Nov 23 2007
A Case Study in Direct Link Sales
It looks like I’ve finally tweaked and tinkered with my living in London site enough for me to considering the thing finished. Actually my sites are never really finished as I usually try to keep adding content here and there, but it’s finished enough to be attractive to a potential advertiser. The major thing that was holding me back was just the crappy header that I used to have and that’s been replaced by something a bit less crappy and now I’m ready to attempt to sell ads on the site.
I thought it might be interesting to keep track of my efforts of selling ad space from start to finish. So far I’ve never really been rejected when I’ve approached companies to advertise, but I’ve only ever done it a few times. I’m not expecting my little run of luck to continue with everyone I approach and I think it might be interesting for people to see which companies I’ve approached, how I’ve done it, their reaction, the price I’ve asked, the price that was agreed, or which ones have come back with a big, fat NO.
Starting on Monday, here are the areas I’ll touch upon:
- Where to find potential advertisers
- Making the first approach
- Deciding what types of ads to offer
- Setting an initial price and then negotiating
- Sealing the deal and receiving payment
- Keeping track of link sales
- Building rapport with advertisers and keeping them sweet
I’ve written about some of these things already but think that with an actual site and actual companies the whole thing becomes a bit more interesting. Rather than making a post about each heading, I’ll just be giving a sort of running progress report with those topics as key features.
When I built my London site, direct link sales were something that were on my mind from the start. I know that there are a lot of companies who want to advertise to the market my site is aimed at and the trick for me will be convincing them that my site is the way to reach them. I’ve always been really bad at sales so this will be a challenge, but one that I’m looking forward to.
Keeping track of things from start to finish will hopefully shed some light on this whole link sales process and open my eyes as well to how it all works. Here’s hoping things go smoothly! Nah… that’d be boring.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
I've been travelling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow me as I bum around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as I go.
You’re making us wait? Torture!
Haha, ya sorry about that. There’s actually a reason behind me having to wait until Monday… I’m not just being annnoying.
Very cool, looking forward to reading more on almost all those points. I have never tried to sell advertising but have approached people at businesses in my town to potentially carry some book titles and posters I had for sale (locally relevant items).
Scary! I’m not a salesman and took no as an answer way too easily. But there have been some small successes. While not believing in a hard sell I did learn that confident persistence does help. Also, talking to the right person was very important. Some places told me no and it was not even the person who did the purchasing, when I finally spoke to that person the answer changed to yes (victory!).
Finally, having a relevant and quality product made all the difference, in several instances it really sold itself as I suspect yours potentially might.
-Best wishes
Interesting stuff Kirsty - I’m glad I found this site. Sounds like a good one to keep up with.
The SiL site looks great, Kirsty - cleanly laid out and very easy to read. Not much more a user/searcher could ask for.
I’m impressed, Kirsty! I love the photo guide idea.
Good idea Kirsty! I’m sure we can all learn from your experiences.
How many days before you quit the UK ?
I had a look at Stuckinlondon, nice layout and header/logo but I think there is a typo in the first paragraph, unless “see see” is some Aussie, Kiwi or Saffa slang as in “…only see see your best laid plans…”
Neale I’m off on Dec 14th. I’ve been out and about in London this weekend and I’m going to miss the ol’ girl.
Glad you guys like my London site. I really thought a lot about navigation and having it so the reader is able to find things logically so positive feedback about that is great. Thanks for pointing out the typo. I think I might have a big proofread/spellcheck session now, actually, since I’ve never done that.
Joy.
Can’t wait to see the rest of these articles. Attracting advertisers isn’t as hard as it may seem. Offer them a cheap enough rate of the bat and they’ll jump on the opportunity. Then you can raise the rates 5% or so a month until you can start to feel that they are where they “should be”.
Good luck Kirsty, and if I can help you with this in any way… don’t hesitate to let me know!
I’ve heard one good way to proofread is to print it all out and then cross through each word or even each letter. Helps in spotting typos that otherwise land in the blind spot of the minds eye, if you know what I mean. F.eks. that “see see” you’ve probably read that text hundreds of time as it is at the top of the front page, but your mind’s eye only saw one “see” every time.