Your website is an invaluable resource that showcases all that your student media organization has to offer, from breaking news to how to get involved. In this guide, we’ll cover how to develop advertising capabilities for your site.

Before we delve into building advertising options, let’s review some basics to ensure your website is primed for adding new features. 

‍Clean design

‍Make sure your site is easy to navigate and user-friendly. Don’t bury your latest content or over-clutter the landing page. 

Up-to-date coverage

‍Display the most recent content on your homepage and at the top of each section, to demonstrate your organization as a reliable source of information. 

Content tabs

‍Having defined content tabs allows users to easily navigate to the topics they need.

Contact information

Include your organization's contact information on your site, so when clients want to connect with you about advertising, you are easily reachable. 

‍How to get started with website advertising

First, take a moment to think about where you’ll place ads on your website. Students are used to seeing advertising everywhere, so as long as your ad experience isn't disruptive, your ads won't be any different.

We recommend starting with these placements

• Leaderboard  720 x 90: Located centered below your logo.
• Banners 468 x 80: Placement centered between articles, or in-text.
• Rectangle 180 x 150: Placement is located on the sidebars of your website.

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These positions can generate revenue without overwhelming readers. If you’re just starting, test different placements to optimize both user engagement and advertiser results.

How to price website ads

Advertisers generally pay between $5-$10 per 1,000 impressions (page views) for local website ads. You can simplify this into flat monthly pricing tiers based on the amount of traffic your website receives. 

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If your site generates more than 100,000+ impressions, consider CPM-based tiers. Use this formula to calculate your total rate:

*(Impressions / 1000 ) x CPM = Total Cost

For example, a website that gets 20,000 impressions per month and charges $10 CPM would charge an advertiser $200/month.

*Please note that this will require more legwork, as you will have to keep an eye on the number of impressions your site generates. 

How to sell it

When pitching this product to potential advertisers, it’s essential to focus on the unique advantages that your website provides:

Highlight insights about your website impressions.

Advertisers want to know about the audience you are targeting; use trackable impressions and click-through rates to paint a clear picture. Like …

• Total page impressions: the overall number of page views across your site.
• Impressions by page or section: break down where impressions occur on the homepage, specific categories, articles, etc.
• Unique visitors: how many individual users see pages.
• Time per visit: how much time an individual spends on the site or page.

‍Explain how your website is an integral part of your campus.

Let them know how students and faculty seek out your organization as a go-to source for campus and local news. 

Incorporate eye-catching images as proof of concept.

Include high-resolution photos of the ad placements, along with dimensions and how they will appear on your site. 

What if we don’t have the bandwidth?

If your organization consistently uploads content to your website, it won’t require a lot of heavy lifting to get website advertising up and running. 

Flytedesk digital

Flytedesk Digital are premium ad units that pay a rate of $15 CPM for every unit while live on your website. 

The best part about Flytedesk Digital units is that they do not interfere with your available ad units for local buyers, because we serve them separately in select premium spaces only. 

What’s next?

Ready to add website placements to your advertising catalog? 

Reach out to your Flytedesk account manager today for additional help getting started.

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