How Much To Charge?

[nicpal]

I am redeveloping one of my sites due to an increase in business and partnership. Lately I have been getting alot of requests for advertising on the site. The site is a Google PR5 with an Alexa ranking of around 100,00. The industry is professional sports, mainly football, baseball, hockey and basketball, so I am getting requests from sports agents, marketers, ticket sales sites, memorabilia, etc. How much should I charge for ad placement? I am looking for ideas for both banner and text links. And the traffic will be increasing over the next few months due the the acquisition of another site.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Nodnarb]

I would suggest this - start with bi-weekly ad space, so you can adjust your prices quickly rather than being locked into too low of a price for too long. Don't accept more than say 4-6 weeks worth of advertising from one advertiser. Basic advice is to beware of someone trying to lock in a low rate for an extended period of time, knowing that you have a good thing going on. And, be flexible enough with your pricing not to overcharge and scare them off.

Your sales momentum will determine if your pricing is "right." Too fast = too low / too slow = too high.

Finally, you might charge more for top positioning, and less for middle page, and less for bottom of page positioning. Sell site-wide for more than category/sport specific listings.

Don't cheap it out. It's easier to lower prices, or bundle higher priced items into a discounted package, than it is to start low and raise your prices. Sounds like a fun opportunity to figure out though! Enjoy!

 

[NameWolf]

If you are going to start charging for impressions which are targeted, $5-$20 is a good place to get started...

NW