Why You're Not Gettin' Any: Advertisers & Sponsors

Advertisers and sponsors are easily some of the most important aspects of a website or blog. Both give the administration behind the site crucial funding to not only continue their content, but improve it as well. For example, a blog funded by advertisers and sponsors has the ability to purchase products for review, and ultimately to expand their content. So what do you do to get advertisers and sponsors, and ultimately get the funding needed to better your site?

Off the bat, you have to put yourself in the shoes of a potential advertiser. Think about it. If you were an advertiser, would you rather have a billboard in a rarely ventured-to alley, or a billboard next to a busy freeway? Any advertiser is sure to choose the second option, meaning that in order for your site to be seen as worth while for them to advertise on, you need to have decent amounts of traffic. Because when it comes down to it, a potential advertiser is looking to get his or her ad seen by as many people as possible, while spending as little as possible to do so.

Having said this, the fact may very well be that your site doesn’t have enough traffic to generate any interest from someone looking to buy ad space.

I’ve come across several advertising slots on smaller blogs that simply say something along the line of “your ad here”. While these slots are helpful in letting people know that advertising space is available, having too many “your ad here” slots is a major turn off for potential customers, as it will make them question why no one else has purchases said space. The same can be said when you have a cluster of ad spaces, but little if any actual ads.

Just like creating an online identity, you’ll want to take your ads further than simply your website. Small “sponsored by” portions of YouTube videos or podcasts are also desirable as potential ad space. Putting ads in videos gives you and your sponsor another benefit; the aspect of emotion. Having said this, text-ads and still-images do not have the ability to use different expressions and voice tones to portray enthusiasm towards a product, service, or company. And when you put real effort into your ads and truly selling the product, your sponsor will be more likely to see return on their investment and continue sponsoring your content. Better yet, you may also generate competition between advertisers to purchase your ad space, meaning that you will have better negotiating power and will be able to get more.

Also, by letting your audience know that the sponsors make your show possible, people will have a tendency to generate a much better image of the company or product that you are advertising.

In the beginning, you may simply end up taking free products from a company in exchange for review. This typically costs the company less money (as they are only paying for the manufacturing cost and not the retail price), and can serve as a “trial” to see if sponsoring you is worth the company’s while.

All in all, we have to draw a simple conclusion; at first, you may not make a lot of money through ads and sponsors. However, rest assured that if you are persistent and make yourself worthy of sponsoring, you will start to see results.