Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with business and advertising

What kinds of advertising options should a new internet startup offer its customers and how should they be priced?

tnoetz01 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:46:06 -0800

What kinds of advertising options should a new internet startup offer its customers and how should they be priced? I'm starting an online service targeted at beer enthusiasts, and we're considering offering advertising to the industry.

I'm trying to build some revenue model scenarios based on advertising options and rates. Specifically, I'm looking for help deciding what advertising options to offer and how much to charge for each, likely on a CPM basis.

What advertising options are typical, and what are typical CPMs for a site targeted at a fairly niche audience like ours?

ass gas or grass?

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:53:01 -0800

What are some examples of Medium-High Traffic websites that have successfully started to make money and how did they do it? It's been 5 years since This Question and many things have happened on the web. I help to run a pretty high traffic (~150k visitors a month) site in a specific demographic. I have some ideas about how to make money off of it without driving away our users, but some examples of others that went from labor of love to money-making without a lot of fuss or being sold would be helpful, but I can only think of giant ones, or Metafilter, obviously. Unique details would help a lot.

Thanks!

Want to trade ads for ads

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:08:28 -0800

Help me plan a mutually beneficial, strategic partnership with a sponsor for my podcast. Details within. I'll try to keep this short and break my info into sections. I apologize on being vague but due to some competition I have I need to not tip my peers to my idea. And I feel some background is relevant for my company.

Podcast history

I have three podcasts that are what most deem "moderately successful". They range in age from one to four years of regular broadcast. Two get about 2,500 COMPLETE downloads (judged by measuring KB, not counting just hits/requests) per show in the first few weeks of release (usually topping out around 6,000 to 10,000 after a year of release), and the third gets 3,500 in the first year, topping out at the higher end of that same range. All of our podcasts are released on a weekly basis, so on average 4 shows a month.

Thus far I have been focusing not on advertising and sponsorships but on growing our audience so we would truly have something worth showing sponsors/advertisors. My research shows that a 30 second ad on a podcast runs anywhere from 3 to 5 cents per listener, so theoretically I could charge $125 for a 30 second ad on any of those shows (now if I would get that is another matter...). Premiums are charged, from what I've seen, for "before the show" ads (i.e. the first sounds on the show being "This show is brought to you by..." etc).

I now feel we have a history but I still want to grow the audience more, especially on our four year old "flagship" show. But as we are using over a terrabyte of bandwidth each month and 160GB of disk space, server costs are getting a bit high and I'd like to offset those with SOME income.

Note that for the next few sections I'm only talking about our Flagship podcast, Podcast 1.

Company history

We incorporated a few years back when we were approached, based off the work we'd done on our independant podcasts, to do a corporate podcast. This paid well and paid all our comapny's bills for quite a while. Unfortunately the company ran into cash problems, and is now out of business.

Growing my audience

As mentioned before the niche I service is very competitive and I am not the number one show, I am number 3.

There is a magazine, Magazine A, that targets the specific niche audience I do, and I approached Magazine A regarding placing an ad. While we currently have no income, I thought pushing ourselves to #1 would greatly increase our ability to get the ad rates mentioned above. However the magazine charges $5,000 for a full page ad, $3,000 for a half page (discounts for multiple purchases). This is far beyond our range at this point as we have no income.

A Previous Advertisor

In the past we did charge a modest amount for web ads, etc. Our best sponsor was Company X, a company directly related to our subject matter for Podcast 1, who paid us under $100 per month for a weekly mention on the show plus an ad on our home page. The monthly payments changed with a web site redesign and we currently have no regular sponsors or advertisors however Company X seems interested in doing more advertising in the future.

Company X seems to have a very large ad budget, as they regularly run half page and full page ads in Magazine A. However they do NOT sponsor the #1 Podcast in our niche as it is not AS directly related to his business as our podcast is.

Future revenue hopes

Given that I am at the point where our company needs to start earning, I was looking at August to begin looking broadly for advertisors, perhaps at $0.025 (2.5 cents) per listener for a 30 second ad, 4 cents for a minute, etc. with various discounts for multiple purchases, and additional charges for before-the-show ads, etc.

But I had thought about approaching companies to be our "official sponsor" for a period of time. Initially, given the rates above, I had hoped that we might get as much as $1000 or more a month per podcast for sponsorship (4 shows a month, this breaks down to only $250 per show. Given the rates I've seen for 30 second ads, for several minutes of ad space with no competition, $1,000 seemed like it might be a rate companies would go for, and discounts would apply for multi-month agreements, and it guarantees them 10,000 listens per month).

Current thought

However, again, especially in this economy, getting companies to open up their checkbooks, especially for four figures a month, for podcasts (which unfortunately are still seen as "new" and "unproven" for ads) seems daring, especially since Podcast 1 is only number 3 in its niche.

So I had thought about approaching Company X for a bit of a partnership. They have, as mentioned before, a large ad budget, and place regular ads in the magazine I want our company to be in.

