Price for a Link

Tracy · #1 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 05:09 AM

Hi everyone, I was contacted yesterday by somebody who wants to pay me to place a text link on one page of my site. She offered me $45.00 for an entire year.

Initially I was insulted, thinking that was way too low. I posted in another forum and, to my surprise, was told that it was a reasonable rate.

Essentially, based on the past year's page views for the particular page this person is interested in, it boils down to 1 cent per page view.

Do you think this is reasonable or should I counter-offer?

Thanks for any input.

Bingo · #2 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 11:21 AM

Its a very cheap rate. I'd never go below $10 a month, even for a site that has just been launched.

lisa · #3 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 12:32 PM

One way to determine the best price for your ads is to look at your eCPM rate (earnings per 1,000 impressions) for AdSense. Here's an example. My flat stomach site's eCPM for AdSense is $10.11 for the month. That means I earn about $10 for every 1,000 ad impressions on that site.

So let's say someone wants to place an ad on a specific page that gets 3,000 page views per month, then it would be reasonable to charge that person $30+ per month for that spot.

Using the CPM rate for AdSense is a good and fair way to determine what you should charge people for a flat rate ad.

MrT68 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 01:33 PM

I know the Poker Bloggers have been hit hard and a lot think it is because of selling text ads. Should you put the no-follow tag on a text ad? Or is the SEO a lot of what they are paying for?

lisa · #5 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 04:05 PM

MrT68, I'm not sure I'm following what you're saying. Do you mean poker blogs are getting penalized by Google for selling text ads?

ssmorgan · #6 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 08:19 PM

Tracy,

I think Lisa's formula is a great way to go about figuring this stuff out. Personally, I think $45 a year is not a bad deal for a link, though.

Do you think the link the advertiser wants to pay you to include is relevant and useful? Would you consider adding it to your site even if you were not getting paid? If yes, I would be ok with the $45.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrT68

I know the Poker Bloggers have been hit hard and a lot think it is because of selling text ads. Should you put the no-follow tag on a text ad? Or is the SEO a lot of what they are paying for?

MrT68, Based on how Tracy described it, the advertiser will pay Tracy directly, so Google won't know the difference between that link and any other link that you place on your website anyway. I am not 100% sure, but poker bloggers were penalized, because they may have been promoting poker affiliate links.

Tracy · #7 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 08:23 PM

Thanks for the great feedback. I agree that Lisa's logic makes perfect sense and, it turns out that after doing the math, $45.00 is right on target.

Good thing I checked before spouting off some ridiculous price. $45.00 is certainly better than nothing at all!

MrT68 · #8 (**permalink**) 07-16-2008, 08:59 PM

So you think it might be the sites they were linking to?

http://www.natarem.com/2008/07/03/we...-on-at-google/

It just seems like it would be risky to let someone pay for a link that is not "no-follow". I wondered the same thing...about how google might find out. But I can see how this would be a major problem for google, since it effects SEO.

ssmorgan · #9 (**permalink**) 07-17-2008, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrT68

So you think it might be the sites they were linking to?

http://www.natarem.com/2008/07/03/we...-on-at-google/

It just seems like it would be risky to let someone pay for a link that is not "no-follow". I wondered the same thing...about how google might find out. But I can see how this would be a major problem for google, since it effects SEO.

I apologize in advance that I am going off topic a little, but this is very weird. Google has recently done an update to their algorithm, which seemed to affect a lot of Google advertisers (i.e. Google Adwords users). This is at least the 3rd slap I have seen since I have been in this business, where advertisers get slapped with outrageous (i.e. $10) minimum bids. This can kill a business overnight! Thankfully, I have not been affected by the last 2 Google Adwords slaps.

But based on the article you linked, it seems that the slap has also extended in organic search results for some markets. I mean I understand that organic rankings can vary, but I do not really like the fact that overnight, a successful website can disappear. It's pretty scary, and I don't like the drastic changes that sometimes occur.

Anyway, I don't think Tracy is at risk here, because there is nothing wrong with linking to other pages. If it is a link to a relevant and useful website, I don't think Google can ever be upset about this, especially that they cannot tell that this is a "paid link".

anilg · #10 (**permalink**) 07-23-2008, 04:04 AM

Rates for a link depends upon the kind of traffic, alexa ranking and Google page rank for your website.

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