Booking an ad with a publication

How a business buys advertising directly from a local publication that publishes its rates — pick a placement, write the ad, pay, and it goes live. Use when a business asks how to advertise in a particular paper, how much an ad costs, how to buy or book an ad online, where to find a publication's rates, how long an ad runs, or what happens if the paper doesn't publish prices.

  1. 1

    Find the publication you want to advertise in Open

  2. 2

    Open its Advertise page and read what it sells

  3. 3

    Pick a spot and a run length, write your ad, and pay

If a paper here publishes its rates, you can advertise in it without calling anyone. Pick a spot, write the ad, pay, done — usually a few minutes.

Finding what a paper sells

Every publication has an Advertise page, linked from its profile. A paper that sells online lists its spots there: what each one is, how long it runs, and what it costs. Its profile also carries a "Book an ad" link straight to the form.

Not every paper publishes rates. One that doesn't shows a request form instead — you describe what you have in mind and they get back to you. Both routes end in the same place; one is just faster.

Booking

Pick the spot and how long you want it up. Then write the ad: a headline, a couple of sentences, a picture, and the link you want people to follow. A short ad is text only, so it asks for less.

The price you see on the card is the price you pay — we read it from the publication's own rates when you book, not from anything typed in your browser. Card processing fees are shown on the payment page before you pay. 90% of what you pay goes to the publication; that's how this works everywhere on My Local Press.

After you pay

The ad goes live as soon as the payment clears, and runs for the length you bought.

It appears to people reading that publication, rotating with the other advertisers running there — so what you're buying is a run and an audience, not a fixed number of views. No advertising platform can honestly promise the second, and we don't.

You'll find the ad afterwards under your own content, with what it's earned in views and clicks.

A few things worth knowing

Booking happens on the web. The iOS and Android apps show you a publication's rates and hand you the booking page; the payment itself is a web page.

Your own feed is free. Posting about your business on your own feed costs nothing — advertising is what it's called when you're reaching someone else's audience. If you're not sure which one you want, supporting journalists and advertising your business lays out the difference.

If a price changes while you're filling in the form, we stop and tell you rather than charging a different number. Reload and book again at the current price.

Related: Supporting journalists and advertising your business, Selling ads on your publication, What is My Local Press?