Written on November 11th, 2008 at 08:11 am by Darren Rowse
How to Find Advertisers for Your Blog
In this video Gary Vaynerchuk answers how to monetize your blog or video blog with a practical illustration.
Of course you need to have at least some traffic to pull in advertisers - but once you do, if the advertisers are not coming to you yet - go to them.
PS: this actually works. When I started my first camera blog I couldn’t attract big advertisers like Canon and Nikon - so even in the early days when I just had a few hundred readers a day I began to contact local and online small businesses with a photography focus. I was amazed at how many of them were willing to buy advertising. The money wasn’t massive but land a few of them and it adds up.
The beauty of this is that as your traffic grows you’re able to charge more to these advertisers (give them traffic and many of them will stick with you). It also shows other advertisers that you’re attracting advertisers (which can stimulate new advertising).
Read more about Finding Advertisers for your Blog
Tags: , Advertising, Finding Advertisers, gary vaynerchuk, make money blogging, Video Posts
75 Responses to “How to Find Advertisers for Your Blog”
Vincent Sparreboom
November 11th, 2008 8:35 am
Great video Gary Vaynerchuk really Rocks.
I contacted all sorts of companies for all my blogs. Not only when I started out but also when I was on a role.
I made a ton of money via ads, reviews and campaigns and what I did is contacting the networks on clickbank, Shareasale, CJ etc.
There is so much money out there, the only thing is; it isn’t coming to you!!!! You have to get it yourself!!!
Jordan Drake
November 11th, 2008 8:44 am
Gary is great - who else on the web could bring this kind of streetwise practical advise with such panache?
And - from experience - everything the PS says in this post is true as well.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy
November 11th, 2008 8:48 am
Great advice! I think my blog’s numbers have grown to the point where something like thise would be feasable and it doesn’t hurt to try right?
Nathan Rice
November 11th, 2008 8:51 am
I wish Gary would use a video service other than the absolutely terrible Viddler. Vimeo and Blip.tv are both far more reliable, in my experience. They have great quality video and don’t clutter the video screen with controls.
WTL
November 11th, 2008 8:58 am
Oh, I hadn’t seen this. Thank you for passing it along
Jeff P
November 11th, 2008 9:06 am
What a team - Darren and GaryVee. Great onsite demo of how to pull off gaining an advertiser.
Monologue Blogger
November 11th, 2008 9:13 am
Gary kick’s ass! =)
Kyle Dylan Conner
November 11th, 2008 9:14 am
This definitely does work.
When I first started my blog and wasn’t in a blog ad network yet, I would contact company’s that were close in my niche. I gained about three sponsors in the first month from reaching out to them.
Cristhian Bedon
November 11th, 2008 9:17 am
This is great, sometimes just reading does not help, visual learning for some, helps them go far. Thanks Darren.
Alex Fraiser
November 11th, 2008 9:17 am
I found this link on Twitter, this guy is awesome and his advice is killer.
John
November 11th, 2008 9:17 am
proactive. nice.
Wayne John
November 11th, 2008 9:19 am
Simply excellent advice. Still, if you don’t have those numbers floating through your site, you might even still get local brick and mortar shops to advertise too on a more focused, local level.
Not sure what I might be able to do given my blog’s personal nature. Typing in my targeted keywords in Google results in no advertisers on the right side….what to do…what to do.
Chris Andrew
November 11th, 2008 9:23 am
Great post, Love the GaryV video too. An encouraging post that a lot more people should look into capitalizing on.
Chris M
November 11th, 2008 9:25 am
Awesome, thanks for posting this Darren. I’m having problems with the video, but will try again first thing in the morning.
Tumblemoose
November 11th, 2008 9:33 am
This is where it’s so important to be part of your local community and not just a social media one.
Getting out and about in your town, building relationships, remember this is about REAL people, ultimately.
Cheers
George
Oli Kenobi
November 11th, 2008 9:51 am
Awesome video dude!
I love the call.
FSM
November 11th, 2008 10:02 am
great video. this is the way everybody should do it. if you want to help people , help them in a friendly , charismatic way. everybody is promoting themselves through videos today, but not everybody is ready for that yet. search youtube for howto videos and see how many of them are sooooooo f’ing boring. maybe some of those videos are giving people ( interested on that particular subject ) the “key to the city” , but…. nobody is watching them after 1-2 minutes. Look at Gary… he didnt tell me or you the secret of live in this video. everybody ( i think ) knew this ; but… he knew how to create this video, in order for you to watch it. And that is not a bad thing. some of us got something new out of this video, and he got some new fans. win-win :D
James Spinosa
November 11th, 2008 10:18 am
I completely agree that you need to reach out to your local community in more ways than one, you can use them for advertising resources but you can also utilize local news broadcasts, etc. to increase your visitor base. Everyone loves the hometown hero.
