ReveNews
-
NAVIGATION
-
TOPICS
-
THE REVENEWS BLOGGERS
-
QUICK CONTACT
5 Tips to Ready Your Blog & RSS Feed for Big Brand Advertising
The proliferation of mediums such as blogs and RSS feeds has resulted in many brand-name advertisers allocating more money to new media advertising budgets. While ad spends are still not as large for new media as for traditional media, there is an increasing amount of money being spent that publishers big and small can take advantage of. But, because of the sheer number of blogs, advertisers are selective about where to advertise on, so just having a blog does not guarantee big brand advertising.
Thankfully, making your blog more attractive to name-brand advertisers is not that difficult, and the following five steps will help you ready your blog for advertisers and ultimately will make you more money:
1. Know your readers
Who are your readers? Male, female, college students, professionals, etc. Knowing your audience makes it easy for you to convey the excellent niche targeting opportunities that blogs provide. Advertisers want their new media spend to take advantage of the unique characteristics of the new mediums, and with blogs, the prospect of reaching a very specific audience is key.
> >Action Item: Take a survey and read your site stats. Using your existing search and log file data and audience survey information will give you leverage with advertisers.
2. Accommodate IAB standard ad sizes
Most advertisers prefer IAB standard ad sizes, so ensure that you have the right space and layout to accommodate them. The IAB standard ad sizes are: 728×90, 160×600, 300×250. Advertisers do not necessarily want to develop new creative to put on your blog, so make it easy for them by offering these sizes. But of course, be prepared to offer custom campaigns as well. More information about IAB standards can be found on their site.
>>Action Item: Look at your blog templates and if necessary, reformat them to include a banner spot, and IAB standard ad spots in the sidebar(s).
3. Keep it clean
Blogs are largely created by individual experts, not big media conglomerates that answer to the FCC, and therefore big brands are concerned about where their ads will appear. “User generated content” is a scary concept to them. So, take a deep breath before you blog about your bad day - don’t lose your voice, but use alternative adjectives to describe your bad day that are longer then 4 letters, so that you don’t automatically turn-off many advertisers.
>>Action Item: Your blog personality is part of the reason why advertisers want to work with you. Don’t change your posting habits or topics to cater to the advertiser alone, but if revenue is your goal, double-check your writing before hitting “publish.”
4. Focus your content
Attracting the right readers is important. Keep your blog focused on a specific topic vs. scatterings of different random thoughts. Most blogs do not yet generate millions of impressions but what they do have is a targeted audience. By keeping your content focused you will attract those readers who are interested in your specific content and this is appealing to advertisers.
>>Action Item: Focus content also needs to be categorized. Be sure to also tag your posts and ping sites like Technorati or use Pingomatic.com to help drive targeted traffic to your focused content and advertising.
5. Join an ad network
Once an advertiser has had success with advertising in blogs and RSS feeds, they look to scale their efforts. With traditional advertising, this can be done easily by buying more inventory from the site on various parts of their publication. With blogs, scaling involves putting creative on more blogs like the original ones they had success with. For publishers, by joining an ad network, your blog and the other blogs in your category work together to provide the amount of inventory the advertiser is looking for. Generally, big brand advertisers will not go out on their own to negotiate advertising deals with individual blogs - this is done through ad networks, and joining an ad network delivers access to these advertisers.
>>Action Item: Search on terms like “blog advertising” or “RSS Advertising” to find a network that suits your needs. By joining forces with the top ranked networks for blogs and RSS feeds, you are assured a steady stream of revenue.
Readying your blog for brand-name advertising is not hard and won’t take much time - but it is an ongoing process. Keeping these five tips in mind will make your blog an appealing place for brands to advertise and will ultimately help you generate more revenue from your content.
Leave a comment