Handling Private Advertising

[weneedsound]

A private advertiser approached us to place some ads on a website we are working on. This is something we're interested in but have no idea on how to handle.

How do you set a value for your advertising space? We are getting 2000-5000 unique visitors a day and 10k-40k impressions (a lot of browsing). About a 2.5+% ctr per unique.

Do you set up a contract? or do most people just wing-it on a pay pal transaction?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks -Dan

 

[illusion]

Well I usually just wing it, tell them a figure, they pay me and I throw up there baner. If they are more professional and want a contract, I am fine with doing that.

I would just prefer less work as if they stopped paypal payments, I just take off there banner

 

[avantrosa]

What niche is the website?

There are a lot of variables to consider when you're approached by advertisers. The more information you know the better you can asses and negotiate a deal.

What are their goals? Are they brand focused, strictly performance driven (if so what is their desired CPA) or a mix of both? Is it a text-ad or banner ad? What ad size are they interested in and what placement?

Once you have all the information together it'll be easier to value your inventory. Take a look at what relative sites with advertising options, what prices are they offering and how does your offer differ?

It's all about perceived value, not true value. Take the time to educate them on the benefits of advertising with your website. If you want $X but you don't think they would go for it, add value. Offer them something extra as a compromise.

As for a contract, for a site that size it's usually not worth the trouble. You should also think about different ways to make it worth your while. Many times publishers will require a 3 month commitment with direct buys to increase the ad spend, although that can also dissuade an advertiser. Like I said, get as much information as you can prior, thats key to any negotiation.

Hope that helps.

 

[aim]

If the advertiser that approached you has experience advertising online, they will probably have a preferred way to do things. Chances are they or their attorneys will have some sort of generic contract that basically says 'Party X pays Party Y for Z Months; any party may terminate this contract at any time'.

If they are a bigger, experienced vendor than they will be very interested in CPM vs CPC vs CPA, tracking their ROI, etc. In this case, I would get a little more professional and involve an attorney. On the other hand, if they are just some private party that wants some links or banners on your site for a brick and mortar type of shop, just do it on a handshake.

 

[avantrosa]

Aim,

I would disagree with him getting an attorney. That's really only necessary for large transactions. If he's worried about a contract, he can Google a Bill of Sale template and save himself the trouble.

 

[Andrew]

Here is the bare minimum:

What do you earn from other ads in the same spot? (Adsense, Fastclick, whatever)

What is your time worth?

Take that, and then throw and extra thousand on top, may be more if its a big company.