Common mistakes when setting advertising price for your website
When you get started with your first website, there are probably a lot of things that you do not know. Much of what you do as the website grows will be as a result of trial and error. You will learn from your mistakes and make changes to the website that will make your visitors very happy over time. One thing that is a little more difficult to learn is how much to charge those who might want to advertise on your site. Set the price too high and you may scare off good advertisers, while setting it too low may mean that you end up with ads that are not considered to be of good quality. Here are five areas to think about when setting an advertising price:
Your audience
It can be far too easy to get caught up in what you would like to see on the site in terms of ads. The problem there is that what you want may not be the same as what your visitors want to see. There is no point in landing a high paying advertiser if what they are promoting is of no interest to the people who come to your site. Plus, those advertisers are not likely to stick around for long when they realize that their ads underperforming. Thus, it is crucial to use a good
ad server with powerful ad targeting capability.
Your advertisers
You should not just look at your advertisers as entities that provide you with revenue. You want them to keep renewing their campaigns with you, so it is always a good idea to build up a solid relationship with them. Find out what their expectations are, and what they hope to achieve by doing business with you. The more you can deliver on what they need, the more they are likely to pay.
Your competitors
You will get very little in the way of business from advertisers if what you are charging is much higher than that of your competitors. You may be aware of the ad rates that they usually charge, but are you aware of discounts and deals that they may offer new advertisers, or those that they have established a good relationship with. Try and learn as much as you can about your competitors pricing and strategy so you can set your prices right.
Price too low
You might imagine that setting your ad rates low will help you pull in new advertisers, but it can actually have the opposite effect. If you set your rates well below that of your competitors, it may look as though you are desperate, or that you do not offer any real value. Cheap is not considered good, even when it has the appearance of a good deal.
Price too high
No matter how responsive your visitors may be to the ads shown on your site, advertisers will never find out if you set the rates too high. They will simply take their business elsewhere, and may never give you a second chance if they feel that you were setting out to gouge them at the start.
September 26, 2016 (first published March 2015)
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