

Ask HN: Need some advice to Quote the Correct Price  - dzon

I run a programming site and was contacted by a big product company. They want to publish 8 product posts about their product (they will write) in the next 5 months and purchase 5 million impressions of a 125x125 ad. The product relates to the programming articles i write. I am not sure what to charge them per post and for the 125x125 ad.<p>Something about my site:
Visitors: 320K p.m with majority from US, Canada, Europe and India. 
Regular content. 11K Rss readers. 
Google PR: 5
Alexa - 30K<p>Can anyone tell me how to go about this?
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cd34
For the 125x125, take what you currently make by selling that spot, multiply
it by 3 or 4, and use that as a starting point.

As for the product posts, if you have built a brand for yourself, having
product posts that you don't have editorial control over could impact your
subscriber base. Is it a product you believe in? If not, be prepared to wrap
their product posts with some text that identifies it as a press release/paid
placement. Since it is the end of the year, they may have marketing budgets
that they need to spend, so, you might have a limited time to make a decision.

Figure out what your monthly revenue is for the site, figure out roughly how
many impressions that article would likely see, do a little division, attach a
value for goodwill - i.e. allowing them to buy placement is almost like you
making a recommendation, and find a number you're happy with.

Based on the traffic numbers and the fact that they approached you, you could
ask for $2k per placed article. If they complain, tell them that you have used
the product, like what they are doing, but have to confer with your partner -
what sort of budget did you have in mind?

Then, your partner - who could be your cat, friend, etc becomes the scapegoat
if the offer they have in mind doesn't meet your approval. Or, if their
counter offer seems reasonable to you, accept it.

Traffic is traffic. Traffic coming from a site that closely matches the
audience you want to advertise to is gold. They have identified your traffic
as appealing to their target market. You just need to set a price and take the
money.

~~~
dzon
Thank you for the time and the advice. It sounds so practical. This should
give me a headstart! Thanks again.

