Where are the local ad link ads?

Ads? huh?

• How do I handle advertising requests? They scare me. I have a blog that has been around for a few years and has reasonable traffic, especially in its niche. Up until now I have only monetized it via Google Adsense and Text Link Ads. If someone asked directly if they could advertise on the site directly, I've always referred them to Text Link Ads. But now it seems that TLA may not be a viable options (for details search for 'Google and 'text link ads') and I'm at a loss as to what to do with those requests, which come maybe once a month or so. I haven't a clue about selling ads. I have the technical knowledge to set up some kind of ad serving system but it's the sales part that has me stumped. I also don't really want to spend that much time with the ads - I'm a writer, not a marketroid. What should I do? Should I bite the bullet and set up my own ad server? Is there anything I can read to learn how to set rates and things? Should I find another ad selling service (if so, which one?) I've already ignored a couple of recent requests because I don't know what to say back to them.

• Answer:

  This may sound ridiculous, and it may even be ridiculous, but you could do it in a real home-grown way like I used to do it back in the days before google. I had a semi popular site (which now earns $100-$200/month now using Google Ads, so it's not huge but it does pay for its own hosting and a little bit of my time) and advertisers simply sent me a check for $30/month to have a spot in a random banner ad (468x60-ish) placement. These days I know that method sounds sooo passé. :) But I mean, you *could* say something like, look, this block of space earns me $X per month using the Google ads, so if you want a space of that size, you can have it all to yourself for that amount. Let's set up a PayPal payment schedule. Whether this comes across as credible depends on your site, your readership, and you, but anyway, I just thought I'd throw it out there. All the businesses I used to host ads for were small businesses and they understood that I was just one girl running a web site, and it was totally fine. (Well, that was pretty much the only way to do it anyway. At least now they can pay you via PayPal, etc.) Eventually I learned how to keep track of how many click-thrus the ads were getting, but nobody ever demanded to know such info. Those who wanted to know knew how to check their referral logs.