General questions from newbie about selling inventory

Marketing
1

Greetings.

I have an 8-year-old web site from which I have been earning a modest income through Adsense. However, after hearing that I could do better with a more target campaign, I would like to try using Google DFP to supplement that with target ads, specific to my web site. I’ve set up Google DFP and integrated it into my site, so I’m pretty much ready to go (I’ve even set up a “sample” order using my Amazon Associate account).

Now, my question: how do I go about selling my inventory? I have a couple banner units (728x90) and one inline rectangular unit (300x250). I’d love to advertise for related sites, but I have no idea on how to go about selling the inventory.

Do I contact these sites directly? If so, what should my approach be? Is this what most people do, or do they just set up these “autopilot” type solutions like Adsense? Am I going about this completely wrong?

I’ve tried contacting a few, but I’ve got no response from any of them. At this rate, I might as well just stick to Adsense. The site gets about 500k impressions per day.

Thanks in advance for your help.

2

It seems I may be asking this question in the wrong place? Or, did what I say not make sense? I realize this is a very basic question, but any guidance anybody could give – even if it were to direct me to another forum or resource – would be very much appreciated. I’ve already tried a few other forums, and for some reason, no one can give me any direction.

If I need to provide more info or clarify anything, just let me know.

Thanks again.