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It’s been a while since I checked in on my older posts at How I Make Money Blogging, but I completely overlooked a question by The Financial Blogger in response to the rates I quoted in September 2011. I answered it at HIMMB, but figured that I have more readers here at BFS that could benefit too:
I’m curious to know what you define as prime location for text links and how many links did you actually sold at $80-150/month (not banner or widget, just link right?). I actually sell my links (on PR4 and 5) between $50-$75/month (paypal subscription) and I’m able to keep my advertising space full. However, I get several declines from advertisers telling me my rates are too low [I think he meant high]. This is why I’m curious about who did pay more than $100 for a link on a monthly basis. Do you have any?
The sidebar ads I have received for myself range from $65-$110 a month. The higher amounts are for higher spots on my sidebar – the prime locations are at the very top of each sidebar and decrease in price from there. Right this second, I have 2 ads paying more than $100 a month. 90% of my sidebar ads are $60-$85 a month but they paid 6-12 months in advance to receive a discount.
My Suggested Rates
In general, here are the sidebar ad rates I suggest shooting for based on a site’s specific Page Rank. I will usually give up to a 25% discount if the ad is paid for in advance for 12 months and I decrease that percentage for shorter terms. The normal discounts are between 10-20%. There are of course outliers – deals that are slightly lower or higher, but the rates below are achieved for 90% of the deals I close. You can ask my clients. 
PR0 and PR1: $60 per month, $40 per month minimum
PR2: $70 per month, $50 per month minimum
PR3: $80-$90 per month depending on other stats, $50-$60 per month minimum
PR4: $80-$100 per month depending on other stats, $60-$70 per month minimum
PR5: $80-$125 per month depending on other stats, $60-$80 per month minimum
Other stats that advertisers have been interested in besides PR include Moz Rank, Alexa Ranking, how many posts per week a site has, and a site’s Domain Authority. Most of those stats can be checked out at http://www.check-domains.com/website-analysis/website-analyzer.php.
So $50-$75 a month for a PR4-5 isn’t bad if they are paying 6-12 months in advance. Otherwise, I would suggest raising those a bit higher. At the prices above for BFS, a well ranked PR4 ($60-$100 per month), I keep my ad spaces full throughout the year.
I hope this helps. It would be great if every blogger knew what their site was worth since it would mean fewer sites would be preyed upon. I really hate to hear about bloggers that are fleeced for ads at $20-$30 a month for a well ranked site. I know we all accept lower amounts once in a while when we are feeling broke, but the rates above are very feasible on an ongoing basis.
Do these rates look about right to you?
Clipped and saved to Evernote. I’m not there yet (as in no advertisers), but this is a very helpful place to start for thinking about the issue.
It does look good. Interesting to see the inside view of the average ad prices your clients receive. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Crystal. I have a question. Should I go to advertisers now that my numbers are growing or do I wait for them to come to me.
PR4
Alexa 293,326
MR 4.29
Any info would be great.
Recently, many advertisers have started using Domain Authority as an important metric. Now I need to figure out how to get that up.
That was very helpful because we cannot go to a rate sheet and use it. Many advertisers inquire and lowball you to add to the confusion.
@Thad P, hope it helps!
@MoneyforCollegePro, everyone likes a peek.
@Jai, in my experience, advertisers start emailing when a blogger gets a PR2 and above. Do you have a simple ad contact page up yet? It lets advertisers know that you are interested.
I wrote a post about it here: http://howimakemoneyblogging.com/simple-ad-page-when-you-are-ready-to-offer-advertising/
@Tushar, I wish I knew how to raise that one too…
@krantcents, exactly. Getting a low deal isn’t the end of the world, but getting a lot of bad deals in a row can be a downer once you find out.
Crystal,
Can I ask where your advertising income comes from on this site? It’s a great article. I was just surprised to see you made $3500 last month on here with what I can only see is 2 or 3 ads in the sidebar. I’m newer to this so I am learning. I love this site found it from JD and have read every post.
Also for a sidebar for clients how many adds are you blocking for? Like 1 or 2 or more.
Thanks
Seth
Great post, very informative. How difficult is it to set up ad deals for your PR 0 and PR 1 clients?
Crystal, this is awesome! I am so proud of you!
I do have a question: do you have any concerns about penalties with PR? What are your views on g’s rules?( …just thought I would leave moms name out of it ) Do you add a no follow to your links?
These are good rates according to me. I am PR 3 and my rates are very much within the range. Not a lot of buyers though. Hopefully it will improve in near future.
Crystal very nice, and helpful too! Thank you
Cheers
The Dividend Ninja
Great post! I’ve only recently started my blog, but this is a post that I’m bookmarking for the future.
All of the variables are way too much for me to try and keep track of. That’s why I feel that hiring Crystal to handle all of my advertising was possible the best task-related decision I have made when it comes to my blog.
I am huge on doing what you are proficient in, and outsourcing the rest of the tasks to people that are much more capable. That being said, I would recommend that anyone who is interested in hosting ads on their sites get in touch with Crystal and let her be your “outsource expert”!
Thanks for sharing this Crystal. We were selling ourselves short a few times.
@Seth, the biggest deals are the banner ads you see around my sidebars. I emailed you with specifics.
@Aloysa, they don’t make much but they will as their PR increases, so it is fun to watch the shift.
@Courtney, it is the trade off with direct advertising versus affiliate ads versus straight-up Adsense…everyone has to evaluate their own risk vs reward feelings.
@SB, I’m surprised – PR3′s and 4′s seem to get the slight majority of the deals in my experience.
@The Dividend Ninja, glad to help!
@Earn Save Live, great!
@Eric, thank you for the awesome endorsement!!!
@Stock Trend Investing, I did too in the beginning. That’s one of the reasons I posted this.
This is great info, Crystal. I have definitely been selling myself and my site short. Thanks!
Crystal – would you be willing (either here or HIMMB) to explain things like page rankings etc. I know all of these things are important – but I don’t really know how to figure a lot of them out. If you’ve already done this, please just point me to the post!
Interesting… I totally was selling myself short and have just begun the process with you of intentional marketing. Thanks for this post.
@Hank, you are very welcome!
@Ellen, try this one – http://www.budgetinginthefunstuff.com/moz-rank-the-preferred-ranking-system/
@Doctor Stock, no problem and I hope we have a great 2012!
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