JR Griggs
November 11th, 2008 10:43 am
Very nicely done. I had actually started looking for ads on other sites that were similar to mine and the first one I contacted I got as an affiliate. I used to do sales so that always helps as well when you are selling your blog. Everyone is a salesman, no matter what you do. You just have to realize that one day and you have great success!
How to Live in Canada
November 11th, 2008 12:07 pm
That’s sure good stuff. However, how much are we going to ask when they want to advertise on our blogs? Based on what? How do we know how much we will charge?
I’m getting some requests on my blog and unfortunately I don’t know the answer yet.
Any ideas?
Brad
November 11th, 2008 12:14 pm
Great advice! My advertising relies only on Google and Amazon at the moment, and I’d love to expand out and with more advertisers and skipping the middle man!
Thank you!
Gilberto J Perera
November 11th, 2008 12:27 pm
Thanks for this post, I’m in the process of looking for advertisers for my blog, very timely!
James
November 11th, 2008 12:52 pm
Nice! But you need to produce a lot of traffic first. The other thing is you need to have a specific niche on your blog. I found a lot of blogs that write about anything but produce huge traffic. I don’t think advertisers will be interested on this kind of blogs..
Robert Barr
November 11th, 2008 1:30 pm
So the next question is how to price your ads??
Thomas
November 11th, 2008 1:30 pm
This guy makes it all appear to be so easy. While I agree that he put together a great video, in the real world, it’s not always this easy. :(
Corey Freeman
November 11th, 2008 1:32 pm
I have honestly never even thought about this tactic before, and it seems stark-ravingly obvious. I’ll have to try this out on my blog and see how it works. Thanks for sharing this video!
Papa Razzi
November 11th, 2008 1:40 pm
Like you I just launched my new blog. Its all entirely new to me but I’m learning everything I can. Your pro blogger site has been my education on it. As well as Yaro’s sites. I only get maybe 10 hits a day now. Thanks for all your great content.
TheAndySan
November 11th, 2008 2:01 pm
Wow! I’m a new fan of Gary!
And now, to figure out what niche I am…
Sachin
November 11th, 2008 2:35 pm
awesome awesome…will follow asap
syokbeb
November 11th, 2008 3:16 pm
Yes,we come to the advertiser with some prove of traffic that we can give them….
Patrick Britton
November 11th, 2008 3:34 pm
Video doesn’t seem to be working for me.
Michael Aulia
November 11th, 2008 3:39 pm
I guess it’s harder if you have a blog/site that is not focused on one specific area
Walt Ribeiro
November 11th, 2008 4:52 pm
So true. This is exactly what I do for my Music Lesson Blog. Great advice Gary!
Dylan Jones
November 11th, 2008 5:07 pm
Nice post Darren/Gary,
I’m facing this challenge at the minute, I hadn’t spotted the POPURLS.com idea before, nice one.
Another thing I’ve found useful is to find people in your target audience or who contribute to your blog who are also on LinkedIn.
Look at their profile on LinkedIn and you will get contextual ads served from companies in your niche.
You can then go to the company and say:
“Hey, do you know you’re probably paying $1-$3 a click for someone to click on your ad in LinkedIn when someone checks out Joe Bloggs profile).
Wouldn’t it be more effective if you actually posted an ad to where that guy actually visits, hangs out and comments on a regular basis?
Wouldn’t it make sense to have your ads in front of that kind of community where not just Joe Bloggs visits but literally thousands of others like him/her?
Wouldn’t that kind of messaging - targeted, niche, specific and localised be more effective for you than LinkedIn?.
Why not switch off your Google spend for a month and try our site instead?”
I’ve tried that recently and it’s worked on at least two occasions.
Juliemarg
November 11th, 2008 5:40 pm
Gary
You are spectacular! I think I’m in love :^D
zaellen
November 11th, 2008 6:00 pm
So love this…create your future and make it happen. Huge fan of Gary! Thanks Darren…I’ll be tagging this one as I work to build traffic!
allen walton
November 11th, 2008 6:11 pm
Some great info for us struggling bloggers. Never can have enough information no matter where it comes from.
