ReachCustomersOnline.com

"I'm trying to figure out a pricing structure for advertisers.  The primary advertisers will be concrete pump manufacturers who sell pumps for $250,000 to $1,000,000+.  We're possibly going to offer non-intrusive banner (the small kind) advertising, and more importantly, the ability for advertisers to "skin" our software with their branding--so it's kind of a ubiquitous advertising opportunity for them.

Do you have any resources where I could find rates for this kind of thing? I've nosed around Clickz.com and your site, but I haven't been able to dig up anything for me to bite into."

"... the best way to get started with advertising is the best way to get started in business: find someone who appreciates what you offer, cut them a deal for some time, then use their experience as a reference to get more business, in this case, more advertisers. You could hand select a couple advertisers you know would offer something useful to your clients and set things up so the advertiser gets a great return. You could charge CPA (cost per acquisition) or even free for 1-3 months if you're starting from scratch and don't need immediate cash.

The advertising problem you have to solve, bottom-line, is not getting advertisers. It's proving value to your first advertisers in a way that you can build on. If you do things right, the success of the first advertisers (carefully chosen, carefully stage managed) will help you get new advertisers and possibly raise your rates.

The higher level problem with advertising is that pleasing advertisers and their goals is often dissonant with your business goals. You want the advertising money but you don't want to do everything the advertisers need to justify their ad spend, mostly because it is a distraction. In a perfect world, not only would you offer ads on your site, you would provide advertisers with opportunities to cross-promote at trade shows, any advertising you do for your business, and so on. Sometimes that is a good fit for your customers, sometimes not."