What do I charge for blog ads?

[berriesweetest]

Hi all. I am getting ready to do a major advertising campaign with my PR contacts for ads on my blogs. I've seen what some charge for ads, but am wondering how to go about this.
If a business wants to advertise, they have to design the ad and send me the code, right?
What size options are standard? and how much should I charge for each size?
Do you offer discounts for long term advertisers?
i'll add more questions as I think of them.
thanks in advance for your input!

[Nicca619]

This should help http://web.blogads.com/

[berriesweetest]

wow-you really are my berrie sweet advisor.
I have to make an honory button for you...well. by that i mean have someone else design it and put the code on my blog. Let me see what i can do.

[themomblogs]

We have been selling adspace online for 10 years amongst our sites and so much plays into what you can or should charge

Typically most ads are sold by CPM - cost per thousand.   These can range from $1.00/cpm up to $6.00/cpm - the higher costs is typically for those sites that are very very busy and how targeted the audience is.   So.... if someone charges $3.00/cpm - that is $3.00 per 1000 ad impressions.  So if they get 6000 impressions a month - you take $3.00 x 6 = $18.00.   And $3.00 is higher than most ad networks charge.

Many of the banner ad networks - charge a variety of pricing, and you split it with them - and it is not alot, (sometimes as low as 0.95/cpm split between you and the ad network) advertising on the net is not what it used to be.

Now - people can also charge if they are doing a write up about a product on their blog. Blog advertising can be a bit different than regular website ads since most blogs don't produce as much traffic as a website.

We have even sold a few "liftime links" on a couple of our inside pages.

It also depends on who you are attempting to sell ads to.  Many work at home moms, and small business owners or other bloggers don't want to spend what an ad space is worth. 

Just make sure you don't overcharge.  That is the most common mistake I see over and over.  You can always mark your price up.  The mistake that many people make is charging much more than an ad is worth. But again, an ad will sell for what someone thinks it is worth. 

Just for giggles - I requested ad rates from myspace... and this is what they charge;
300x250 $1.85/cpm
728x90  $1.45/cpm
430x600 $3.90/cpm
160x600 $1.70/cpm

[zimkandace]

I had no idea what the rates would be if I ventured off alone and all I can say is WOW!  That lets me know I will not be leaving my network anytime soon!  But, I suppose I could do this as well as my network
 
This info was so helpful.  Thank you.

[Happy Momma]

I've been wondering about this too.  That is some really great information- thanks momblogs!

[ThatCrazyMom]

I'm glad someone asked about this. I want to get one of my blogs set up with regular advertising rather than advertising in posts or using AdSense.

[Candid Carrie]

I won't dismiss adsense too quickly.  I've made a little bit from it. 

[Nicca619]

np berries

how about one of these?

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n73/Nicca619/smallbanner.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n73/Nicca619/itchinblinkie.gif
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n73/Nicca619/thingie.gif

[berriesweetest]

This is great info-but oh so confusing.
I have seen plenty of mom blogs charging flat rates, and quite successfully, too, but since the review blog is brand new, I am currently not in the position to do that.
I need to think of other ideas.
here is what one mom review blog is charging: does this seem fair?

125x125 square (right sidebar) $10 monthly

125 x 160 (right sidebar) $10 monthly
125 x 240 (right sidebar) $15 monthly

486x60 (above or below posts) $25 monthly

Large Banner - Above our own header! (may be animated) - $40 Monthly
she also offers discounts for 6 month packages.
If this sounds cool to you all, I may try this route and see what happens.

[themomblogs]

Every site or blog is different.  You need to know what someone's traffic is to know if the price is right.

I mean.. you could have someone charging $40/month and only getting 100 page views a day - or 3000/month.  You may have another blog or site charging $75/month and getting 1000 page views a day - 30,000/month.  While $75 is almost twice as much money to spend that blog/site gets TEN TIMES the amount of traffic.

So - you really need to not only look at what someone else may be charging - you need to look at what kind of traffic they are getting to justify the price.  I would also suggest researching what the industry standard is for blog ads, instead of just looking what some others are charging.  Also if a blog is brand new - that isn't quite as easy to sell ads.

[berriesweetest]

thanks for the tips!

[tojona]

This should help http://web.blogads.com/

Thanks for that link, Nic. It is hot!

[tojona]

Hi,

You may want to check out a back-linking site just to get an idea. In fact, you can get customers from there. Do you know what your PR is? Because the rates you can charge will be based around your PR.
Check this out anyway http://whylink.com/?aff=25494

[Candid Carrie]

What kind of products do they advertise on your site via backlinks.  I didn't register and I assume that information would be in the registration section, anyone know?