Advertising Approach

[Big Jim]

I have been approached by a company who want to put a banner add on my site,the want it in the center just under my forum logo it will be 468x60.

I have never had private advertising on my site so I dont know how much I should quote them.Here are some stats,the site is going just over a year.

About 1500 members.
4500 Threads.
80k Posts.

Stats for Aug 08.

Unique visitors:6537
Number of visits:17498
Pages:462297
Hits:3358349
Bandwidth:9.52 GB

[motowebmaster]

While traffic and site ranking can be a factor, I've always believed that one should do whatever best serves their particular site. In other words, don't charge a particular amount just because someone told you to.

FYI - Placing an ad just below the logo, and above the vb content, is considered prime territory.

[Big Jim]

I agree but don't have a clue even of a price range.

[toby26]

your traffic isn't that high, I feel. Probably 10$ per month would be fine.

[MRGTB]

Best not to quote a price to them, but instead ask them how much are they talking about wanting to pay you. You could state a price that they might have been willing to pay more. Never fall for that one!

[Big Jim]

Ok thanks for the help.

[xjuliox]

Let us know how it turns out.

[Sn2]

your traffic isn't that high, I feel. Probably 10$ per month would be fine.
Does anybody on here actually pay for advertising? I don't but personally I'd pay more than $10 a month for a prime spot on a site that busy if it's subject was closely related to what I was advertising.

When you're discussing a price with them take into account how relative their product is to your members, the more likely your members are to actually go out and buy whatever it is they're selling the more the space is worth to them.

[Floris]

$10 for a banner of that size on a site with those stats is too low.
It's a pretty big graphical banner, he has enough posts to be active, they contacted him, and he has to keep fees in mind. If the banner is in the header it adds to the value.

If they desire to have a graphical banner of that size in the header on your site in a non rotating position, and there are no other spots filled on the site. I would start with $10 being the pure profit, But ask for $20, and offer a lower value if they purchase a per 3 months subscription.

You can use the money to invest into advertising your site for three months on someone else their site for an equal amount.

[JoeBannon]

Try using AdBrite. You can get a good idea of what people are paying and you can make some money.

http://www.adbrite.com

[Forum Switch]

I think it's also a case of how specific your forum is and and just what they are advertising.

If you forum is niche and has good traffic, then that's better than general chat forum where members haven't joined due to a common interest (say tropical fish or skateboards etc).

I have a 468*60 banner at the top on the right of my forum logo, it rotates round and we charge a daily rate of $0.60, so about $18 a month BUT this space is shared with up to 5 other banners.

We also have 5 fixed banners at 120*60, these are $1 a day.

The best way to guage you rates is to only agree short terms, so rent the spot out for 31 days. If they seem keen to renew or others ask for advertsing you know it's of value to the advertiser, up your rates a little. Keep doing that until you strike the right balance.

[stevectaylor]

I am a member of a particular forum that uses an auction every month for advertising space.