Allen
http://www.allenwalton.com
Hendry Lee
November 11th, 2008 10:13 pm
Sounds easy, because it is! :) Thanks Gary, and Darren.
I might add that…
The problem is, and I was guilty for this too in the past, people are going to complain about the rejection because naturally human fears of getting rejected.
Gary was lucky he got a positive response on the first try, but it is important to know that some people are going to act rude when getting a cold call like this. Not about the caller, but more because of the bad day on their parts.
So, with a doable plan like this, the rest is up to the blogger.
In fact, I’m going to approach some potential bloggers who might be interested in running my articles. And yes, this tactic applies not only to get advertisers.
Valeria | TimelessLessons
November 11th, 2008 10:24 pm
Gary is awesome and his advice is killer. Never ceases to amaze me.
HowToMakeMyBlog.com
November 11th, 2008 10:34 pm
Great video!
I was wondering if anyone has tips on how to negotiate with companies? After my initial contact with a relevant company, the usual response (if positive) is “we are interested, what do you have in mind?”
I find it hard at this point, especially in regards to pricing. I don’t want to give ad space away very cheaply but I am also afraid of losing the interested company because my asking price is too high.
Any experience or tips on this?
Marko
http://www.howtomakemyblog.com
Ruchir Chawdhry
November 11th, 2008 11:22 pm
LOL, why didn’t I ever think of that! Thanks for the awesome tip. As soon as my daily visitors touches 5k, I’m going to contact local tech brands :D
Ganesh
November 11th, 2008 11:28 pm
That was a nice way to get some advertisers. But that sort of technique might work only on certain blogs.
Thomas Flight - Netager.com
November 11th, 2008 11:48 pm
Wow! I never thought about it that way before. That’s why we all love Gary!
dev
November 11th, 2008 11:52 pm
Awesome way ~ thank again
Swim University
November 12th, 2008 12:21 am
At first I didn’t like Gary but I am starting to warm up to him. He really has a way about him. His voice and his mannerisms remind me of Charlie from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. If I had a blog about making money online, I would surely be posting Gary’s stuff.
Chris Jacobson
November 12th, 2008 1:24 am
That’s a great video!! I’m impressed, Gary!
ITrush
November 12th, 2008 1:48 am
Wonderful, this is really a great help especially for us newbies. Thanks
Joel Lucks
November 12th, 2008 2:47 am
OK, Gary, you make lots of sense. And cold-calling (damn, I hate it…) is a necessary evil.
With one or two advertisers already on board, I still have to put together some kind of pricing to charge them.
Admittedly, I don’t have a lot of traffic yet. Two questions, 1) what do I charge advertisers, and 2) how can I build more traffic without being ripped off by unethical SEOs?
Joel
Healthy Gaming
November 12th, 2008 3:15 am
Thanks Gary, great video.
I hadn’t thought of checking those google ads directly, i’ll have to try it!
Thanks for the popurls.com link too, i hadn’t heard of it before.
MLRebecca
November 12th, 2008 9:21 am
What a great video! Gary’s story is amazing. Getting traffic to a blog requires a little elbow grease and dedication, but once you’ve mastered that, you’re on your way to monetizing your blog! Thanks for posting this!
umbultech
November 12th, 2008 2:27 pm
Thanks for sharing a great video…
Cheers,
Steven-Sanders
November 12th, 2008 3:38 pm
It never ceases to amaze me on how he kills it on every video or keynote speech he does.
This guy knows what he’s doing. There is no doubt about that.
Whateverebay
November 13th, 2008 6:08 am
Brilliant! Step by step information and the action plan. Many of us miss the action plan. I will be picking up the phone in the coming weeks and fish for targeted sponsors! I must repeat myself. I never leave your site empty!! :) Laura
Jennae @ Green Your Decor
November 13th, 2008 7:08 am
This advice seems so simple and obvious, but noone could have put it across quite like Gary. He seriously inspired me. I already have my rates organized, and an advertising page. Now I just need the advertisers. I started cold calling today. No success yet, but I’ve only made about 8 calls. I’ll keep going and do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next day. I have a specific niche, so it helps. Eventually, some advertiser(s) will bite, and it will be a great day when they do!
VlogHog
November 13th, 2008 11:14 am
I love video examples.
The best advice in this video in that you are going to have to work to get your blog ad worthy.
