Want to know the latest way to make money online?

It often happens that the best techniques to make money online start on the big commercial sites before filtering down to the blogosphere. After all, it’s the big commercial sites that are managed and designed by highly paid marketing teams so it’s only natural that they’ve got the best ideas and implement them first. Steal their ideas!

The latest technique: Sell your background!

Every pixel is worth money

Many website layouts involve using a solid color or image in order to create a background that borders the main content of the site. The background is often the first thing that is loaded when a site is visited and due to the size of the background, it makes perfect sense that this would be a valuable piece of property for advertisers!

For an example of this in action, check out PerezHilton.com:

The image of the robot and Svedka vodka background are part of a premium (aka expensive) advertising option available on the site. The Svedka vodka advertising team have managed to purchase an absolutely massive piece of prime advertising space that puts any 480×60 banner to shame!

A win-win situation

Background sales are a fantastic advertising option that represent many advantages to both publishers and advertisers.

Advertiser advantages:

• Size - The ad space is virtually the entire browser window and you can’t get much bigger than that!

• Impact - The background loads first on most sites which means that there is a moment when all that is seen on the site is the advertising. While it is only a brief moment on a fast internet connection, it’s the first thing that is seen and leaves a lasting impression

• Recognition - Advertising in the background appears to be part of the site and as such the audience will quickly associate the site with the brand. On a site like PerezHilton which is essentially all about being “cooler than hollywood” there is a strong message that if you want to be “cooler than hollywood” then you should be drinking Svedka vodka. Just don’t go all Mel Gibson about it!

Publisher advantages:

• High prices - The best advantage! The sheer size of the ad space means that it will command a premium price. Of course, it will depend a lot on the overall theme design, but the more background that you show - the higher price you can charge!

• Blending - Background advertising can be easily adjusted to blend into a site’s existing theme which makes it less of a “sellout” for the publisher.

• Keeping visitors - The advertising is purely about building a brand’s recognition - not traffic - which means that your visitors aren’t clicking away from your site and leaving you!

The only disadvantages that I see for the advertiser is that the visitor can’t click the background and be sent to the site. However, this in turn works as an advantage for the publisher.

From a publishing perspective, the disadvantages are that you’re giving up a large portion of your site and the advertising can distract from the main content. The background is there to border the content and make it easier to read, so if the border is cluttered the main content appears cluttered too.

It’s going to be big

Currently, this is an untapped piece of advertising revenue amongst most bloggers but it is a concept that I can definitely see taking off big time. I’m 100% sure that there are many advertisers and bloggers who would love to have their URL plastered all over a site with a large amount of visible background space and I guarantee that there would be a huge price asked for this. Imagine how much this would cost:

I wonder if www.buymybackground.com is taken?

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