I had thought about asking them to do a partnership for perhaps 4 months, and during that time they woudl be our official "sponsor" with the benefits listed above (only advertisor, before show and mid-show spot, etc). In exchange I would ask to be featured in their print ads as well as on their web site. I had also thought about asking for a cost-offsetting stipend of perhaps $500 for all four months.

The question

Is what I'm asking for fair? Feasible? Reasonable? Is the cost-offsetting stipend too much given that what I really want is to be a blurb in his print ad to grow our audience so hopefully, at the end of the 4 month period, we can get far more (hopefully closer to the $1k per month per podcast)?

Should I add in Podcast 2 and Podcast 3, which have good download numbers, are not generating any revenue at present, and are somewhat related to Company X's business, but not quite as directly as Podcast 1?

I've never done ad sales, I'm a producer and this area is new to me. So I would appreciate any and all advice on how to monetize the download numbers we are getting.

Thanks MeFites!

Is this small business worth a punt?

hatmandu — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:25:37 -0800

I have the opportunity to buy a niche website. Is it worth it? Negotiations have got the price to $750. It's a niche site offering an offline service, not directly the same as but at least related to some of the work I do, so in theory it might offer a way to look for new clients. The owner has about 100 or so past clients in his database. The site gets only about 65 unique visitors a month, from which about 2 give business, making about $300 or so monthly. Those uniques generally come from search engines, in which the site is well indexed and even appears at the No 1 slot for some keywords which it's not implausible some customers might enter.

So, I wasn't planning to spend $750 on anything beforehand, and at the moment have declined ($500 would be much more tempting, but it's very unlikely he'd go that low). But could this be worth a punt in order to rope in extra business, and make some small money on its own accord (with fairly low effort)? Or would $750 be much better spent on advertising, for example? (Or not spent at all?) What would you do?

Ad-based Economies

Non Prosequitur — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:04:57 -0800

Are there industries that are as dependent on advertising revenue as The Media and (Free) Web Apps? I can't shake a prejudice I've acquired recently of thinking of ad-based revenue as "fake revenue".

It was precipitated by looking at the Adsense reports for a firm and realizing that they were basically running on nothing. If they'd spent as much time writing random blogs as they had making technology they'd probably have higher revenues (if their plan is just to slap on AdSense.)

(I realize that a lot of these firms roll out speculative sites/applications rather than safely profitable ventures just to see what catches on, and that doing custom ad sales can be better than using automated ad networks.)

But I still feel that unless you're pulling in 'customer money' or real affiliate money somewhere in the flow you're heavily dependent on something that's pretty shaky (advertising budgets: whimsical because of how they flow in and out of particular media, and ebb according to the macroeconomic context.)

Is pulling money from showing banner ads just as 'solid' as pulling money from customer pockets in terms of what firms outside of the internet sector do? (Or, Do you know of any resources I could read to explore the idea of Ad/Sponsorship-based Economics?)

How can a local business just starting out effectively advertise?

ShawnStruck — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:59:05 -0800

My wife recently took her home-based and internet-based candle/incense/etc business into the bricks-and-mortar stage. We have a good idea on what to do for internet advertising, but need suggestions for effective local business promotion. The store (link to the site and more about the store is in my lone Projects posting) is located in Arlington, TX, down the road from a well-trafficked shopping center with a Tom Thumb (grocery store chain), Starbucks, Blockbuster video, etc-- in a smaller shopping center that is also fairly active.

The shopping center the actual candle store is located in a moderately well-traveled, and is two stores down from a few other fairly-well-trafficked stores (a Chinese restaurant, a barbershop, pizzeria, etc). Business has been ranging from slow-to-okay-to nil. She's set up an ad with the Yellow Pages, and will have a coupon for the store in an Arlington Memorial flyer given out at the hospital that suggest local businesses to go to for gifts. She's dropped off some promo cards at the businesses in her immediate shopping center. But we're at a loss as to how we can more effectively advertise and get the word out to get people into the store.

Any ideas?

What form of advertising should I use?

thegmann — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 18:39:58 -0800

I am 19 and starting a small IT business in orange county, CA. I have 3 medium size clients that use me regularly, and I've taken on my first employee part time recently. But I just had my first month where no one needed IT work done, because I'm too good of a job! And this indicates to me that I need to do some proactive advertising. What is the best method of advertising to get my company's name out there? I've thought of doing door-to-door soliciting, or even hiring someone to do it for me. I go to school mondays and wednesdays, so most of my available working time is taken up by administrative work and actual IT work, since I only have 1 part time employee. To justify a second or full time employee I would also need more clients. My main IT focus is offering all you can eat tech support at a fixed monthly cost, but we do still do hourly work for smaller clients who don't use us as often. I have also considered hiring a salesman who is paid mostly on commission, any thoughts? My current amount I can spend on any kind of ad campaign is limited to about $2000.

books about art direction?

amtho — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 19:53:22 -0800

Good books (textbooks?) about art direction? I'm interested in learning what there is to know about art direction: where art directors typically find resources, how they work with artists, art direction process models, what else art directors need to know. Can someone recommend a really good textbook (or other resource) on all this?

