Your Web site is valuable online real estate with many negotiated elements (site name, site host, Webmaster fees, ad placement, marketing, etc.). 99% of the time people walk away from serious value still on the table at the end of any negotiation. Here are a few ways to recapture that money, those eyeballs, or more services.
Get Into Ad Hosting
Your Web site is valuable online real estate. I you have been intentional enough to develop toward user-centered design and content, get yourself some pay-back by hosting advertising yourself! The key is to choose the right partners to interest your visitors and make sure their ads don't detract and all ad designs abide by your site's style guide. Think Google Adsense. Think local supplier, day care, dry cleaner, or restaurant -- especially if their business is adjacent to yours!
So, you've taken the leap into online advertisng. If you bought a banner ad (wide, horizontal) or skyscraper ad (tall, vertical), you have an opportunity for creative flexibility and serious strategy. Your thinking is probably envisioning one big ad ... but this gives you only one chance with your audience. Why not design the ad to be two complimentary ads? With subtle differences (don't make them totally contrasting), the eyeballs you don't catch with one ad, you have a second chance with on the mirrored ad.
Visitors are coming to your site through many doors opened by search engine results. This is also true for any site you choose to advertise with. As attractive as a home page ad may look, but the reality may be that most of the people you are interested in engaging are skipping the home page and are elsewhere -- news section, sports, entertainment, etc. Don't negotiate strictly expensive home page placement.
Grab
The Free Stuff
There is no need to chase your own tracking reports (visitor statistics),
even Google Analytics, if your Web host is offering those services
free with your hosting package. Always exploit the free stuff first,
we say. Now, if your free reports are inadequate to help you identify
problems and make sound changes, that's a different story.
Of course all this leads to other supporting questions:
-- What is an "interactive" ad?
-- Does it matter whether our ad will be interactive when we buy it?
-- How do we select a Web host?
-- How do we select a Web name?
-- Where is the hidden value in dealing with Web designers?
-- What are some best practices for designing ads?
We can help your planning -- email us with any negotiation questions
