Advertising on Your Blog

Tim IngleAdvertising Manager

The News-Herald

Advantages

• Opportunity to make some money for something you’re already doing

• Credibility– Having ads shows you’re content is worth

investing in.• Investment of time by readers• Investment of money by advertisers/sponsors

How To Make it Happen

• Templates in Blogger– Can be designed to accommodate advertising

units.• Ads can be pulled in from Google AdWords & Google

AdSense

• Find a local “sponsor” for your blog– You can incorporate their logo, etc. into the design

of your blog template

Google AdSense

• Easiest way to have ads on your blog• Ads are fed to your blog– Based on keywords/tags in your blog posts• Makes for relevant ads. The more relevant the ad is, the

more likely an ad will be clicked on.

– You don’t have to do a thing – just blog!• Money is paid based on ads that are clicked– Advertisers set up campaigns, budgets for their

ads.

Google AdSense

• Share the Space– Don’t bury ad units at the bottom of the page– You want the advertisements to be in an area that

readers are looking at– Fixed to the right of the template, and at the

bottom of blog posts are two good spots• Visible locations that don’t interfere with your content

Getting Set Up on Google Adsense

• Google AdSense– Step-by-step instructions– FREE for you to use on your blog– Provides metrics/stats to show results• You’ll find some ad placements will generate more

clicks – due to visibility, etc.• Long-version of link above is:

– http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=50288&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=hsd9w43tnqac&cbrank=0

Sponsors

• Could be successful, especially if your blog has a niche-type theme.

• Incorporate logo, etc. for sponsor into blog template

Making Money!

• Traffic– The more traffic to your blog, the more likely to

get clicks on ads. Clicks = $$– The more visits your blog receives, the more likely

a sponsor is to back you, and the more they’re likely to pay.

– Use social media (Facebook, Twitter) to reach a large audience that can then share your posts with their friends & followers

Getting Rich Quick!

• This will NOT happen!• Writing your blog should be your primary

focus, any money made is a bonus!• Traffic, content and popularity of your blog

will all inevitably determine the amount of money you’ll make.

Questions?

If you have any advertising-related questions as your blog progresses, you can reach me via e-mail at tingle@news-herald.com, with “Community Media Lab” in the subject line