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(please remember what is stated below are *my opinions*.  No names are mentioned, nor will they be.  please do not be rude in the comments.  if you don’t agree, feel free to say so politely, or I will delete the comment. thanks!)

A couple of weeks ago I was emailed rates for advertising.
They were seeking me out to advertise.  Which is fine.  I get a lot of those.
I see the rates and about faint.  This has happened only twice.  The almost fainting due to sky high ad rates.
And let’s face it.  I didn’t almost faint really.  But I did say “are they serious?” out loud.
This prompted a few comments on Twitter about advertising, and what is this world coming to, and pretty soon no small business is going to be able to afford advertising.  OK, so you may be thinking I am being a bit dramatic, but am I, really?

The first time I almost “fainted” over advertising, was because the price was so high that I literally shouted “What the …” H E double hockey sticks.  Yep.  I cuss like a sailor but not on here, m’kay?  This website/blog had just started offering advertising.  And their rate was $700 a MONTH!  Seven Hundred Dollars.  That did not include a giveaway which was an *additional* $300!!!  Now we’re talking $1000.  $1000 could get me an ad in a small magazine!  I politely declined.  (though I wanted to ask what they were thinking, I refrained).

I have a hard time justifying high ad prices.  I mean there are so many blogs out there that have a HUGE following, but have super reasonable rates.

Anyway.  The rant on Twitter prompted several people to ask me what I thought was reasonable.

So here it is.  I really can’t answer that question.  But for me, reasonable is not $1000 a month.  Reasonable is not even $200 a month when the blog is new at offering advertising.  Why do you need that much?  And I have heard it from blog owners before… if you value your blog you’ll charge what you think you’re worth.  Well, I’m sorry.  I don’t agree.  Charging someone $1000 a month is insane.  There, I said how I really feel.  I have felt so many times that blog owners are getting carried away.  They’re getting greedy.

Now, maybe I am just too thoughtful.  So what if I am?  I like helping others.  I like seeing other prosper and succeed.  And I feel by charging such high amounts for ads on our blogs is just holding people back.  Now, I realize this really is non of my concern.  I get that.  I know that.  But for me it’s still a concern.  As I try and seek out places to advertise, or people seek me out, well, I have to think about this, do I not?  And I’m sorry, but I do think about others too.  I can’t help it.

While I know some blog for money, and some blog for fun, and some blog for business, or whatever, I just don’t get why the prices go so high.  Now some of the prices I would pay.  For instance.  If The Pioneer Woman was offering advertising or Dooce or names like that.  Then yeah.  Paying $500 a month would be justified.  They have several hundred thousand followers.  And that $500 could help me get out there more.

But paying $100 a month for a blog that has 100 followers is just not my bag baby.  I have to think wisely with my money.  I need a return on my investment at least 80% of the time for my advertising dollars to make sense.  Now I am hoping that I am making sense.  Am I?

I have been thinking a lot lately about sidebar ads as well.  About how they have become the norm.  Everyone has sidebar ads.  I get to the point now where I don’t even look at the sidebar, because it no longer catches my eye.  This is one reason I no longer offer sidebar ads and only offer weekly blog post sponsorships.  Because now-a-days people are using Google Reader or some other form of easy blog reading.  Sidebar ads are not seen on those.  However.  If you are having a giveaway on a blog or are sponsoring a week of posts, or someone is reviewing a product of yours, then you’ll be seen every. single. time.

And can I ask something else?  Some people are taking on so many sponsors that their entire sidebar is FULL of ads.  How does this get anyone noticed?  They all blur together and it’s so overwhelming you end up dashing off the page because you’re so overstimulated!  What I have also noticed happening is those with too many ads on their blog can not do 1 giveaway at a time.  So group giveaways are starting.  Let me be frank.  Group giveaways are ridiculous.  It’s like the mass grouping off ads.  Your brain can’t think.  There is not enough time to go to everyone shop.  You get all shaky and panic because you JUST CAN NOT HANDLE IT.  Ok.  I am being so dramatic!  LOL!  My point is… group giveaways take away from the point of advertising.  You advertise to get noticed not to be herded into a mass group like cattle and be looked over.  As a business owner we want our own attention, yes?  We want to be noticed we want to show off our stuff and when we pay for advertising and giveaways we want the giveaway to be us and us alone, right?  (I sound like I am starting a revolution or something)

My main point of all of this is, at what point do we say “no more”?  At what point to the ad rates stop climbing so high and so out of reach?

What say you?

xo,