Another request from 'big' company for an ad

[r2d2]

Following on from Elvie's recent thread (http://www.websitepublisher.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5499), I have been contacted by a marketing company working for a big house insurance firm. They have asked to put a text link on my house buying guide site (in sig). Following advice from Elvie's thread, I asked him what he was willing to pay (also told him traffic levels).

He has offered £30 (~$55) per month for a link on the homepage. Last month stats:

>Uniques: 2235
>Total Visitors: 3562
>Total Page views: 16785

with homepage having around 2500 views. So works out about $22CPM.

Given this is property insurance field, could I be looking for a bit more than this - what do others think?

[Chris]

Well, one thing you have to consider is that you're taking a risk in selling links, and while it is remote, if the hammer falls on anyone it'll be you, not them.

So if they wanted some very specific anchor text (ie are doing this for SEO purposes) you might want to charge more for the added risk.

[r2d2]

Hmm, what exactly is the risk? What hypothetical hammer would fall?

'Punishment' by Search Engines? Or is having this with adsense an issue?

[Cutter]

"bad neighborhoods" In other words, it may associate your site with search engine spammers, assuming that the guy buying the link is one.

By the way, I noticed you've changed the layout for house buying guide. How is that working for you?

[r2d2]

Ah ok - just checked, and they are in the top 20 on Google UK for 'home insurance' and 'house insurance' (without quotes). Would this suggest they aren't in a bad neighbourhood? (I'm assuming they want a link direct to the client's site, not a redirect or something from the marketing company's website...)

New design is good thanks - tried to keep the Adsense advice you gave me for the last layout, and CTR is similar. Need to move the homepage square above the fold though....

[Chris]

Google just banned link vault apparently. They don't like paid links.

A link with carefully crafted anchor text looks paid and more spammy than a link that uses the company's actual name.

[r2d2]

Ok, thanks - I will remember that. We hadn't discussed link text yet.

You think I should go for more though - maybe ask for £50, settle at £40?