I believe advertisers have the right to expect a return on their
investment and this Net thing is a relatively new phenomenon (as compared
with other advertising media, e.g., print, radio.) The one constant here
is the circulation, whether by listeners/viewers, or subscribers for the
paper or electronic version of the publication. For the electronic
version, a key question is how the advertiser can be assured that his
message will get to the claimed number of readers. I have over 30,000
readers and take great care to unsub consecutive bounces to the point that
I keep my bounce rate less than 1% (thus, I can confidently state that my
publication reaches 29,700 or more.) Circulation figures ARE very
important but just as important are the numbers of those who are actually
receiving this stuff in their mailboxes.
I think another component toward pricing advertising is the demographics
of the audience. I suspect a joke list will have a tougher time marketing
its ad space because of a loosely-defined market than, say, a list devoted
solely to a particular piece of software when the advertiser on that ezine
is the producer of that software.
I believe we list publishers must be able to provide some meaningful data
to advertisers and that's often hard to do. I usually cite some
measurable feedback I get from advertisers in my publication; for example,
"recent reports from advertisers with hit counters on their web sites show
an average of 1,850 hits within 12 hours of distribution of my pub." Even
that is not entirely meaningful because, as someone aptly put it,"mileage
will vary."
Your rates will have to be quite low, methinks, because your numbers are
relatively low, but there are other concerns to factor in. Whether or not
the placement of an ad on your website would be a thing of value would,
again, depend on how much traffic you get on your website. Whether you
can charge more for an ad at the top, in the middle, at the bottom of the
publication, or as the only ad appearing in the publication, that's
debatable and I don't suspect there's a lot of value in placement, except
that I do feel a publication can overdo ads. When that occurs, a great
many subscribers will exit as it becomes obvious that the publication has
become nothing more than a vessel to convey ads. We readers realize that
advertising serves to keep subscriptions free, but there is definitely a
saturation point beyond which we will look elsewhere for our information.
None of this is an exact science, so perhaps the answer to your question
is "you charge what you can get." At least that's my humble call on it.
Leif Gregory wrote:
> Hello fellow List-managers,
>
> I publish the VBOK e-zine on a monthly basis to a little over 1100
> subscribers. I've decided to allow advertisements in my newsletter,
> but I really have no idea on what to charge.
>
> Publication frequency: Monthly
> Subscriber base: 1100+
> The e-mail version is plaintext, but I also convert it to an HTML
> version which gets placed on the VBOK web site permanently.
>
> 1. How much should I charge for text advertisements somewhere towards
> the middle of the newsletter?
>
> 2. How much should I charge for text advertisements at the top of the
> newsletter?
>
> 3. How much should I charge for HTML banner advertisements somewhere
> towards the middle of the newsletter? (remember that these are
> *permanently* placed on the website.)
>
> 4. How much should I charge for HTML banner advertisements at the top
> of the newsletter? (remember that these are *permanently* placed on
> the website.)
>
> 5. How much should I charge extra for sole sponsorship (they are the
> only advertisements in the newsletter)?
>
> I have four offers for advertisements, but I just don't know how much
> to charge.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
> A Jury: 12 people who decide who has the best lawyer
>
> ------------------------------ -------------------------------------
> | Leif Gregory | Virtual Book Of Knowledge web site |
> | Editor, VBOK newsletter | <http://www.biogate.com/vbok/> |
> | Moderator, TBUDL | ICQ UIN: 216395 |
> ------------------------------ -------------------------------------
> | VBOK is a free newsletter for newbies and the advanced user with |
> | articles, web site/software reviews, security, news and much more! |
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
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