Sponsorships & Direct Advertising Methods

This model is very general and can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. In a nutshell, this process involves having one company or brand that will "sponsor" or advertise on your website exclusively. You'll place their ads similar to how you would have placed the Google ads around your website and promote their products and services. Most of the time these arrangements are done for a period of time - say 6 months - in order to test out how it works and to adjusting pricing and cost.

Benefits Of Direct Advertising & Sponsorships

1. Makes you more money. Most of the time anyway, and specifically when compared to the Google pay-per-click model. This is because it cuts out the middle-man in the process (in our case Google) who would traditionally take a cut of the spend almost like a broker fee.

2. Saves the advertiser money. For the same reason that it makes you more money, it also saves the advertiser money by cutting out the middle-man.

3. Consistent cash. Most of the time these are done on a per-month price. It could be something like a few hundred dollars per month for 6 months to be the exclusive sponsor on your blog. This is usually much more consistent earnings than compared with a pay per click model.

Downsides Of Direct Advertising & Sponsorships

1. More difficult to arrange. Since you will need to do your own negotiations and find the companies to advertise on your site by yourself, it will be much more challenge to finalize the arrangement.

2. You need to be a little more established. It's going to be more difficult to convince a company to sink money directly into your blog if you haven't been around for very long. When you first get started you can always add a Google ad to your website without any trouble, but it will be tougher to get a specific company on board without some credibility and an established blog in your industry.

Where To Find Companies To Contact

The best way to find companies to contact about sponsorships or advertising directly on your website is via Google. Go to Google and search for products or services in your industry. Search keywords that are related to your blog. See who appears as the sponsored or paid ads at the top or side of Google. These are a good starting point because they are companies that already pay for advertising online and they will be more open to chatting about a direct approach.