Getting Advertisers...

[ratestar]

Anyone know the best way to attract quality advertisers? We've tried so many things, it is getting harder and harder.

We have tried sending hundreds of E-mails to companies' business development departments, calling companies, advertising to attract advertisers.

It keeps getting more and more difficult to get advertisers, and even harder to get high quality ones.

Anyone have ideas?

[mjames]

Advertisers need a reason to advertise with you. Be prepared with reasons why advertising is unique and better than your competitors and how they will benefit.

Advertisers also want information. They want to know who their audience will be with you. Also be prepared with demographic survey results.

And lastly, have competitive prices. If you can't get advertisers, try lowering your prices. Or better yet, try running specials or sale promotions to spark interest.

You said you were sending out e-mails. Be careful with that. Make sure you aren't simply spamming people, because that will turn them off more than anything.

[Matt Mickiewicz]

Your approach to contacting companies can spell success or doom, depending on your background in sales and experience.

As with everything, there's a right way and a wrong way of doing it. If you don't have a background in sales, I suggest going through Amazon.com and picking up a few books on the subject. Books on Persuasion, Influence, Psychology are also very good to read through AND then apply.

[JustForWebmasters]

ratestar,

Read the following article:

Creating a Media Kit For Your Site
by Dan Grossman
http://www.justforwebmasters.com/newarticle.php/9

Hope that helps!

[Dave-AHFB]

As I have told you in other forums image IS important, refusing to answer webmaster questions and discarding them as "unimportant" not only turns off the advertisers you seek but also the merchants.

I would suggest that when posting in forums (and you may very well be respectful here in sitepont, I have not followed enough) consider you are not just replying for the thread starter to see, but for the whole world to see. The top 3 forums mare viwed by hundreds of thousands of webmasters, both publishers and merchants, for the sake of your current publishers I hope your poor image and reputation has not caught up with you.

It is never to late to work on correcting this problem, remember the longer you wait the harder it will be.

Dave

[mmj]

Originally posted by Matt Mickiewicz
Books on Persuasion, Influence, Psychology are also very good to read through AND then apply.

You could read the classic "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (Dale Carnegie, 1939). The book contains all of the above.

[joebob]

I very much agree. I look at peoples signatures here and then I visit there site. If they look good and look like an up an coming site I might e-mail about sponsering them! It is all about your site having a good name and reputation; and that is what will attract adverisers!

Originally posted by Dave-AHFB
As I have told you in other forums image IS important, refusing to answer webmaster questions and discarding them as "unimportant" not only turns off the advertisers you seek but also the merchants.

I would suggest that when posting in forums (and you may very well be respectful here in sitepont, I have not followed enough) consider you are not just replying for the thread starter to see, but for the whole world to see. The top 3 forums mare viwed by hundreds of thousands of webmasters, both publishers and merchants, for the sake of your current publishers I hope your poor image and reputation has not caught up with you.

It is never to late to work on correcting this problem, remember the longer you wait the harder it will be.

Dave

[Dave-AHFB]

Admins,

sorry for the offsite link, I feel it important for anybody considering joining ratestar to read some of his very own opinions.

http://gethighforums.com/Forum10/HTML/001301.html

Those considering joining would be well advised to search on sitepoint as well as other forums for ratestar related threads.

Avoid mistakes...RESEARCH

Dave

[jmjinks]

Originally posted by ratestar
Anyone know the best way to attract quality advertisers? We've tried so many things, it is getting harder and harder.

We have tried sending hundreds of E-mails to companies' business development departments, calling companies, advertising to attract advertisers.

If you are looking at some of the smaller businesses that are
currently on the internet, you will find a lot of them are not very business-savvy. I work in the Product Development department for an online shopping network, and it seems like everyday I get the oddest e-mails coming back to me.

Some people can't tell the difference between a legitimate business proposal and spam. On the other hand, some people wonder why targetted marketing would produce better results than spam.

I aplogize if it seems like I'm ranting or rambling, but the truth is that there are a lot of small businesses that fail, because they know nothing about business.

[ratestar]

Wow, lots of replies...

I sort of forgot this thread even existed, temporarily memory lapse? Or just stupidity...

Thanks for all the advice.

Dave-AHFB --
As usual your points are well made and valid...

Everyone else --
Thanks.

[necrominator]

I would be interested in advertising, but do you offer cpc advertising campaigns.

[ratestar]

Yes.

Please contact me via E-mail: dan@ratestar.net or view http://dkads.com/advertise.shtml

[Matt Mickiewicz]

Originally posted by mmj


You could read the classic "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (Dale Carnegie, 1939). The book contains all of the above.

Yup, one of my favourite books. I love it

[MartyWinston]

How to get advertisers:

1. BRAND. A branded site - and especially a site that is operated by or on behalf of an established real-world brand - is on the advertising look-for list.

2. DEMOGRAPHICS. Most sites (and many networks) that solicit advertising offer no demographics at all, or scant data. The more a site can offer provable statistical demographic break-outs of its users, the more interested advertisers are in using that site to help reach its targets.

3. VOLUME. The smallest sites advertisers want to deal with offer 50,000-100,000 unique users and 8-20 times that in page-views.

4. PRESENCE. Exactly how will an advertiser or ad agency or placement bureau know you exist? DO NOT look them up and Spam them - they reserve voodoo dolls for those who try. The secret is representation. Ad networks are supposed to handle that, but usually do a terrible job of it. (What starts with an S and rhymes with "duck"?)

5. TRACK RECORD. If you are ever lucky enough to know about good results from campaigns placed through your space, use those results to build a "brag book" and make that a part of what you have to say to potential advertisers.