Expert: Peter Gabany - 12/18/2005

Question
Hi there,
I run a web site hosting images and files to be downloaded for a small fee. My question is:
What do i need to do and where should i look to get 3rd party advertising on the pages that my customers browse?
I've seen many such page banners and would like to get some revenue in from my customers when they search my site.
Many thanks,

David.

Answer
David,

Banners are an ok approach to do what you wish. I believe what it is that you do is host an image bank - somewhat like gettyimages.com? You might like look at sites that would use images like those that you are trying to move. If you had nature type images you might look to National Geographic's site or Science Magazine. If many of the images are business in nature then you might like to advertise on USA Today or Fast Company. But if it were my $$$ regardless of site specialization or the offer I would invest in a Pay-per-click (PPC) program with Overture or Google Ad Words.

This program takes some doing, some commitment and a modest budget. Befor proceeding I emplore you to have someone conduct a key phrase analysis for your type of site. With the top ranking key phrases you will need to “salt” your site with these relevent phrases - directly into your page titles and descriptions as well any content describing  your product/service.

From there assign a budget for PPC - from as low as $50 per month to - well the sky is the limit. Monthly tracking and reporting will allow you to adjust your PPC spend and determine the conversion from your efforts.

Conversion is simply for every $ you spend, how much are you getting back. We have one client that regularly spend $1,600 each month to derive $380,000 in sales. Not a bad investment! The only reason that they don't increase the PPC spend is because they could not deliver the quality products and service that their clients expect. Once they have more staff and more facility they plan to boost their PPC spend.

We work on PPC, and banner ads for that matter, If you wish some help, please don't hesitate to ask. promote@limelight.org

Pete