Many people ask me how I get all these sponsored posts, a sold-out sidebar and 30-day text links all bought up month after month. While it’s important to preach that advertisers will eventually find their way to your blog, you need a killer plan to get the word out and get paid.

I’m going to take you through the best strategies to get immediate bids for your ads, and with any luck you’ll soon have publishers clawing at the gates in order to get a piece of the action. First things first, it’s imperative to have an easy to use ad management system in place. For WordPress, there is simply no alternative to OIO Publisher. It’s the system I use, and it rocks. Everything will be automated, your customers will get free ad reports, and it’s just $37… some of the best money I’ve ever spent on this blog.

How To Lock Up Sponsored Reviews
Most bloggers suggest that the best way to get sponsored reviews from advertisers on a consistent basis is to write great content day after day that gets noticed. I do believe that this is true; however, there is a much more effective method that will almost certainly get you sponsored reviews every time a company runs a campaign… which is practically constant. How do you get sponsored reviews, you ask?
Comment on other sponsored reviews.

A bit counter-intuitive at first, it is actually very smart. Granted, you need a decent blog to be able to accomplish this… but usually anything over 50 subscribers and some solid writing will work. All you need to do is drop a very interested sounding comment on another blog that happens to be promoting for an advertiser in a paid post. What happens here is that advertisers typically launch campaigns where they will buy up 5-10 blog posts at a time. Obviously, they check each one and read through the comments. We can exploit this by commenting on the posts, because the advertisers usually visit the blogs of each commenter for more leads. They see your site sells sponsored posts, you get paid. Nearly 40% of my reviews come from this tactic. It really is that simple!

Of course, in order to get an advertiser to buy a sponsored review from you, you are going to need to have great looking posts, and a few examples of past reviews. I recommend creating a new “Sponsored Posts” category, and putting that on your advertise page so that anyone can see what normal reviews look like. Trying to price your reviews appropriately to control demand? Check out The Net Fool’s Suggested Paid Review Rate Chart!

Fill Up Your Sidebar With Interested 125×125 Advertisers
The blogging standard for advertising is the 125×125 advertisement. Most well-monetized blogs will have these ads placed in a sidebar, or somewhere in the footer of their page. What’s the best way to get your ad slots filled and in high demand? I would have to say that the rates drive demand, and those blogs charging less than the spots are worth are going to have an easier time getting advertisers. You will want to track what each of your advertisements does in terms of cost-per-click (CPC)… which you want at LEAST under 1, the lower the better.

Let’s be honest, if nobody knows that you have ads available, nobody will purchase them! You need a way to get the word out. I’ve been contacted multiple times by people through email saying “hey, I have ads available for $X a month (cheap!) so check out my blog if you are interested” and I usually purchase them if the price is right. You can do the same thing by making a generic but informal-sounding email and switching out the names and websites of bloggers that you follow.

My favorite method to get the word out is to use webmaster forums like Bloggeries or even Digital Point to tell people that you are selling advertising for a limited time at just $X a month. Make it sound like a deal, or maybe even offer some exclusive bundle packages, and you’ll be sure to get bids.

One final tip, try to never leave more than one ad slot available. Even if your demand is not high, you can always fill spots with generic affiliate marketing banners to make some extra money. Making things appear in high demand is sometimes just as good as actually having the traffic to support it. Furthermore, if you make it appear that there is “one spot left!“… you can lure all those impulse buyers in for buying up your slots.

Make An Extra Dime with Text Link Ads
I would have to say that standard text links are the least popular advertising derivatives on the internet. But you shouldn’t throw them out of your ad budget just because they aren’t sexy. You can bet on around $5 a link every month, and if you have 5 links sold out then that’s an extra $25… that’s not chump change! One thing you need to make sure of is that you don’t label them as “paid” or “sponsored” because Google might just put the smack-down on your PageRank. Instead, call them “featured” or “friends.”

How can you score more text link sponsors? I actually had some luck using the Text Link Ads network, which is in the business of reselling links for your blog. My favorite method in generating more sponsors for your text links is just like any banner, telling people about it word-of-mouth over forums. I find that text links are the easiest to sell to random visitors on your blog. Why? More than likely because they are cheap, have good exposure, and offer a great way to boost link-backs on the fly.

Bottom Line: Don’t worry about being a sell out, we all like to make money… and ads can support your blog with money to re-invest for faster growth. There are many types of ads I didn’t mention, but keep in mind that you don’t want to go over the top. Experiment with your ad rates to reach the equilibrium point between supply and demand… and watch your monthly revenue soar!

-The Net Fool

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