Ideas to promote your self-service advertising program

Website owners are well aware that selling their own ad space is a great way to earn revenues, but many find themselves frustrated at the result. There are many self-service programs out there, but not all of them offer what advertisers are looking for. There is a definite market out there, and you can capture a portion of it with your own self-service advertising program if you know how to promote it and your website has enough traffic and quality viewership. Here are some tips you can use to promote your own self-service ads:

Prepare a media kit

Rather than spending time sending the same reply to potential advertisers, put together a comprehensive media kit that explains what your advertising program is about and its benefits. Get into details about demographics, quality of audience, payment schedules, performance metrics, and any other benefits that you think would be selling points to those clients.

Placeholder ads

Filling up all available ad placements with paid ads can be a challenge initially. However, putting a placeholder banner or text ad is simple. You can let potential advertisers preview how their ads might display using the placeholders. A good adserver will allow you to automatically fallback to house ads or placeholder ads when there is no premium paying ad to display.

Links below ads

Even if you have real ads displaying, you can include a text link "Advertise Here" below the ad placement to promote your self-service advertising program. This allows potential clients who want to be featured in the same placement to click on and find out more about the ad program and the cost to display their ads at that specific location.

Free trial

If you are having trouble enticing new clients to try your service, why not offer them a limited free trial? People are more likely to pay for a service if they can test the waters to see what sort of results they get. Depending on your ad pricing model, you can limit the free trial to a number of days or a certain number of impressions. It is important to have desirable performance metrics such as an above average click-through ratio or a decent conversion rates if you want to convert a trial advertiser into a paying advertiser.

Special offers

Another great way to lure in new clients is with special offers and coupon codes. Everyone likes a deal, and getting a discount on advertising is something that a lot of advertisers will find difficult to pass up.

Link from main website

Give advertisers the chance to be featured on your site by asking them to write a testimonial praising your advertising program. You could also promote it in your newsletters and your social network feeds.

Multiple ad formats

Do not limit the self-service ads to just banners or text ads. Go with an ad server that supports self-service ads in many different formats. The more formats you have available to clients, the more ways you have to make money. Advertisers also get more flexibility and choices when they place an ad with you.