Active or Passive Approach to Finding Advertisers?

[randfish]

At SEOmoz.org, I'm about to re-launch with a couple advertisers serving up banners (much in the same way that SEW, SERoundtable, TW, etc. do them). My question is - should I actively contact the advertisers I see on other similiar sites and see if they are interested in a banner, or should I simply put the text - advertise here - and let people contact me after they've found the site?

Which would be your preference and why?

This could obviously be adapted and applied to any site seeking advertising in a similiar manner, but I want to take the right approach from the start.

[Jenstar]

I have a simple link with something like "advertise here" that leads to a page listing ad availability and ordering. I use the KISS method by having everything a potential advertiser needs to know (ad specs, date availability, stats, price) as well as everything they need in order to get it up and running - links to pay for and submit their ad copy right then and there.

It saves the hassle of back and forth, and you can get impulsive advertisers ordering on the spot - when they have time to think about it while waiting to hear back on ad details before they can actually submit their order, they could lose interest or find another site that was willing to take their money then and there.

[seobook]

you could actively contact me :) send me an email (my username @ gmail.com) w rates, specs, & whatnot.

I think the key to advertising is to either hook up a friend or a few friends off the start, or contact people that you know well. why? in many markets people are afraid to be the first to market because the lack of sold inventory makes them question the value.

by giving the appearance that some of the ad slots are sold it makes the ad buy look like less of a risk.

on any advertising driven site you should want to have at least one or a few ads which make other potential advertisers interested in the idea by presenting the illusion of value and desire by other competitors. sometimes people can not see the value until their competitors do. most companies and people are not very innovative and just follow other competitors around.

recently while selling ad space on a site I had a company specifically ask if some of their other competitors were buying ads there yet. I said they were but the ads were not up yet. they delayed. I put the ads for competitors up. then they were interested.

SEO is a somewhat small community, so many of us know each other well enough to just say hi or ask. I probably would not recommend asking someone unless you felt like you knew them well. many people in the SEO arena are ahead of the curve on seeing value and I could probably think of at least a couple other people that would want to advertise on your site besides me if the rates are decent. If I think the ad buy price is good I will mention your site to them.

I also like the idea of making the ad buy an impulse thing, like AdBrite or BlogAds do.

[rustybrick]

I personally never go out to folks to advertise on my blog. But that has nothing to do with the best method. I know real publishers have advertising departments that make commissions on selling ads. They actively seek out advertisers.