good to see you are usually sold out! Maybe it is time to boost the price a bit?
Alex – I think we would all love to sell ads for their prices!
Nathanial – for traffic most people just use awstats which is the free stats program that comes with your hosting.
ChiQ – Yea it is great when advertisers renew.
Hugo – great to hear. hopefully you cam bump the price on us all next month.
Thanks Tom but what is the site for Awstats? Where can you get the analysis?
I use project wonderful to manage 3 of my 125×125 adspots. Currently I’m charging 40cents a day, which I think is reasonable.
According to google analytics I had 26,656 unique visitors in June (which was an average month), yet it’s still rare for me to sell out all spots.
At the moment for example I only have 1 of the 3 spots taken.
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the $1 advertising in eliteblogger caught my attention 
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@ Swollen Pickles – if you have that many uniques in June then I think you should charge more! It should be somewhere around $5-10, and I think why customers might not buy because it is suspicious and paypal charges for a transaction. Such a little transaction is not worth it and therefore will not be bought.
Thanks Nathaniel, I guess I set the prices low because Project Wonderful is a bidding type system and a lower price might encourage bidding. Clearly hasn’t worked for me
Thanks for the link! This is a cool article.
Yes, theNetFool.com is completely sold (no aff. links at the moment) and I actually have over 400 subscribers now
There have been some case studies done and I have been getting advertisers CPC (cost-per-click) ratios anywhere from $0.20 to $0.40, which is really a bargain!
Hey Tom, thanks for mentioning me!
The Market Leverage spots are both paid for (not affiliate links) and so is the BlogRiffic ad spot (contact Salwa after I found her ad on your blog). But yes, the OIO is an affiliate link, as for the others, they are free spots from my free ad spot giveaway and will be removed once any more are bought
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[...] but not least, my final post recommendation is to Tom. Here Tom exposes a giant list of ad pricing on blogs and details about them. Unsure about how much you should be charging for [...]
I am selling my 125×125 spot for $2/30 days.I get 300+ visitors a day from entrecard itself, if anybody interested visit my site for more details.
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