The Blogger s Guide to Banner Ads. Monetize Your Site!

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1 The Blogger s Guide to Banner Ads Monetize Your Site!

2 How to use this Guide Once you decide to start monetizing your blog, figuring out where to start is probably the hardest part. Banner ads are probably one of the most common ways blogger use to monetize, and probably one of the first things people think of when they think of ways to start earning money. Adsense is a great place to start, it gets you thinking about where to put banner ads in your templates, but it s difficult to dictate which ads appear on your site. That s where IFB comes in. This guide will give you an idea of what is an industry standard (as of March 2012) which is a great place to start figuring out how much to ask for, and how to present your blog to brands. We ve looked at various media kits, asked a varitey of brands and put this together to help you make an informed presentation. Hope this helps, and good luck! ~Jennine Jacob, IFB

3 Banner Ad Glossary Rate Card: This is the term used to describe you re the prices (rates) you charge for your ad space Ad Specs: Specs stands for specifications, this term is just referring to the sizes of ads you sell Ad Unit: The name for the block of space where an ad will be placed Above-The-Fold: This is everything you see when you first look at a page - before you scroll. The term comes from newspapers - above-the-fold on the Sunday Times is literally everything above the center crease where the paper is folded Below-The-Fold: This is everything below the center crease on a blog that refers to the content you have to scroll to reach

4 Banner Ad Glossary (continued) Top Placement: Top placement is as placement in the horizontal space across the top of your blog (can be just above or just below your header) Bottom Placement: This is ad placement that is in your footer CPM: This is Cost Per Thousand (The M = Mille which is Latin for one thousand) In digital ad sales this term is used to refer to a thousand impressions Impression: How many times the ad will be seen CPC / PPC: These terms stand for Cost Per Click and Pay Per Click, ads like the ones you get form Google Ad Sense use this method you only get paid is someone clicks on the ad.

5 Average Prices for Banner Ads When you are just starting off, we recommend you sell ad buys per ad. You can figure out how to charge per month, by seeing how many impressions your site generates. Divide that by 1000, and multiply it by your CPM. Example: If your site gets 20,000 impressions a month, and your CPM is $5. You should charge $100 for and above-the-fold ad. Industry average for above-the-fold ads on an established highly trafficked site (100k+/month) are: $10-12 CPM Depending on your blog s traffic, it might be best to start with: $5-10 CPM Then increase when your traffic increases and ad inventory fills. Tip: CPM = Cost Per Mille, per 1000 impressions

6 Average Prices for Banner Ads When you are just starting off, we recommend you sell ad buys per ad. You can figure out how to charge per month, by seeing how many impressions your site generates. Divide that by 1000, and multiply it by your CPM. Example: If your site gets 20,000 impressions a month, and your CPM is $5. You should charge $100 for and above-the-fold ad. Industry average for above-the-fold ads on an established highly trafficked site (100k+/month) are: $10-12 CPM Depending on your blog s traffic, it might be best to start with: $5-10 CPM Then increase when your traffic increases and ad inventory fills. Tip: CPM = Cost Per Mille, per 1000 impressions

7 Common Ad Specs There are many, many ad sizes on the web. Here are common ones to get started. 728x90 pixels Your Blog Banner 728 x 90 Leaderboard Banner 250 x 250 Medium Square 250 x 300 Medium Rectangle 240 x 400 Vertical Rectangle 336 x 280 Large Rectangle 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle 180 x 150 Rectangle 160 x 600 Wide Skyscraper 120 x 600 Skyscraper 468 x 60 Small Banner 120 x 90 Button Tip: Create a PDF showing where the ads are placed. A Typical Post Title Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque vel neque a eros ultrices viverra. Cras leo magna, elementum at consectetur quis, auctor et mi. Maecenas nec nulla nibh. Sed adipiscing ullamcorper magna non interdum. Nulla rhoncus laoreet luctus. Suspendisse sit amet porta ante. Fusce odio turpis, ultricies nec facilisis sit amet, mollis blandit urna. Integer malesuada ultricies convallis. Duis consequat nisl at tellus feugiat et malesuada dolor pulvinar. Comments {21} Another Post Title 250x250 pixels 160x 160 pixels