Blogging for Dollars: Making Your Blog Advertiser Friendly

It’s the question on everyone’s mind: how can I attract advertisers and other media buys to my blog in order to make money off it? The answer, as it turns out, is not exactly as simple as many would hope.

First, let’s make one thing clear. Blogs in the business of doing nothing but making money will fail. If you have lousy content then nobody is going to visit your blog and hence no matter how many ads you have you aren’t going to make a dime. As with almost everything to do with the Internet, content is king.

Advertisers are looking for places to spend their money where they will not only get views, but also will find a receptive audience. A footwear retailer is probably not going to find a lot of interested buyers on a blog that talks about politics. You not only have to make sure you have the quality content to attract readers in the first place, but you also have to identify the market segment that your blog falls into – good SEO practices for blogs and websites alike.

As more print journalism dies off (newspapers are falling off the radar at an alarming rate right now) many of the journalists and media outlets that owned those newspapers are turning to the web. We are entering a new era of competition for eyes and dollars. How are you going to attract advertisers to your blog with a growing field of competition that may have far more resources than you have available to you to upkeep your site?

Start out by doing a tradition SEO evaluation of your blog. How is your blog ranking on the search engines for the topic you are writing about? What types of web analytics are you gathering from your visitors? Are you using effective linking techniques both internally and externally? What type of metrics do you have for people who read your blog through alternative means, such as RSS feeds?

Now that you have your answers (or at least know what questions to ask) look at how you can use the various types of advertising to fit in with your blog. There are two types in general: affiliate and display. Most successful blogs evolve to use a combination of the two. For example, a blog that focuses on performance automobiles might have display ads from aftermarket suppliers, but also have an affiliate program setup with automobile financers.

If you write your blog as a hobby you need to ask yourself are you willing to devote the time and energy into trying to monetize it? Some bloggers find that when they are looking at dollars instead of their passion that their writing tends to go downhill. You no longer are writing about what you feel passionate about, but also are writing to attract eyes and rank. It’s a delicate balance that can be frustrating at times.

In the end remember that the blogosphere is filled with millions of people writing about millions of subjects. There is no doubt that marketing dollars are moving online at a tremendous pace nowadays and those that are willing to dedicate the resources and effort may find that they can cash in on something they love to do.

Visit our SEO FAQ and get more info about search engine optimization.