Written on May 19th, 2006 at 09:05 am by Darren Rowse
Positioning BlogAds for Maximum Impact
I’ve noticed quite a few bloggers using BlogAds.com ads on their blogs recently so thought I’d share a simple tip that should help attract advertisers.
I share this out of my experience both as a BlogAds publisher (I use their ads on a number of my blogs) but also as a BlogAds advertiser (I use them to promote my own blogs and projects).
The tip is this (and it’s not rocket science). If you’re going to use BlogAds put your Ad strip above the fold.
As a BlogAds advertiser I consider a number of factors when choosing which blog to place my ads. They include:
- Is the blog on a relevant topic to the blog I want to drive traffic to?
- Is the ad reasonably priced?
- What level of traffic does this blog get?
These are all important questions to ask but even if they all are positive I’m unlikely to buy an ad unless I am confident that the readers of that blog will see the ads.
I know this sounds like a basic tip but the reality is that as I look at many blogs with BlogAds I see bloggers that have learnt how to optimally place their AdSense or Chitika ads who ignore the basic placement tips on BlogAds. The same principles apply. The more prominent your BlogAds strip is the more attractive it becomes to advertisers. Generally the higher on your sidebar you can position it the better.
If you can’t fit your BlogAds Ad strip high on your blog (sometimes there just isn’t enough room) there are two courses of action that I’d recommend:
- Don’t use them – This is the reason I don’t have BlogAds ads on ProBlogger. I’ve chosen to have a two column blog here and as a result the sidebar space is at a premium and I just can’t fit in a strip of ads. Down the track when I do a redesign I’ll reconsider this but until I can give them the attention they deserve it’s not really worth my time or potential advertisers time.
- Make them a Bargain – If you don’t have room but you just can’t bear to leave them off your blog the best strategy that you can have with BlogAds is to price them at bargain levels in the hope that advertisers will not be able to resist. As an advertiser I’m not sure I’d go for this strategy unless your blog had A LOT of traffic and was VERY cheap. But it is worth a go. I know quite a few blogs have multiple BlogAd strips on their blogs. At the top and in prime position they have ‘premium ads’ (much more expensive) and lower on the blog they have cheaper ones. It seems to work for them – but they do have a lot of traffic.
PS: the ‘BlogAd’ above is an attempt at humor – there is no ‘BlogAds Secrets’ e-resource (yet). I just thought it’d be a fun parody of some of the e-courses out there.
16 Responses to “Positioning BlogAds for Maximum Impact” - Add Yours
Thilak
May 19th, 2006 10:17 am
:-( BlogAds are Invite only based, So its of no use for small time bloggers. Can someone share a invite please
Thilak
May 19th, 2006 10:20 am
Its of no use to us, but still quite a intrestiong article Darren Keep it up.
May be in future I may get a invite for BlogAds
jpereira
May 19th, 2006 11:39 am
In blogAds are the advertisers that choose wich blog they want his/her ad appears? no way ithey can get into my blog, nor no way I can get into blogads :)
cheers
Nick
May 19th, 2006 12:12 pm
I had an invite to blog ads and lost it. :(
Candy Addict
May 19th, 2006 12:50 pm
Actually, blogads recently changed their poilicies. 10.5 says: “10.5 You may display advertising material from sources other than Application Provider on your Internet web Site(s) provided that all other advertising material in the same column as the Adstrip(s) appears underneath the Adstrip(s). When advertisements appear in multiple columns of a web page, the Adstrip(s) must be the top most advertisement in the leftmost column in which there are advertisements within 400 pixels of the top of the page. Adstrips may appear in columns to the right of the Adstrip. Pages that carry the Adstrip cannot be preceded or followed by interstitial advertisements or prompt a pop-up advertisement.”
Brian
http://candyaddict.com
Grokodile
May 19th, 2006 1:50 pm
Another tip, as a web publisher, you should make sure your sidebar or content section is not displacing the blogads content region.
Just a day or two ago I was looking through sites while considering purchasing some blogads advertising… lo and behold, while previewing a few of the sites in question the so-called premium ads were way down the page due to broken formatting issues.
That certainly didn’t entice me to buy!
Sign out (if necessary) and look at your blog like a visitor from time to time…
HART (1-800-HART)
May 19th, 2006 2:20 pm
ut oh .. Darren’s trying to be humorous again. You know THIS problogger Crowd .. (based on that last Newspaper Headline generator) ..
Darren! You may as well add a paypal “Buy It Now” button besides that link .. and just write the durn blogAds secret E-book! I wonder how many people never read your PS’s and UPDATES …
HART (1-800-HART)
May 19th, 2006 2:21 pm
(just kidding mate) :D keep ‘em coming!
A.H
May 19th, 2006 6:50 pm
Thanks Darren, i wonder if they pay only via Paypal or via cheque too?
I’d really appreciate an invite to BlogAds from anyone that’s willing to give…
A.H
Thilak
May 19th, 2006 7:53 pm
Thanks Darren, i wonder if they pay only via Paypal or via cheque too?
BlogAds Pay only via PayPal.
Neeraj
May 19th, 2006 10:27 pm
Darren , thanks for this nice information
gaman
May 20th, 2006 4:16 am
I’ve tried promoting my blogs via blogads before and posted my experience here if anybody interested:
http://www.sabahan.com/2006/04/01/my-blogads-experiment-%e2%80%93-a-further-analysis/
George
May 20th, 2006 11:38 am
I still a few referrals available for BlogAds Just contact me through my site if you are interested. I’ll send the referrals I have to the best blogs that are interested. Please also send me some indication of what your traffic stats are to help me make a decision.
Lipped Media
May 20th, 2006 5:51 pm
I hate all the articles on using Blog Ads, they changed it to invitation only and I never got one. I feel like I never will. The ones who have them thusly seem like the mega bloggers.
bloggertips
May 22nd, 2006 2:42 am
I’d be curious to know how the BlogAds payments compare to AdSense.
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bloggertips.net: http://www.bloggertips.net
bloggerville.org: http://www.bloggerville.org
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Darren Rowse
May 22nd, 2006 8:36 am
bloggertips – it depends on so many factors. In many ways your blogads ads are determined by you in terms of price where AdSense you have less control.
Some of the larger Blogads.com publishers are charging thousands of dollars for an ad.
With Adsense it depends largely on the topic you’re writing about among other things to determine what a click is worth.
So – all I’m saying is that it’s unfair to compare them in a general sense because on some blogs blogads are the biggest earner and on others Adsense would be.
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