Should You Sell Ads On Your Website Directly?

For many websites, both large and small, display advertising is often one of the most meaningful sources of revenue. Many publishers elect to take the simplest and easiest route to a display advertising paycheck, enrolling with display ad networks such as Google AdSense to fill their inventory.The alternative, of course, is to sell ads directly to advertisers, cutting out the middle man and keeping the entire amount for yourself. Most publishers could make significantly more money from their websites if they were able to sell display ads directly to advertisers and remove ad networks from the process entirely. But that doesn't necessarily mean you should dive right in; direct ad sales aren't appropriate for everyone.Below we pose four questions to help you determine if you should focus energy on cultivating direct ad relationships. (By the way, if you’re enjoying this article, you may want to subscribe to our free newsletter; we’ll send monetization tips straight to your inbox each day.)

Do You Have A Boatload Of Traffic?

For smaller publishers and websites, direct ad sales might not be a huge priority. Ask yourself how much additional money you stand to make if you're successful in your efforts to go direct; if the answer is a big number, it might make sense to move forward.Below is a screenshot from Google AdSense that outlines the revenue share ratios in effect for most publishers:In other words, Google gets 32% of the amount advertisers pay to appear on every site in its network. But the dollar translation of that will vary considerably. If your site generates $10,000 in monthly revenue, you're effectively paying Google $3,200 every 30 days to manage your ad sales process. If you're able to sell directly, it could mean another $35,000+ in annual revenue. (Note that this assumes zero "uplift" in the rates you're able to demand by establishing direct ad sales relationships; some publishers will be able to increase both the gross CPM advertisers pay as well as their cut.)If, however, your site is making $100 a month in display advertising your upside ($32) is going to be much smaller. It's probably not worth investing both time and money to potentially make another few bucks a month.Bottom Line: If your site gets significant traffic--use 50,000+ visits a month as a rule of thumb--there could be major upside to selling directly.

Do You Have A Valuable (Read: Targeted) Audience?

If you have a valuable audience, it's very possible that you're not being compensated sufficiently for the ads you display to them. Display ad networks tend to charge too little for valuable audiences, since they get thrown in with the rest of the lower quality sites.An audience doesn't necessarily have to be rich to be valuable to advertisers. In fact, it's more important that your audience is targeted--consisting of visitors with common interests. For example, an audience consisting entirely of teenage video game enthusiasts likely doesn't have a very high average net worth or household income. But it will still be extremely attractive to game and console manufacturers.Bottom Line: If your audience shares common interests (and buying habits) your site could be attractive to certain advertisers looking to purchase directly from publishers.

Are There Active Endemic Advertisers?

A large and targeted audience may make your site a great fit to sell ads directly. But that supply of high quality ad inventory is relatively worthless if there isn't any demand for it from would be advertisers. In order to have a chance at success in direct ad sales, you need to be able to identify potential clients to whom you can pitch your site.Note the word "active" in the question above. There are logical potential advertisers for just about any niche imaginable--meaning that there is probably someone out there who should be advertising on your site. But it's really only relevant if they are actively advertising. (Many companies have no marketing budget and couldn't run on your site even if they wanted to.)Sticking with our example above, a gaming site would have plenty of potential advertisers; companies are regularly promoting new games and consoles, and often have significant advertising budgets to reach out to targeted audiences.Bottom Line: Direct ad sales will be much easier if there are advertisers who logically belong on your site and are actively spending on promotion. If you can easily think of multiple advertisers who you see elsewhere on the Web (or even on your own site) and who would be a good fit with your audience, you might be on to something.

Do You Have Direct Relationships?

You might not think to ask yourself this question when contemplating selling ads directly, but it's incredibly important. Perhaps the hardest part about direct ad sales is making the correct contact--getting a "decision maker" to respond to your call or email. Direct relationships with potential advertisers, however informal, can be leveraged into more formal arrangements that send you revenue.Bottom Line: If you have any direct relationships with companies that might advertise on your site, you're a lot closer to selling ads directly than you might think. Don't be afraid to approach them about the topic; if you really do have a targeted and relevant audience, you have an extremely valuable service to offer them.

So...Should You Sell Directly?

If you answered "yes" to more than one of the questions above, there may be an opportunity for you to significantly increase the revenue your site is generating by investing some of your time in direct ad sales. That is often a long and challenging process, but can be quite lucrative if done correctly. We'll be posting plenty more on direct ad sales strategies here in coming weeks; sign up for our free newsletter to get these ideas delivered straight to your inbox.