The Art of Negotiation - How To Get A Higher Price For Your Ads
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Chances are you have advertising spots on your blog, don’t you? Even more chances are that you also have a advertise-here page at the ready, for potential advertisers. You name the price, the sponsor agrees, they pay you, and deal over. Typical, right?
But how can you both get a higher price for your ads, and build a lasting relationship with an advertiser? You have to negotiate. I mean, advertisers aren’t usually happy to dish out money, are they? Read on!
Don’t Price Your Ads
By naming your price there and then on your ‘advertise here’ page, you kill the chance of negotiation even before it’s born. You become rigid, and inflexible.
To explain, suppose you price a spot for 40 USD, and name the price openly. When a potential advertiser comes to your advertise here page, he sees the price, and if it’s even a little above his budget, he will most probably leave. Why shouldn’t he?
On the other hand, if a big corporation decides to advertise on your site, the price tag of $40 is peanuts for them, right? They go ahead and advertise at a give away price.
But by not putting a price tag on your ads, you leave room for negotiation. Leave a simple message on your advertise page so that potential advertisers can contact you. The negotiation begins here.
The Advantage of Not Naming Your Price
By not naming your price, you leave room for people to contact you, regarding the price. Instead of turning away flatly, that advertiser is likely to contact you to request a quote, and if necessary also negotiate.
This has an added advantage too: you develop relationships. Instead of a cold faced buy-pay-done process, you indulge in informal (or formal) conversation with the potential advertiser. You try to negotiate with her, and develop a relationship, which can net you long term deals too. What’s better than that?
Back to the topic:
Let Them Play Their Cards First, While You Scout
One of the biggest weapons a good negotiator has is the ability to let others speak first. You should do the same too. Once a potential advertiser approaches you, first of all, welcome him amicably: set up a comfortable and friendly atmosphere, and make the advertiser feel more comfy.
Next, ask them what their offer price is . This is vital. If you know their limitations, you can safely work around them, and come up with a deal which is suitable to them, and arrive at common ground, without exposing your limitations. By ‘your limitations’ I mean that you don’t expose what your original asking rate was. Rather, you work with what the other side has to offer. This has the psychological effect of making the advertiser feel in control of things, which gives you added benefit.
Moreover, who knows, the advertiser’s rate could be far higher than your asking rate!
You’ve got nothing to lose, by doing this. Sure, it takes more time, but building relationships is worth it! 
Scout
In the meanwhile, do check out the website of the advertiser. By analysing the website, you can determine a fair price for your ad. If it is a large corporation that wants to advertise, you can safely ask for a higher rate. If however, it is a small to medium blogger, you could ask a lower rate, to make it affordable for them.
Negotiate
If the advertiser’s offer seems too low to you, try negotiating. Try to increase it a little, and support the increase with valid points.
Suppose the advertiser is a large corporation, but their offer seems very low. Suggest a higher rate, and gently explain why you think it is too low. Be friendly and amicable, and make it look like you’re always approachable for negotiation. This will loosen up advertisers, and make the whole process easier for them.
And so, if you have valid reasons and a persuasive enough supporting argument, it just might convince the advertiser
And oh, if the offer price is higher than what you expected, don’t hesitate: accept right away!
The Key
The key is to always negotiate. Make it seem like the advertiser is in control. Make it you-you-you instead of me-me-me. Don’t give up too soon. Try to reach common ground and a fair compromise.
Sometimes, you have to make a compromise. Give some take some, right? Don’t be stubborn; agree to lower the price sometimes. A few extra dollars are not worth a damaged relationship! 
Also, it takes practice to become perfect in anything that you do. It’s the same for negotiation skills. As you do more and more ad deals, you’ll learn the tools of the trade, and will become a more efficient bargainer!
Further Reading
Here’s more stuff on this topic:
Marketing Your Ad Space: How to Create Your Own Direct Advertising Sales Package
The Blogger’s Guide To Building Your Own ‘Advertise Here’ Page
Your Thoughts?
How do you handle private advertisement deals on your website? Is this guide helpful? Please let me know!
And oh, having said that, there are open ad slots available on this blog. The first 4 advertisers get a special deal! Contact me now!
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Cover Image By: katesheets
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good points. i read once that it really is key to get the other party to name their number first. it’s always possible to negotiate it down. much harder to negotiate up.
Kouji, thanks for dropping by..
and yes, good observation
Muhammad - I’ve not yet stepped into the world of blog ads over at How Did I Get Here - I’ll remember to keep my hand close when I decide to make the leap
Agreed, displaying your ad asking price is a big mistake. I used to do it on my blog network in the past, and missed out on potentially a lot of money. Now, since I’m negotiating my deals, I’m much better off.
Thanks for this article. I’m always interested in negotiating tips and this one is especially interesting because it relates to blog advertising.
It may be of interest to you and your readers to check out an article I wrote on negotiating tips for more general use. I hope it’s okay to post that link here.
http://tycoondreams.com/blog/2008/09/negotiation-tips-for-closing-deals-in-business-and-in-life/
Tycoon Dreamer
Tycoon Dreamer, thanks for dropping by… and thanks for the link too, I’m sure it’ll be helpful!
When Google redid their algorithms recently my site went to a PR4 and then I started getting requests for to place ads on the site. It was completely unexpected and I hadn’t planned for it. I have adsense and I have had “advertise here” spots that I filled wiht affiliate links etc.
I didn’t want to say no right away but I didn’t know about pricing etc for link sales. I am happy to say what this posts says is exactly what i had done. They asked for a price and I had them name a price. Of course too low. Then I made a counter offer. They didn’t accept but made another counter. I thought about it but did some research and it was not enough money. I was friendly the whole time. Iwaited 1 week before getting back with the final answer.
I said I’m sorry we cannot reach an agreement, I’m going to have to decline your latest offer, but thank you for the interest. Well, the next day I had an email agreeing to my original counter offer and basically begging me for the spot.
I guess I have to learn about private sales because now I am getting offers. My original offer was probably to low even but I had no idea what to ask for. I’m going to read the articles in the links above to see about it. Thanks again for the great article.
Thanks so much for this post. I have just made some changes to my advertise page and this helped me a lot. I was going to put buy it now buttons but not setting a price is a much better idea.