Why the Ad Rate Cards Site Was Created

.whythe Ad Rate Cards Site Was Created*

It’s a well known fact that direct advertising sales for any media will generate more ad income than adwords, tradedoubler, etc. To sell ads directly, you absolutely must have an ad rate card.

So for me, it is just amazing how many publications and sites don’t have any kind of ad rate card, ad formats, ad pricing or even a single “advertising” link for potential advertisers to contact them. There may be a cheap-looking “your ad here” announcement, and I guess that is better than nothing (at least, that is, if you want direct advertising to your site).

Some medium or bigger print publications may have rate cards, but mostly only in PDF format. Come on, it’s 2008! Web is leading the way. Now, when web is going from 2.0 to 3.0, print advertising sales tools are still way back in the 80s.

The Initial Idea

My initial thought for creating the rate cards directory was to do it for for smaller print publications like some local clubs, hobby magazines, newsletters, or school papers, but it does work for online media like websites and blogs as well. Most outlets that have some print publication will have websites and/or blogs, too.

Some people may think that advertisers are not interested in advertising directly in smaller publications, but that’s not the whole truth. Actually, smaller media publications have very targeted and highly loyal readers and that converts to good advertising opportunities.

Does the Size Matter?

Yes and no, but it goes both ways. When we think about advertisers, most of us immediately think of some big-name companies and forget small or really small and/or local companies that have a need for advertising too. Big advertisers can easily be interested in smaller publications if they can effortlessly find, select and buy from multiple smaller ones that, combined, provide access to bigger target groups.

Regardless of their size or needs, all advertisers appreciate a good ad rate card where they can easily and quickly see what your media is all about, what kind of advertising options they have, and what the prices are. They want to do this without any hassle. If they like what they see, they will contact you. But if they can’t see any of the information they’re looking for, they probably will not contact you at all. Think about your own behavior when you are buying something. What information do you look for when deciding whether you are interested in buying?

Now It’s Easier to Create Your Own Ad Rate Card

Someone who has never created an ad rate card, will have a hard time finding information on how it should look, what information it should contain, how to price the ads, and more. Having a “form to fill” will assist you in creating your ad rate card more easily.

Many other cool features have been built on top of these initial thoughts. I will upload posts about them later on.

That’s why the site was created.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 11:37 pm and is filed under About, development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The Initial Idea

Does the Size Matter?

Now It’s Easier to Create Your Own Ad Rate Card

Leave a Reply

Categories