Your Advertise Here Page Is Losing You Money
The average Advertise With Us page is a contact form and a promise to get back to you. It is the most expensive page on most publisher websites.
The short version
- The visitor has already decided they are interested. The page only has to let them act.
- A contact form converts a ready buyer into a queue.
- Show real placements, real prices, and who reads you.
- Replace the downloadable media kit with a portal where buyers can sign up and build a campaign.
- Test: could a buyer complete a purchase without emailing you?
What the page usually says
It usually says something like: "Interested in advertising with us? We offer a range of options to suit every budget. Contact us for our media kit." Then there is a form, or an email address.
Every element of that is friction. The visitor has to compose a message, send it into the void, and wait an unknown length of time for an unknown answer. Someone who was ready to spend money two seconds ago is now in a queue.
Why it fails
The person who lands on that page has already decided they are interested. That is the hardest part of the sale and it is already done. The page's only job is to let them act on that decision while they still have it.
Instead it introduces a delay measured in days, during which the impulse decays, the marketing manager gets pulled into something else, or a competitor with a clearer offer takes the budget.
What the page usually has
- A contact form
- A promise to send a media kit
- "Packages to suit every budget"
- A traffic number with no context
- An email address
What a buyer can act on
- Named placements with sizes and positions
- Published floor prices next to each one
- Who reads you, and why that matters to them
- A button that takes them straight into your portal
- Your approval rules, so they know what will pass
What to put on it instead
Your actual placements, with sizes and positions. Show where the ads go. A simple diagram or a screenshot of your own page with the slots marked beats any amount of description.
Your actual prices. The single biggest objection to publishing prices is that you might undercharge a big advertiser. Weigh that against the small advertisers who quietly leave rather than ask, because those are the ones you never hear about.
Who reads you. Not a traffic number in isolation, which means nothing to a buyer. Who these people are, what they care about, and why an advertiser should want their attention specifically.
A way to buy. This is the part that changes the economics. A button that leads to a portal, not a form that leads to your inbox.
What to leave out
Leave out the downloadable media kit as the primary call to action. A PDF is a delay dressed up as a resource. Keep one for the rare advertiser who asks, but do not make it the thing you are offering.
Leave out vague ranges like "packages from $X". If the real price depends on things you have not explained, explain them instead.
Leave out claims you cannot support. Inflated traffic figures are checkable and being caught costs you the deal and the reputation.
The test
Read your own page as though you were a marketing manager with a budget to spend this week. Ask whether you could complete a purchase without sending an email. If the answer is no, that page is a lead capture form, not a sales page, and the leads it captures are ones you already had.
Your own ad sales portal, live in five minutes
Advertisers sign up, add funds and build their own campaign. You approve the creative before it runs. Your existing ads keep running underneath as the fallback, so nothing comes down while you try it.
Start free trial14 days free. Your existing ads keep running. Cancel anytime.