Reasonable Price for Ad on Homepage

[Eric]

Hey everyone,

What do you think would be a reasonable price to charge for an ad on my site, www.24fans.net? It would probably go at the top right above the "feed". I'm thinking of charging monthly because I don't know how to charge by clicks like adsense does.

Last month the site received 47,658 unique visitors, 114,306 visits, and 3,724,563 hits (all according to awstats).

Because of the writers strike, 24 has been delayed so there aren't many things to post about 24 lately (less traffic), so selling ad space could help pay for the server when times are "low".

[gtgeorge]

Originally Posted by Eric

Hey everyone,

What do you think would be a reasonable price to charge for an ad on my site, www.24fans.net? It would probably go at the top right above the "feed". I'm thinking of charging monthly because I don't know how to charge by clicks like adsense does.

Last month the site received 47,658 unique visitors, 114,306 visits, and 3,724,563 hits (all according to awstats).

Because of the writers strike, 24 has been delayed so there aren't many things to post about 24 lately (less traffic), so selling ad space could help pay for the server when times are "low".

$5 and I will pay in advance for 2 years

[PsiPro]

I would use http://www.adbrite.com/, they will automagicly adjust the price based on demand.

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by Eric

Hey everyone,

What do you think would be a reasonable price to charge for an ad on my site, www.24fans.net? It would probably go at the top right above the "feed". I'm thinking of charging monthly because I don't know how to charge by clicks like adsense does.

Last month the site received 47,658 unique visitors, 114,306 visits, and 3,724,563 hits (all according to awstats).

i'd use a similar position googleads revenue as a baseline for the spot, and perhaps add a certain percentage of that markup on top of it.

[Eric]

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I'd rather eliminate the middle party (adbrite or google) so that it would be just pure profit to me, mainly because I have someone interested already and I'm really just wondering how much to charge. I don't want to turn them off by giving them a really high price.

Would $20 /month be too much or does that sound ok?

[gwyneth]

I'd tell him/her it's usually $25, but with the writers' strike and all, you're going to discount it to $20.

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by Eric

Would $20 /month be too much or does that sound ok?

that sounds low for the amount of traffic you get, but how about you offer him X months at $20/mon or whatever you decide so you guys can see how it works out for both of you?

and i wasn't suggesting you use googleads instead of the one you're talking about. i just meant to use the info from running googleads (as i saw on your site) to let you know how much the spot or nearby planned spot currently earns in adverstising revenue.. then you have something other than an arbitrary guess to base your decisoin on.

[gtgeorge]

Originally Posted by Eric

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I'd rather eliminate the middle party (adbrite or google) so that it would be just pure profit to me, mainly because I have someone interested already and I'm really just wondering how much to charge. I don't want to turn them off by giving them a really high price.

Would $20 /month be too much or does that sound ok?

Sounds like a reasonable amount to me. If it's enough to make you happy then give it a go.

[Eric]

Thanks for the tips again, I think I'll go with $20/month (mention a discount because of the writer's strike like you said) and maybe do a two month type thing for $20 per month.

[Eric]

Ok guys, here's what I email back:

Hi ***(name),

Thanks for emailing me about your t-shirt...... other text, not relevant

About the ad, I can place it at the top right of the site, right above the "feed" (should be really prime real estate). The banner would need to be 176px wide by 100px high. If you need help with making one, let me know and I can help (I have Photoshop). I think a reasonable amount would be $25/month for the ad. See the end of this message for site statistics. Also, if you want, I can display the banner on every page of the site for $35/month (meaning it would show up on just about everything you click on, articles, pictures, etc. except for the videos page because it doesn't have the right column, unless you want me to modify the current ads on the video pages to allow room for your ad, mention that and we can discuss it if you're interested).

Last month (most recent complete month October, 2007) the site received 47,658 unique visitors, 114,306 visits, and 3,724,563 hits (all according to awstats).

Feel free to email me back with any questions or details that you may have concerns with.

Regards,
Eric Nyikos


Sound ok?

[gwyneth]

1. I'd make the price for all pages $45, not $35 (unless you meant 25 plus 35, instead of 25 plus 10).

2. You should probably make clear it's month to month or otherwise provide for rate changing.

Congrats--it's been fun to watch the growth since last year.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

1. I'd make the price for all pages $45, not $35 (unless you meant 25 plus 35, instead of 25 plus 10).

2. You should probably make clear it's month to month or otherwise provide for rate changing.

Congrats--it's been fun to watch the growth since last year.

Too late, already sent it. But I'd be fine with $35, that would greatly help me out. Maybe if he does the videos page I could make it quite a bit higher though because lots of sites link directly to video pages, bypassing the homepage.

[PsiPro]

You may also want to consider using a ad campaign manager to allow him to log in, track his clicks, etc. Just a value added for him.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by PsiPro

You may also want to consider using a ad campaign manager to allow him to log in, track his clicks, etc. Just a value added for him.

That would be cool, know of any.. free ones are good?

[smp]

Originally Posted by Eric

That would be cool, know of any.. free ones are good?

You should check out Openads it's pretty good:
http://www.openads.org/

Regards, Steve Xx

[Eric]

Originally Posted by smp

You should check out Openads it's pretty good:
http://www.openads.org/

Regards, Steve Xx

Thanks, looks like a good one... I'll give it a try.

[slapshotw]

Openads is great, recommend it here too.

I think you're charging far too little. You should be able to get at least a $3-4 CPM, no? Your site is not a "general interest" site that might be worth it only to advertisers with broad-market goods. Your audience is highly targetted; it's likely predominantly male, mostly 18-30. This is *the* killer audience for a lot of advertisers, and many would be very, very happy to pay for such a specific audience and to be associated with such a trusted brand (24 itself, and your popular fansite by extension).

I suggest installing openads and starting to charge on the industry-standard CPM basis. Let openads handle all the counting of views and clicks, and even banner rotation if you get another sponsor.

-Matt

[Eric]

Thanks for the idea Matt, I'll see how this goes and let you all know.

[ghpk]

as Matt suggested and the kinda cool site you have, openads can let you open a new source of revenue with ability to multiply your income when u have many advertisers.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by ghpk

as Matt suggested and the kinda cool site you have, openads can let you open a new source of revenue with ability to multiply your income when u have many advertisers.

I'm just about to ink this deal with the one guy and I put up a note in the feed on my site about advertising, so we'll see what happens.

I have a sample ad up right now, it's under the feed on 24fans.net. I had to move under the feed because the guy requested 200px in height instead of the smaller one I had mentioned before. I just wrote him back and said $45 monthly for that.

Whats crazy is that he contacted me about advertising, so it makes me wonder how many people in the past would have done this with me if I had put up something about advertising.

[slapshotw]

If you contract with an ad network they can sell ads on your behalf. A site with traffic like yours, I'm sure you'd have plenty of ad networks interested.