eXtra For Every Publisher

I haven’t got to do much traveling this year, having instead spent my money on getting married, and buying a house, but over on Daily Blog Tips, there is a great post about being a traveling blogger and I couldn’t agree more with the article.

Here is a snippet from the post:

Don’t be afraid to use pen and paper. You may or may not have access to a computer on your trip. As it turns out, though, it’s possible to manually etch your writing onto paper with a stylus. I know it sounds crazy, but it actually works. Sure, you can’t actually post to your blog, and there’s no automatic spell check, but you can always take care of those details later. The important thing is to write, so don’t be afraid to break out a pen and paper when the need arises.

Before I bought my laptop, I did this all the time. I would write out a list of points I wanted to cover, some sentences or paragraphs I wanted to include and some other miscellaneous notes to make sure that my post would come together nicely when I sat back at my computer.

You don’t need to write out every word you will use in your post, but if you don’t record your thoughts at the time, and you are anything like me, the detail, and the emotion will be lost from the post when you later try to recollect what you wanted to say.

A great post for the traveling blogger.

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This post is really just for me to record how well things are going here at eXtra for Every Publisher and so only read the following if you are interested in my stats and/or are willing to help me continue to grow this site. Read the rest of this entry »

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So 451 Press, the self-proclaimed largest blog network, has put up its new payment model, and I can’t say that I am impressed with it. I tried to comment yesterday on their recent post, but my comment is still being held for moderation.

Not only does the post lack information, but when I add up the numbers, compared to the work that you would have to put in, it looks like writers would receive less than minimum wage. This of course is once the whole system is broken down to dollars per hour.

Here is their new payment model:

0 - 2 Month Bloggers
$0.50 Per Post & $1.50 CPM

3 - 5 Month Bloggers
$1.00 Per Post & $1.50 CPM

6 - 11 Month Bloggers
$1.50 Per Post & $1.50 CPM

12 - 17 Month Bloggers
$2.00 Per Post & $1.50 CPM

Raises, Good, Lack of Detail, Bad

The first thing I noticed was missing was an explanation of the time element. If I have blogged for two years with another network, and then came over to 451 Press, would I start at the 0-2 month mark, or at the 12-17 month mark? There is a huge difference in the payment amount, and so this should be described better.

Smart CPM Idea, But Bad Deal

Today, I also talked about what CPM is and how it relates to advertising. 451 Press is using CPM as part of their payment model, which will reward writers for traffic. This is pretty much the only part of their deal that makes sense to me. If 451 Press makes $3 CPM from an advertising position, then they are paying one half of their advertising revenue to their writers. This is great if the blog is getting hundreds of thousands of visitors each day.

The biggest issue I have with this is that I know 451 Press is making more than $3 CPM as they are probably making that from each advertising position, so really the writer is getting one half of the revenue from one advertisement. This is not a good deal for the writer. The rate should be $1.50 CPM per advertisement on the site rather than $1.50 CPM for the site.

Calculating It All Out

So, let’s say 451 Press puts me at their highest rate of $2 per post and $1.50 CPM.

I work really hard and produce 40 posts over the course of a month. That instantly earns me $80 for my efforts.

The site gets 20,000 page views, which earns me another $30.

So for a month of work, I have earned $110. Sounds pretty good for blogging right? What if I told you that it took me on average an hour to research, write and promote every two posts?

I know that is pushing it to the long side of things, but there are very few blogs that easily get 20,000 page views in the first few months, so we have to suspend our disbelief a bit, and this is just to experiment.

So it took me nearly 20 hours to write my 40 posts during the month. With a pay check of $110 from my work, that means I made $5.50 an hour from my work.

While that isn’t lower than the minimum wage in some states, it is much lower than the minimum wage here in Ontario, Canada.

Remember, this is the higher end of the spectrum for 451 Press, and newer bloggers will get paid far less for their efforts.

Does this seem fair?

