Thank you for your interest in advertising at Life In Student Ministry! There are several basic options available that serve as a reference point. Contact me directly to talk more or pursue any of these options, or to discuss other ideas.

Sidebar Ads

A 125×125 pixel ad block in the sidebar costs $50 for 25,000 impressions (runs for approximately 2 weeks). If you wish, you may provide several 125×125 ads to run together for your product or service. The ad system I use will automatically determine which of your ad is the most effective at sending traffic your way and will display that ad more than the others. A full report of each ad image’s performance is available upon request at the conclusion of the advertising agreement.

Audio

A 10-20 second audio ad before podcast recordings are $75 for 4 podcasts (approximately 300-1,000 plays/downloads upon initial release). Typically, you provide the audio ad for me to use, but that can be negotiated if you need me to create it for you.

Listen to an example of an audio advertisement here and here.

Video

A 15 second video ad before YouTube YM training videos are $75 for 4 videos (approximately 300-1,000 plays/downloads upon initial release). Again, typically you provide the video ad for me to include in the youth ministry training video, but that can be negotiated.

See examples of video advertisements here and here.

Some considerations

The advantage of the audio/video ads is that they are permanently a part of the audio/video file. That means that your ad is a part of the media file indefinitely — it never expires or goes away. Your ad is heard by every person who listens or view the media and your ad is impossible to ignore or skip. Furthermore, some experts say that “the average order value of people who view a product video is 19% more than those who do not” (Cloudveil, July 2009). However, these ads not clickable for people to easily visit your ad’s site.

The advantage of the 125×125 ad blocks is that they are easily clickable making it very easy and natural for people to visit your site, but the ads only last for a temporary amount of time. Once they reach their page impression limit, they disappear.

Email

As of August 2009, Life In Student Ministry has approximately 700 email subscribers and an open rate of 55%! In the header of every daily email is a 160×128 pixel block that’s available for advertising. This ad block costs $80 for your ad to be included in 10 email mailings. A report of how many clicks your ad received can be made available at the end of the campaign if requested before the ad campaign begins. Typically, you provide the ad image.

Paid reviews

Please note that I do not do paid reviews of products or services. I’m happy to check out your product or service so I’m familiar with it when others ask about it or are looking for a recommendation, but I won’t publish a review of it. I only publish reviews of products and services that I actually use in my ministry. Although this greatly cuts down on the number of reviews I do, I feel it gives greater credibility to the reviews that I do write, which is better for both my readers and for your product or service.

In the event that you donate your product or service to me to use for free and I end up using it in my ministry and think that it’s valuable enough to pass along (or bad enough to warn others about), I’ll be happy to write about it for free as a thank-you to you for blessing my ministry with your product or service free of charge.

A free option

A free way to spread the news about your product or service is to write a guest blog post for Life In Student Ministry. Include a brief bio and a picture of yourself and I’ll include it in the footer of the article with a link to your site, product, or service. For example, if your company sells illustration videos for teaching, write a guest post on something like, “5 reasons why video enhances teaching at youth group,” or something like that. Your article should give value to the youth ministry community, not just promote and sell your product or service. In fact, it’s best if you don’t mention your product or service at all. Let the article establish some trust and credibility for you, and let me be the one to mention and link to your product or service.

If you choose to go this route, check out these suggestions and guidelines for guest posts first. Of course, all guest posts are subject to my approval. It’s best to email me with your idea first just so we’re on the same page before you put a lot of time into the article.

The next step

To start your advertising campaign, please contact me. If you have any questions, other ideas, or would like to explore opportunities for advertising on other sites like MinistryQuestions.com, please contact me about those, as well.