Publishers new to selling placements usually pick a number that sounds reasonable and stick with it for two years. That number is almost always wrong in one direction or the other, and the cost of being wrong is invisible: too high and you get no orders, too low and you never learn what your inventory was worth.
What buyers are actually paying for
Buyers are not paying for a post. They are paying for a combination of things, and knowing which ones you have determines your price:
- Authority. Domain rating and domain authority set the baseline expectation. This is what buyers filter on first.
- Topical relevance. A finance site is worth more to a fintech buyer than a general site with identical metrics. Niche sites command premiums.
- Real readership. Sites that publish real traffic numbers rather than a badge consistently convert better and support higher prices.
- Ownership. Verified owners can promise permanence and fix problems. Resellers cannot, and price reflects it.
- Scarcity. A site accepting four posts a month is worth more per post than one accepting forty.
Set a floor before you set a price
Your floor is the price below which selling is not worth it. Calculate it honestly:
- Your time. Editorial review, formatting, publishing, and handling revisions. For most publishers this is 45 to 90 minutes per post.
- The cost to the site. Every sponsored post uses a slot that could have held content built for your own audience.
- The marketplace commission. BlogReach keeps 20% of the order, so a $150 listing pays you $120. Set your floor on what you receive, not what the buyer pays.
If your floor comes out above what comparable sites charge, your inventory is not underpriced. Your costs are too high, usually because you are doing editorial work the buyer should be doing.
Anchor to comparable offers, then adjust
Look at what sites with similar authority, similar niche and similar traffic are charging right now. BlogReach shows the lowest, typical, average and highest active offers for each website, separated by currency, so you are comparing against live prices rather than what someone charged in 2022.
Position yourself against that range deliberately:
- Below typical if you are new, unverified, or need order volume to build a delivery record.
- At typical if your metrics and niche are unremarkable for your band. Most sites belong here.
- Above typical only if you can point at the reason: a tight niche, verified ownership, published traffic, a strong delivery record, or genuinely limited capacity.
Price the add-ons separately
Bundling everything into one number costs you money. Separate:
- Content writing. If you write the post, that is a service with its own cost. Price it as a line item so buyers who supply their own content are not subsidising those who do not.
- Link type. If you offer both followed and sponsored links, they are different products.
- Turnaround. A five-day standard turnaround and a 48-hour rush are different commitments.
- Extra links. Set a maximum, and price beyond it.
When to raise your rate
Three reliable signals:
- You are selling out your monthly capacity. If you fill every slot every month, the price is too low. Raise it 15% and watch what happens to volume.
- Your metrics moved. A meaningful rise in domain rating or referring domains justifies revisiting the rate.
- Your delivery record is established. Publishers with completed orders, on-time delivery and stable links carry less risk for the buyer, and that is worth paying for.
Raise deliberately and in steps. A price that doubles overnight reads as opportunism; a rate that moves 15% twice a year reads as a business.
What not to do
Do not price by domain rating alone. Do not match the highest number you see in the market and hope. Do not discount below your floor to win a first order, because the buyer who came for the discount will expect it again.
If you have not listed yet, you can add a website free, set your rates in USD, and adjust them as you learn what your inventory is worth.