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Over on Can I Make Big Money Online there is a post about the Top Five Online Business Killers. They are fear, procrastination, politics, lack of planning and excuses.

In my work I have had to deal with all of these issues, and while they can be business killers, if you can combat these issues, you will come out of it stronger and better than before.

Here is a sample from the article:

Procrastination: Businesses don’t start or grow if everything can wait until tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, a procrastinator will still wait until tomorrow. This causes a vicious Catch 22: tomorrow is never tomorrow when it arrives and you can wait another day. So if you want to get anything done, get rid of your procrastination.

Each of these points almost deserve their own article, as the post doesn’t talk about combatting any of these issues, but it is still a good guide of what you want to avoid.

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As you look at advertising on other blogs, forums, and websites, you might come across advertising rates that are broken down into CPM.

CPM stands for Cost Per Mille, or basically cost per thousand views. So if a site has its advertising set at $5 CPM and gets 10,000 page views, then the cost to you is $50.

Some advertising doesn’t give you the CPM value, but it can still be quite important to calculate this yourself as a larger site with more traffic might seem like a good deal, until you realize you are paying $100 for every 1000 advertisement views.

The formula to calculate the CPM is:

CPM = Cost of Ad / (Page Views / 1000)

The standard for most blogs seems to be around the $3 CPM mark, as this is the point where the site is able to profit from their work, and the advertiser doesn’t feel like he or she is getting a bad deal.

Depending on the site though, CPM rates can vary from $0.01 all the way up to $100. Really, as an advertiser or a site owner you have to decide what is most worthwhile to you.

Read/WriteWeb, a very popular site I enjoy, has a CPM of $20. And so for a 160×600 Banner on their site, the minimum cost for 20,000 impressions is $400.

TechCrunch advertises a CPM of around $3. An advertising campaign with them for a 125×125 pixel graphic is $10,000 per month and requires a two month commitment.

eXtra for Every Publisher has a variety of advertising positions open, and using last months statistics, which we are blowing out of the water this month, you will see that my advertising rates are between $1 CPM and $2 CPM, which is well below the industry standard.

Why would a site owner go below the $3 CPM mark?
I can think of two reasons of the top of my head, and eXtra for Every Publisher fits the first one: age and traffic focus.

eXtra for Every Publisher is a new site, having been created in July of this year, but because of how focused the traffic is, and how popular the site has become in such a short time, I think the advertising options here are an amazing deal.

The second reason why sites go below the $3 CPM mark is usually because they don’t have focused traffic. Sites like personal blogs, or generic informational sites are so broadly focused that their can be a limitation in how much success advertisers have, and as such, they don’t want to pay as much. A smart website owner will understand this, and adjust their advertising rates accordingly.

When do you go above $3 CPM?
If you have built up a powerful brand, a popular site, and have decided to further monetize your site, then you can raise the rates of your advertising.

I think that there does come a point though where you will hopefully get so much traffic that you can charge $3 CPM and make $10,000 a month, but until that point, if you are the resource for a subject, and you know you can find advertisers willing to pay beyond the $3 CPM mark, then raise your rates.

You will know if you have gone too far as you won’t be able to sell your advertising positions, even with hard work.

The last thing you will want to consider is the amount of space you are giving an advertiser, and its positioning. Larger advertisements and premium advertising space usually goes for higher rates than positions lower on the page and in smaller spots.

Final words
Getting advertisers, and setting your rates can be very difficult. If you price too low, then you will have a full slate of advertisers, but you won’t be getting the most revenue return for your effort. If you price too high, then you will have a hard time securing advertisers, and again may not make much revenue for your efforts.

Also, as a site grows and changes, it continues to become a balancing act. There are some who have done very well for themselves through advertising, both at higher CPM rates, and lower CPM rates. It all depends on the site, the advertisers, and the owner.

If you are looking for advertising that is focused on web development, making money online, problogging, and WordPress, then I suggest you check out my advertising page and contact me today.

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