Having a blog that draws visitors is an excellent way to make money online. The more visitors you receive on a regular basis the more valuable your site becomes. Similar to a billboard on a heavily traveled highway or at a busy intersection- your blog’s sidebar could be very valuable to a business who is trying to reach a larger audience. Knowing how to sell your ad space and for what price doesn’t have to be confusing or scary. I’ll give you some basic tips and tell you about a service I use called Passionfruit.
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What is Passionfruit?
Passionfruit is an online service that makes selling advertising space on your blog really easy. Using a service like Passionfruit will give you an heir of professionalism. The platform is attractive and they handle all the difficult things like financial transactions, tracking views and clicks, ad expirations and so on. Passionfruit is great for anyone new to selling ad space and people who want their advertising page to be clear and simple.
Does it Cost Anything?
Yes. Passionfruit has a couple of options that are both very affordable. If you are only expecting to sell one space a time on one blog then you can use the service for as little as $3 a month. Or, you can go to the top of the line package and have unlimited ads on unlimited sites for $9 a month.
Other sites, who offer similar services, generally charge you around 30% of your ad sales. Depending on how many ads you sell and at what price- Passionfruit may save you a lot. But if you never manage to sell ads- Passionfruit could be an expense you don’t need.
How Can I Use Passionfruit to Profit from My Blog?
Passionfruit is flexible with the options of ways to make money from your blog. You can offer to host banners at any size and anywhere on your blog, be paid to write a sponsored post, mention their brand/service on your social media networks or in your newsletters, or offer a general service like a logo design or consultation- the sky’s the limit.
You set your prices and using coding Passionfruit will provide for you- you can create an advertising page and be ready to start selling ads in as little as 10 minutes.
Keep in mind that you have complete control over the ads that appear on your site. When someone makes a purchase – you will have to approve the ad before it will appear on your site. If you choose not to approve the ad then the customer is refunded.
How Much is Ad Space Worth on My Site?
Honestly, I don’t know. I valued mine by considering how much I make from other ad programs for that same spot. For example, I use Google Adsense and Media.net to make money from my blog and I know how much I earn from each ad space- so I know what that space is worth to me. I offer to sell the space for more than I am already earning with my current advertising so that it is worth my time.
If you don’t have other ads on your site to gauge your value then try looking around at blogs similar to yours and peak at their advertising pages. The Passionfruit marketplace may be a good place to start to compare pricing.
How to Find People Who Will Buy Your Ad Space
First, Passionfruit offers to list your blog in their marketplace to let other Passionfruit subscribers know you are in the market to sell ad space. You even have the option to trade ads with other bloggers by negotiating a deal between you.
You should also be sure you have your advertising page visible on your site as well as make your ad spots known by placing ad fillers on the site. An ad filler could be just a basic box you can put together in any photo editing software or places like Canva. You can add basic text in the box that says “Ad Space For Sale” and have it linking to your advertising page.
You can also reach out to your audience or other blogging groups you network with and offer them a deal. Which reminds me…
You Can Make Promo Codes for Your Audience Too
PassionFruit provides you the ability to create promo codes to offer special deals to your friends, readers or anyone.
Personally I love the many professional features offered by Passionfruit- there are too many for me to go over here so be sure to dig around on Passionfruit’s site and visit my Advertising page as an example of what can be done.
Learn more about how Passionfruit works
Other Ad Management Options
If Passionfruit isn’t for you or you want to compare your options I have experience with and can recommend the following as well.
OIO Publisher– you pay once and then it’s completely yours- offers many great features but can be confusing. Use discount code: HELLO14-WAHABLOG to receive $10 off.
BuySellAds– While this company takes a percentage of your sales- if you don’t sell ads then you don’t have to pay anything. It also offers premium features like being able to sell space based on the number of impressions rather than by timeframe.
Easy Extra Cash! Join the famed Vindale Research site and earn rewards by doing nothing more than sharing your experience of using the internet. Guaranteed 100% free membership.
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I am hearing a lot more from people who are using Passion Fruit these days. I also saw a few bloggers who use some sort of shopping cart feature for folks to purchase various ads and social media features. If you can make more than the monthly expense, seems like a win-win! I have been tempted to try it out for YUMeating, but as I dust off Self Employed Writer, I might have to get those pageviews up a little more first.
passion fruit CLAIMS to give you a refund, but in the reality, you have to file for a dispute with paypal. my ad was pending there for weeks.