Crafty Business Tips: Even Small Blogs Can Offer Advertising

So you’re thinking about allowing people to advertise on your blog?

What a great idea. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about blog advertising. In fact, some people will tell you that you have to get up to a certain amount of subscribers or a certain amount of page views before you can even think about offering advertising on your blog. But that is simply not true. It doesn’t really matter how many blog readers you have, you just have to make the advertising cost proportional to the amount of traffic you receive.

I’ve seen small blogs offer advertising for as low as $5-15 a month. And while that may not even put gas in your car, it is certainly a start. So, here’s what I suggest: check out other blogs and find out their rates and stats and kind of compare that info to your own so you have a general idea of what your starting point should be. *I am not suggesting that you waste bloggers time by pretending your are interested in advertising just to get their info. So what am I suggesting? Do your homework and research other blogs. Many bloggers actually supply their advertising rates some where on their site, so start with those.

Now, if you don’t feel comfortable offering paid advertising based on your numbers or some other reasoning, you still have options.

For example, you could decide to go the free route instead. Offer free weekly or monthly blog advertising to quality shops and sites that suit the style of your specific blog. This option has the potential to really get people to rally around your blog, because you would be offering a free service to small business owners. And let’s face it, most small business owners would jump at the chance for an opportunity like this.

And to ensure that you get something out of the deal as well, ask that shop selected for free ads add a link to your blog from their blog or etsy shop. This could be via a post about your blog with a link or just a simple addition to their blogroll. Its up to you- you make the rules. The benefit to this option is twofold. It will bring you incoming links, and (hopefully) will also bring more people to your blog and in time begin building up your audience, so that you can offer paid advertising in the future if you wish.

Do you have any tips for blog advertising to share with newbies? Leave your tips in the comments.

*image c/o Laura Evans