So, I get an email from a guy. I’ll leave his company out of it.
In short, he wants to place a text link on PCMech.com for a monthly fee. He isn’t interested in banner advertising. Just the text link.
So, I reply and essentially tell him that I’m not willing to do a site-wide text link for the purposes of SEO. Now, his site is related to mine, so that wouldn’t have been a problem. It was more a point about visual clutter. I don’t wish to litter up my blog with random links just because I get paid for it.
I told him that I’d be willing to use a text link if the link is clearly labeled as a sponsored link. In other words, he doesn’t want a graphical banner. Just text. Works for me, as long as my visitors know why the link is there. I wanted it to look like an ad, even though it was text.
I have banner advertising rates on PCMech, but nothing established for text links. So, I simply tossed out an offer of $200/month, set up via Paypal subscriptions so it would be renewed each month.
Keep in mind, a link in the sidebar of PCMech, site-wide, would expose his link to over a quarter-million people per month. That’s a lot of people. $200 seems like an absolute steal to me.
His response?
That is way too much money. I advertise on other sites similar to yours with a text link on all pages for $50.00 a month. I paid in advance of 6 months to get the deal of $50.00 a month, but $200.00 is not worth it. Thank you.
Then he sends a second email:
Also, the price you are quoting me is like I am getting some banner on your site. It is a text link. Anyway, I guess I will just go with the others. Thank you for your time.
Wow. So, $200/month is more like what he’d expect for a graphical banner ad? And people with similar sites to mine taking $50/month for a link?
I walked. Not worth my time. And apparently his neither.
The Motto Of This Story
You know what happens when what you offer is offered by everybody else, too?
You turn into a commodity.
There is nothing unique, so price is the only thing to compete on.
Websites running advertising are a commodity. If you, as a blogger, are trying to make your money with ads, you are a commodity. It doesn’t matter how low you think your ad rates are, some other person is going to undercut your price.
From an advertiser’s perspective, all they want is incoming links from related sites. That is easy to come by and there are plenty of schlubs willing to do it. Even if they want banner ads for better exposure and branding, there are TONS and TONS of sites selling space.
In real estate, we would call this “a buyer’s market”. There is TONS of supply in the marketplace and that drives prices down. Only really exclusive areas (like waterfront) can still demand higher prices because of the limited supply. Well, it is the same in online advertising. Certain web properties can command higher rates simply due to their market positioning. And, I’m willing to bet that even THOSE sites are looked at as commodities much of the time.
Advertisers expect too much for next to nothing. And you, as a blogger, are in no position to build a sustainable business if you’re depending on that.
The motto? Build your own assets and products.
When you have your own product, your competition becomes MUCH less. You have a highly leveragable asset and you can almost set your own prices. You define the rules of the game.
I mean, seriously. I could make a few sales and bring in $200 pretty easily – any time I feel like it. So, it starts to put into perspective these stupid little advertising offers where a guy thinks $200 for exposure to a quarter-million people is too highly priced. Gimme a break.
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