Advertising on Blogs is Beneficial in More Ways Than One

Advertising online Versus Advertising Offline

When you place an ad on a blog that is relevant to your own website or blog you are probably assuming that most of your traffic will come from the ad itself. This makes sense because visitors to the blog will see your ad and then hopefully take action by contacting you about your product or service or by clicking on a link which would take them to your own website or blog. This makes sense because this is similar to how advertising works offline. You place an ad in the newspaper, on tv, etc. People see your ad and then hopefully take action. However, there is one extra benefit to advertising online - backlinks!

What are backlinks? Backlinks are the links that point to your own website or blog and can be achieved in many different ways. For example, if someone likes your website and posts a link to it on a forum it's a backlink. If someone mentions you on their own website or blog then that is also a backlink. Backlinks are a good thing because they help Google decide just how important they think your site is, and the more relevant backlinks the better.

Unfortunately you can't always depend on someone else backlinking to your site, especially if it's a new site. This is where advertising on blogs has some really good advantages. For example, if you have a website it is important to get backlinks to it to help it rank well with Google - and the higher you rank with Google the more traffic you can get on your website or blog.

Why Advertise on Blogs instead of Elsewhere?

There is nothing wrong with advertising on other websites or with online classifieds. However, Google loves blogs and indexes them rather quickly. If a blogger adds a new post Google usually finds it pretty quickly and, if the blog owner has a following then visitors will also get notified about an update, encouraging them to visit the blog.

Ways to Advertise on a Blog

There are countless ways to advertise on someone's blog but how you do it depends on what they offer. Some blog owners will place your button or banner on their home page while others may place your ad on their blog as a blog post with an in-text link. Some blog owners may offer a link for a specific time, such as 30 days, while others may give you a permanent link. Permanent links are an advantage. However, advertising for just a short time on a busy blog may bring you plenty of immediate exposure and if you are happy with the results you can renew your ad as needed.

Choosing a Blog to Advertise on

When choosing a blog to advertise on you should look for one that is relevant to what you have to offer to get the right people looking at your offer. Relevancy is of the utmost importance since it doesn't matter how busy the blog is if visitors aren't interested in your ad. For example, if you are on a blog about work at home opportunities how likely are you to click on an ad about shoes? You also want to advertise on a blog that is at least 90 days old and is updated regularly, such as weekly or bi weekly.

The cost of your ad will depend on the age of the blog, how much traffic it gets and where your ad is placed. Popular blogs will of course be more costly. Don't discount the smaller blogs though since a smaller blog that is interesting and is updated often will most likely see an increase in traffic over time. And remember, even if you don't get direct traffic from the blog the backlink is still useful in helping your own blog or website rank well with Google.