I’m sure you’ve noticed the move over the last year or 2 towards those little 125 x 125 ads you see on most blogs. These are sometimes referred to as a Blog’s sponsors or Recommendations. They are one form of banner advertising on your blog you can sell along with skyscraper ads, leaderboards and even the 250×250 square inserted into a blog posts… You can sell any type of banner ad as long as it fits in your blog theme.
Banner advertising on blogs is becoming big business and popular blogs are charging up to $10k per month for a little 125×125 ad… And you can have 6 to 8 of these on your blog’s sidebar. You can sell them in forums and marketplaces along with selling then direct from your blog i.e. having the ‘advertise here’ graphic on your blog. STBs: Aim to fill 8 of the 125×125 spots as soon as possible, try to sell these for a higher price for a longer period of time, but make a deal so that it works out cheaper than paying month by month. For example, if you were going to charge $20 per month per spot, then get someone to sign up for 6 months for $100 (getting 1 month free). This makes management a lot easier and you don’t have to keep going in and taking ads down or swapping them every month.
LTBs: For long term blogs stick to 4 until you fill them then add an additional 2. Only add 8 if demand requires it. Keep these exclusive but make sure you are still selling some, even if you have to offer some for a lower price. Make sure you provide stats information once you start charging over $100 per spot and use a management plug in as mentioned before for billing and renewals. TIP: Add in the first 2 spots as soon as you set up your blog with the remaining ones being left as either advertise here or blank.
These can be banners for affiliate offers and not only will they generate some revenue for you but will also lead potential advertisers into thinking they might miss out if the spots fill up without them jumping on board quickly. Keep adding a new one every few days until you are left with 1 advertise here spot that you leave open for people to click to purchase advertising.
Even if the spots are full you at least want to strike up a conversation with a potential buyer so you can get in touch when a spot becomes available or let them know about spaces available on your other blogs.