How to Sell Advertising on the Internet

Methods for making money online range from selling a product or service to offering advertising opportunities on your website. Whether you run an online forum, blog or news site, you can monetize it by offering companies opportunities to promote their brands on your site. Because many entrepreneurs use offline and online strategies to reach their customers, advertising on websites is a popular practice among businesses of all sizes and across many industries.

• 1

  Ensure that your website's content is consistent with the overall theme of your site and keep your content updated. When advertisers look for sites to place their ads on, they search for sites that target their ideal consumers.

• 2

  Install an analytics program, such as Google Analytics, Piwik or Yahoo! Web Analytics, to monitor your site's traffic and which advertisements your readers click the most.

• 3

  Build a readership by promoting your website through social networks and offline at social networking events. The more targeted traffic you get to your site, the more attractive your site is to potential advertisers.

• 4

  Survey your readership and compile demographic information. Things you should know about your visitors include gender, income level, marital status, interests, how often they visit your site, which other sites they visit and the type of information they like to read on your site.

• 5

  Establish where you want to offer advertising on your site, the types of advertisements you want to offer and set pricing for each. Banner ads come in various sizes and combine text and graphics. Text ads do not use graphics. Pop-up ads can display text and graphics and often appear when visitors arrive on a site. You also may choose to sell video ads or sponsorships.

• 6

  Develop a website advertising agreement that includes the name of your site, your contact information, space for an advertiser's contact information, the type of ad being purchased, the dates it will run, where it will appear on the site and a liability clause.

• 7

  Create an "Advertising" page on your website. On the page, include a brief paragraph about the type of content your website provides and a profile of your audience using the demographic information you gathered in your survey. Give potential advertisers a way to contact you to reserve advertising space.

• 8

  Approach potential advertisers via email, if you feel their products and services might appeal to your readers. Send advertisers stats on your readers, your advertising rates and contact information.