Comments on: If your news website ads aren't selling themselves, you're not ready to sell ads

By: 64.134.68.102

64.134.68.102 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:39:45 +0000

This is all well and good, but it does sort of set a bit of a ceiling for someone to start such a site, doesn’t it? You need to have the money saved up to survive without revenue for a bit. And, as we probably know, capital’s not such an easy thing to accumulate for a journalist.

By: Laurie Karras

Laurie Karras — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:01:31 +0000

I agree as well. You have to know your readers/customers/viewers. Its all about building trust and relationships. Once you become a trusted valuable source to a large enough group is when your you will be selling.

By: 76.111.4.224

76.111.4.224 — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:40:32 +0000

Couldn’t agree more. If you have to actively pursue every sale — if the business owners in the community don’t read your site and don’t know of anybody else who reads your site — then you need to focus on building an audience, not selling ads. If business owners are under the impression that everybody they know in the community is reading your site, your ads will sell themselves.

Furthermore, if you see achieving that kind of market penetration as impossible, then you need to narrow down the market you’re targeting.

Scott Brodbeck
Owner, ARLnow.com