Simple Ways to Make Your Membership Site Much More Appealing to Advertisers

Posted on 21. Sep, 2010 by Steve in Tips & Tricks, Wordpress

Allowing advertisers to place ads on your membership site is a tried and true way to earn additional income from your site. This type of income is fairly stable and requires little effort on your part. The key is understanding what advertisers value in a membership site and making the process as easy as possible on their end. Of course, none of this matters if you don’t have the essential bases covered such as credibility, a strong membership base, solid content, and a professional looking members area. If you don’t have these basic elements to your website, then you probably have a lot bigger problems than attracting advertisers.

The key to getting more advertisers is to make it is as easy as possible for them. Here some ways that you can make their life easier.

1. Clear Information

The first thing that you absolutely must do is create a dedicate page filled with all of the necessary information that an advertisers would need to understand what you are offering. One of the biggest problems for many advertisers is that many sites do not offer a clear pricing plan. By asking an advertiser to email you about prices will always reduce the number of interested advertisers If you aren’t willing to provide them will basic information, then they will look elsewhere.

2. Understanding Pricing

There are several things that you can do to make your pricing more appealing to advertisers. First, you need to create a fixed pricing rate rather than a volume rate. Volume rates, such as $XX per 1000 clicks, is designed for large, untargeted websites. Because you have a niche website, with a smaller target audience, it is beneficial for you to set a flat rate. Additionally, it is always a good idea to provide a discount for longer term contracts.

3. Descriptions

You should provide as many details as possible about the type of advertising opportunities that are available This includes what size of ads you have available, any restrictions (such as no adult content), how the advertiser can pay, and how the ads will be displayed (in what area of members area, rotating or fixed, etc).

4. Stats

If you want to make your membership site more attractive, don’t be afraid to share your statistics. Even if they seem a little low to you. By sharing statistics upfront, you are letting advertisers know that you have nothing to hide. There are a number of great statistics to share such as: audience demographics, conversion rates (based on the type of ad), and site specific information such as the number of members, number of articles, how often the members area is updated, etc

5. Offer Services

It is surprising how much offering a service such as an ad creation service can improve the number of interested advertisers. The best part is once they accept the service, you can simply outsource it to a reputable ad design company. You can also include additional services such allow an advertiser to sponsor a category, new e-book, or even a weekly podcast.

The key to getting more advertisers interested in your membership site can have a lot of small details, however the overall way to do this is to make sure that it is easy for them to get the information that they need and easy to place an order.