Perhaps one of your blogging resolutions this year was to make some money from your blog. We’ve already heard from a few people this month asking how to set the prices for the banner or sidebar ads on your blog, so thought we’d share the advice!
When most people start offering ads on their blog, they tend to underprices themselves, making it difficult to raise the prices afterwards. You need to get the balance right between being low enough to sell whilst not making your blog look too cheap (and more importantly, so that you make some money after the fees!)
The first thing we’d recommend is reading Elly’s fab post about how to set your rates for sponsored posts – it’s essentially the same logic involved in working out your banner/sidebar ad rates.
It’s also worth checking out similar blogs and their rates – you could either look at specific blogs, or head over to Passionfruit Adsand look through their marketplace – look at blogs with a similar sized audience and of a similar genre to yours, to get an idea of the market price.
Finally, if it’s a company that’s getting in contact for an longer term sidebar ad, don’t be afraid to give them a figure that’s a bit higher than you would normally hope to recieve – you can always negotiate a lower rate with them, but it’s difficult for you to raise the price!
Thanks, BB xx