Hello everyone! I just want to start by thanking you all for your wonderful feedback on this little blogging series. Your support means the world to me. Truly!
Today I'll be addressing questions that are frequently asked by those looking to advertise their business via blogs (plus adding a few thoughts of mine into the mix for good measure). I invite you to ask additional questions and share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section below or in the Message Board. Let's dive in, shall we!
"I'm new to advertising and don't even know where to start. What sorts of blogs should I advertise on?"
Before diving into the world of advertising I highly recommend pinning down exactly who your customer is. It is easy to assume that our customers are the same as ourselves, but often times this is not the case and you can spent a lot of frustration and money trying to market your products to the wrong people. Save yourself the grief and think about asking yourself the following questions (I highly recommend writing your answers down in a notebook or binder that you will keep for your business thoughts). If you don't know the answers for certain, take your best guess.
- Who is my customer (gender, age, economic standing, etc)?
- Why are they motivated to purchase from me (value for their money, unique products, superb craftsmanship, environmentally friendly, subversive, because I am part of the popular crowd, etc).
- What do I know about their personality? Do they like casual informality or precision and formality? Do they prefer vibrant colors or subtler hues? Ask as many questions as you can.
- Knowing what I do about my customer, how do I present the product(s) that they are looking for? What has worked well in the past and what hasn't?
Once you've answered these questions it's time to look at potential blogs to advertise on. Clearly your budget will play into your decision making process. But to begin with I recommend requesting ad rates from as many of the blogs that you personally have interest in, as well as those that you believe your potential customer's are likely to frequent (it is likely that there will be a lot over overlap). It's okay if they are currently outside of your budget. The information you gather will be invaluable. Once you've collected some blog rate sheets, take a look at their statistics and compare the clicks (or page impressions) to the number of visitors (if you are able) that they have. The higher the clicks the better. This means that the readers of that particular blog really enjoy the content that is being posted and are familiar with clicking on new content (good news for you as an advertiser). In my personal opinion page views are much more important in advertising than the number of readers following a blog.
"Are blogs better to advertise on than magazines?"
As a blogger I may be a little bit biased, but I have seen first-hand how beneficial blog advertisement can be. Magazines are wonderful, but the cost for advertising is exorbitant and the shelf life is pretty minimal. Blog readers are interested in the online world. They are already familiar with shopping online and by making it as simple as clicking a button to find your shop you are that much closer to connecting with potential customers. There are additional benefits to advertising online that I will address further down in this post.
"What about offering products for giveaways or just getting featured on blogs instead?"
These are also great ways to draw attention to your business but unless you are constantly producing new products to give away or have featured you may wish to look into a more reliable long-term approach. Bloggers are not likely to feature your line more than a few times per season unless they are very fond of something you are selling (or are related to you - wink). Spread out your pitches and offers to various bloggers if this is the route you are planning to take. Hitting everyone all at once every time is not likely to be the best approach. Also be aware that giveaways and features may potentially bring in immediate sales and a boost to your incoming traffic, but that traffic will taper down rather quickly. Part of advertising is creating brand familiarity...so this method may not be optimal as a long term strategy.
I'll be discussing optimal ways to submit your product/site to bloggers and get your brand recognized in an upcoming post.
I believe that if you are looking to grow your blog then it is important to reframe the way you see it. Perhaps you are not offering a physical product for sale, but do you invest time and money into your blog? Are you working hard to promote the work of artisans/designers, etc? Then I would say regardless of whether you are currently making money on your blog...you are a business. Once you look at your site in this way it may help to make the next steps more clear to you. One benefit to advertising your blog on blogs within a similar niche as yours is that you are essentially aligning yourself with their blogs. The apparent value of your site is elevated by association, and if your content has a similar appeal then their audience will be easily drawn to your site and you will very likely earn new followers.
I can only speak for myself (but this probably applies to many bloggers) when I say that we don't take our jobs as advertising hosts lightly. I personally feel a huge level of pressure to make sure that there is always interesting content up here on Creature Comforts that will continue to grow the site and bring readers in contact with the ads I host.
Unfortunately, advertising as with most other things in life does not come with a guarantee. I wish that I could promise scores of sales for my advertisers, but to do so would not be truthful and anyone who makes such a promise would be misleading you. It is very possible that you may see an increase in direct sales (that would be the hope), but that is not the only factor to consider when it comes to blog advertising.
An ads impact should be weighed in more than just direct sales (though I do of course understand the importance of those).
- For example, there are magazine editors/writers and retail shop owners who read popular blogs (as well as other bloggers searching for content)...so an ad on one of these blogs puts your shop in their direct view.
- Blogs with a high level of traffic and search engine relevance will increase your website's importance and page ranking by being affiliated with them. As far as setting your sights on a long-term goal, this is what you want.
- Beyond that there are other factors that will effect the performance of your ad that are outside of a bloggers control. These are mainly things on your end, such as your product photography, your ad design, product pricing, etc.
Ultimately I am a strong believer in trusting your instinct. If all the numbers look right, you've got the money to spend, but something doesn't feel quite right to you, listen. You can always reevaluate and try again another day. Maybe the timing is just off, or another opportunity will present itself to you. At the end of the day you deserve to feel that you are making the right steps for your business. Trust yourself and success will follow.
I hope these tidbits will be useful in the process of determining when and how to make advertising work for your business. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic and hope you'll feel free to share openly in the comment section below. If you'd prefer to discuss something privately you are always welcome to email me: creaturecomfortsblog@gmail.com . xo Ez