Advertising Space on Book Review Blogs

[Serena Agusto-Cox]

How much should a blogger charge for advertising space on their blog, and should the rates differ based upon placement of the ad? How should these rates be determined and what is considered reasonable?

[Bobbie Crawford-McCoy]

Hi Serena,

I think that advertising rates should vary according to placement (higher or more prominent ads should cost more for the advertiser) and the amount of traffic that a blog or website receives. You may also want to give some thought to the duration of the advertising spot; the longer the ad has placement on your blog, the more it will cost the advertiser.

I really can't advise you about the advertising rates, though I recommend that you look around at other book review/book & author promotion websites and find out what they are charging for advertising, then average their rates and use that as a place to start.

Feel free to contact me if I can assist you further. :)

-Bobbie Crawford-McCoy

[David Gutowski]

Advertising rates are dependent upon demographics, traffic, and ad position. I would see what similar blogs are charging for similar placements to get some ballpark figures.

[Stacy-Deanne (Novelist)]

Hi Serena,

I always witnessed that people who actually own and pay for their own sites (I mean not through any type of company but have actually set up the site, HTML and all on their own), charge whatever they want to. I don't know what they go by except maybe just what they want to charge. People who have their sites hosted by others seem to be more inexpensive but it depends on what the blogger wants to charge. I don't think they go by reasonable or not, it's just what money they wish to receive. I've known bloggers who charged a big chunk of money, like $100-200 for folks to post ads that would only be there one week. I've also known bloggers who might charge someone less than $50 for ad space for an entire month. It just depends.

But one thing I realize is that the more popular the site (most times) the more expensive they are. Sites that are just trying to build a readership are more reasonable but once they get up to the point of having great traffic and have become a popular site, believe me most of them go up. But, blogs that aren't that popular shoot themselves in the foot if they offer ads at huge prices. Not many people are going to pay just any blogger a hundred or more dollars for a week of ad space when they can go to extremely popular sites like Dear Author, Smart Bitches and Trashy Books, or Absolute Write (all places that receive super-duper traffic), and get GREAT publicity for their buck. So bloggers must know how their blogs are doing in terms of traffic and popularity and if what they charge is compatible to the publicity their blog can generate.

Also, it should depend on the size of what the space is.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net