Ask a GoForth Expert

David West

Technology

You should think of the advertiser as your customer, and your website as your product. You need to package information about your website in a way that appeals to an advertiser. Particularly, you need to quantify your audience for the advertiser - answering the "What's in it for them?" question in terms of visitors, page views, loyalty and demographics. If you've got a good audience within a clear niche, you could simply approach potential advertisers that you think would be relevant to your audience. Most banner advertising is based on CPM (cost per thousand impressions) - the cost range is dependent on how desirable your audience is to the advertiser.If you don't have a lot of visitors or a particular niche - and even if you do - then advertising networks (like Google Adsense) are an easy and effective way to get started. The network takes care of finding advertisers, charging them and paying you. Of course, they make a "commission" while doing so - some of the advertising revenue goes to the network. Affiliate networks (like Commission Junction) will let you choose which advertisers you show, and you'll earn money when your site visitors complete a purchase after clicking on your ads.

View all answers from David West

---

About David West