I did do a Google search, and a search on Amazon.com, found a couple of articles (nothing answering my questions), but I'd really like an authoritative and thorough source. Thanks in advance.

Oh, and I'm not really interested in art direction for movies or films, which is what mostly comes up when I search.

Promotion ideas & advise for online business.

arrowhead — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 01:20:03 -0800

Has anybody had any success making good business out of an online business such as CafePress? I opened an account recently, selling rock climbing shirts and apparel. Started some promos on the rock climbing forums and managed to get a couple of sales, but it has flattened since then. There are only so many climbing sites that I could promote at.

Would gladly appreciate some ideas / advise / tips on promotions, especially if you've done something similar and seen some success out of it.

Thanks!

out of free ideas to advertise my computer repair business

Dean Keaton — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 10:44:33 -0800

I'm running out of free ideas to advertise my computer repair business! I could use some help. Currently, I am making folders of information that I hand to bars and clubs in the local area, advertising WiFi for them and how it can help their business. (I can email it to you if you want) So far I have not had any callbacks, but I have not been aggressive in contacting them because I have been pretty sick lately. I also put up flyers for my business with business cards. I have a great logo, a good list of old clients, and I can't think of more ways to advertise. I am a consultant: I do pretty much anything computer upgrade/build/repair etc. and I am 22 years old. What can I do for free (other than my time and energy) to advertise and be heard?

I am located in the Pacific Northwest.

searching for advertisers

bamassippi — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 13:46:47 -0800

I'm looking to attract new advertisers for my website but don't have the time to "pound the pavement" searching for them. Does anybody know of any websites that have businesses who are looking to advertise?

What if Pepsi and Coke stop advertising?

sharksandwich — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 11:50:07 -0800

What would happen if either Pepsi or Coca-Cola stopped advertising (in America) for their regular Pepsi and regular Coke products? I assume they write off a large portion of the advertising, but there must be a good reason to spend that much dough on products that the majority of us have already made our decisions on.

Making Money with AdWords?

lometogo — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 21:52:43 -0800

Is anyone out there succeeding as an affiliate marketer on the web?

Specifically, I'd like to know if anyone is making money creating Google Adwords campaigns that drive searchers to merchants.

How do I market what my small company does?

yaquina27 — Sat, 27 Nov 2004 11:01:01 -0800

I own a very small company, and I feel that my product is the best in its category. If I can just get my message to the masses, my company will be a success (otherwise I'll have to go back to work for "the man"). What's the best way to ge the message out? I realize that everyone is advertising-averse, and I don't want to consider anything that might irritate people.

Where should I advertise my new tech service site?

Mwongozi — Sun, 07 Nov 2004 11:30:14 -0800

I am the "neighbourhood geek" where I live, and so end up giving away a lot of free tech support. I am perfectly happy to do so, and now plan to start up my own web site where I dispense knowledge I have recently been asked for to the world. Kinda like "SlashDot... for dummies".
If the site gets sufficiently popular I may place some Google ads on it, but first I need to get my site "out there" and so I need to advertise, which I am willing to spend a few currency units on. I was going to use Google AdWords, but I'm really useless at picking keywords.
Are there better places to advertise, based on the target audience (non-geeks and wannabe-geeks) of my site?

We-based Advertising Rates

cup — Tue, 11 May 2004 09:49:51 -0800

Are there 'standard' rates for text and banner advertisements? Are there any generally accepted pricing guidelines? Is there a formula a webmaster can use to determine how much they should charge for banners or text ads? What about exclusivity? (More Inside) One of my websites (a relatively new one) is starting to take off. Although the traffic is low, it is being linked to from popular sites, traffic is steadily increasing and search engine position is improving. It is highly focused.

A company (which makes a product much desired by my highly focused audience) has contacted me for advertising rates and they want exclusive banners (i.e. I would no longer be able to accept any banner advertising from other companies in the same line of business).

I have no idea what to charge them and Google didn't turn anything up. Does anyone know of any pricing standards, guidelines or general rules regarding banner advertising or text ads? Anyone have any experience in this area? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

P.S. I would prefer to charge per month rather than per impression or click-through. Is that generally accepted or will that be a problem?

P.P.S. Sorry but I will not provide a link to the website in this thread, my profile or via e-mail out of respect for the community policy regarding self-linking. Thank you for understanding. :)

Ad Agency Art Buyer Wants to Buy Photo from Me - How Much to Charge?

armoured-ant — Sat, 08 May 2004 06:32:40 -0800

I've just been contacted by an art buyer from a large advertising agency in the US, who is interested in purchasing the use of a photograph I have in a gallery on from my web site for use on a poster for one of their clients. I took the photo myself, still have high resolution versions of it, and have never done this before. How much should I ask for? PS - Make it quick!

Help with small business tech resources

skallas — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 21:42:28 -0800

Can someone recommend a book or a resource for the small business owner, especially in regards to tech/eCommerce? Not a tech book, but something that can clue me in to 'businessy' stuff like advertising, accounting, employee issues, etc? There's *a lot* of stuff at amazon and at my library. A few recommendations would really be appreciated.