Matching your unsold ad space with advertisers sure to benefit from exposure on your site is a tricky business. Take the case of the Computer News Daily Web site. Howard Koval, whose company, Interactive Connection, sells ad space for Computer News Daily, was sure Microsoft should be advertising with his client. But making it happen took more than a year.
“It took all the usual salesman’s skills to figure out who to talk to,” Koval explains. “I checked for articles in the advertising press about who was making decisions about advertising, I asked people I knew in the business, and called around Microsoft. But the hard part wasn’t getting through. The hard part was proving that we were the right kind of site for them to be on. They wanted the kinds of hard numbers and real-world details over time that you can’t fake.”
What was Microsoft looking for? “Loyal and repeat use by the users,” according to Koval. That means registrations by users as well as credible third-party traffic verification, by companies like I/Pro.
“It took us a year and a half to convince Microsoft to advertise with us,” Koval comments, “and now they continue to add more campaigns.”
But big fish like Microsoft aren’t always smart targets for the average site. “There are three questions a site owner should ask before attempting to sell advertising on the Web,” says Neil Monens, a principal at WebRep, an online advertising representative firm. “First, do you have the audience reach that advertisers will be interested in? Do you generate enough impressions to make a profit? If you have the audience and the impressions, is your site a leader in its category? If your site isn’t one of the top two sites it is going to be of no use to a large advertiser. They can reach a lot more people by advertising on the No. 1 and the No. 2 sites than if they advertise on the No. 3 and 4 sites.”
But smaller advertisers are still a strong market for smaller site owners. In fact, small sites are the only viable option for companies that want to advertise online but don’t have substantial money to spend. The key is to know who really belongs on your site as an advertiser, and then to go out and make your case simply but firmly.
“You can’t do whatever it takes to get an advertiser to commit,” Monens says. That “close or die” approach will lead you to spend too much time with customers who won’t really benefit from being on your site. And, as Monens points out, “other companies will find out about the deal and expect the same treatment.”
Kirk Tatnall, who sells ad space on the Sci-Fi Channel’s Dominion site , offers a few basics for site owners who feel ready to sell ad space on their sites:
“Research Web sites with similar content and take note of which companies are advertising there,” he advises. “Do a general keyword search using a well-known search engine and take note of the sites that seem to draw an audience like yours. This will give you a good idea of the type of campaigns and advertisers who are willing to advertise on the Internet.”
He adds, “It’s important to remain aware of what is happening in the advertising industry. Read trade publications like Ad Age to see the types of campaigns that advertisers are executing. AdWeek will give a business owner the latest information about what media and advertising agencies are up to. Being current will give a business owner or sales rep ideas on who and how to target as advertisers.”
But all of the smart selling strategies in the world won’t go far without an outstanding site on which to put those ads. Monens puts it simply: “You must have something of incredible value on your site to make advertisers jump.”