Go out there and hustle!
Thanks.
matt mernagh
November 13th, 2008 1:46 pm
i have plenty of small to medium sized business friends who desire daily content that they can’t afford for their site. yet need a web presence to remain competitive. with my site catering to their industry they can daily content via feeds and then on my site with their banners.
Billy C. Haynes
November 13th, 2008 6:05 pm
I liked how he just found the site and called up without any intentions and quickly had it half way sold already. Right now my first blog All-Notions has only gotten 250 views so far this month, last month in the first 2 weeks it got around 1,300 (dissapointing).
A friend and I started up another blog (The Amature Traveler) and so far this month it’s got more views (by like maybe 100). So the first thing I need to do is once again start getting people to the sites.
But even if I had 1,000 views a day, I am really bad at talking on a phone, which sucks. So while I know this is a method that works, I don’t know if I would be able to do it myself or not. However, if I wasn’t able to and I was getting that many views a day I would find someone who could talk on a phone!
Michael Martine - Remarkablogger
November 13th, 2008 11:43 pm
This is always more profitable than automated contextual advertising.
copy reader
November 14th, 2008 7:32 am
More users are generally tired of reading and would like the site to illustrate them directly the point. So users love video blogs over written ones. But due to differences in hardware and internet connections, advertisers realized that those who can afford viewing video blogs are actually who are likely who can afford for their products.
p@r@noid
November 15th, 2008 1:13 am
This is really informative, Thanx for sharing !!
Takumi86
November 15th, 2008 2:21 am
very cool, i like how he explained it, thanks
Richard Wilson
November 15th, 2008 5:33 am
This is exactly what I do. Great advice - once you get to 1,000 hits/day I think it is worth time to begin following this process…
- Richard
Hedge Fund Blogger.com
Andy
November 16th, 2008 9:59 am
I completely agree with this. Most advertisers are not going to come to you. You have to go out and find advertisers for your site. A lot will advertise with you if you show them the benefits and your prices are realistic.
Free Wallpapers
November 18th, 2008 12:07 am
Thanks for posting this amazing video Darren. I have experienced that not all advertisers accept easily. But if you can provide them the worth, you must contact them again. usually people contact advertisers, get denied and sit back. if you get back to the advertiser, you stand out to be different and capable to them and can get accepted.
DemoGeek
November 18th, 2008 6:56 am
That is great way for a sure stream of income from the hard work on your blog. Checking with local businesses also is a great idea.
Luke smith
November 19th, 2008 4:45 am
Thats a good informative video and an angle i havn’t thought of yet!
TJ McCue
November 19th, 2008 11:46 am
Hey Darren, thanks for getting Gary in here. This is terrific. In terms of running a blog as a business, i just read a cool post over at SmallBizTrends that talks about using a credit card to help with cash flow issues. I wonder how many readers have used this method wisely and found it helpful. Or have more people said that’s just too dangerous for me….
It may be out of the bounds of your blog, but i often wonder how many bloggers are running their efforts like a business, versus a hobby type biz.
Ashley
November 22nd, 2008 10:44 am
Wow, that’s some great info. I need all the help I can get with my blog. Gary rocks, and goodlooking too!
carrie
November 28th, 2008 3:42 pm
Hi Gary, an awesome video..on how to get advertisers….
It really works for me and every business owner who is going to be advertising…
Thanks Gary.
Cheers :)
Narendra.s.v
December 30th, 2008 2:09 pm
its just awesome Gary! hey guys look at the clouds passing by in the background ;) i thought it’s hard to find tech nichie sponsors but you showed me how :D thanks
Paul Warren
December 30th, 2008 5:12 pm
I wonder how many cups of coffee Gary has per day?!
None the less - excellent idea, I wonder what his time - to success ratio actually is though..
- Paul
http://blog.warcom.com.au
M Rahman
February 21st, 2009 5:31 pm
oh..nice tips for us. i my self a pro blogger. i like you tips
Eric
March 10th, 2009 10:55 pm
Great tips, going to try some out on my blog. Could care less for the sales pitch tone, though.
Millionaire Acts
May 8th, 2009 3:35 pm
Great tips! How I wish there could be more advertisers in my blog.
Sean Davis
June 18th, 2009 7:22 am
Wow! This video really just amped me up. I think because our work is on the internet, people (and by people, I mean me) tend to forget that cold calls and actually communicating in person is an option! That just opened up a while new world for me!
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