If your blog is receiving a steady flow of traffic and you have yet to make money blogging, it’s probably a good time to start. Many blog owners panic and worry about the thought of monetization, they think they will alienate their readers and be seen as a sell out.
It’s important you have clear goals and values in mind. You should have a plan of how you want your blog to move forward, which will help you make important decisions as to how to make money from it. Providing value whilst monetizing is another key component and one you should think long and hard over.
There are an amazing selection of opportunities available to make money from your blog and this article is going to present you with 5 of the best. You may want to consider using 2 or 3 of the methods in conjunction to maximize earnings potential, but make sure not to make your site add heavy. It’s also a good idea to spread your interests over several revenue streams, so you aren’t relying on one.
Make Money Blogging – 5 Great Methods
1) PPC Advertising Programs:
The most well-known is Google Adsense, a PPC program which displays contextual ads on your blog. You will need to sign up and be accepted for the program, which should be straight forward if you have a relatively good blog, displaying useful, unique content.
The amount you receive will be dependent on the niche you are in, and the amount the advertisers are willing to pay for certain keywords. Making the ads blend into your content is key, with clever ad placement often increasing CTR, so make sure you play around until you find the most profitable combination.
Google’s terms of service are strict, so make sure you read up and follow the rules or risk getting your account banned.
Adsense alternatives include Chitika which is well worth a look.
2) CPM Ads:
Unlike PPC ads you earn money via CPM ads per impression. This means you don’t need to do anything but serve the ads to visitors. The amount you can earn is unfortunately very low, as little as $0.15 per 1000 impressions in some cases.
It’s often a good idea to have CPM ads run in conjunction with PPC, placing them in less prominent positions.
If you are interested in monetizing your blog this way, check out valueclickmedia.com.
3) Affiliate Programs:
In today’s internet marketing world it’s possible to be an affiliate for any kind of product you could imagine. Amazon, clickbank, commission junction & share-a-sale are a great selection of some of the biggest and the best affiliate programs in the business.
From digital products, to washing machines, baby products, car parts and books you will easily be able to find products to compliment your site.
The highest commissions can be made via digital products, supplied by clickbank.
4) Sell Your Own Add Space:
The traffic, popularity and the niche your site is associated with, will all play a factor in the amount of cash you can earn by selling direct advertising space.
This method is guaranteed money in your bank account, after you have found advertisers for your blog. You could promote the fact you have added space for sale on your blog or use a site like BuySellAds which will put you in touch with advertisers.
5) Publish Post & Review Web Sites:
The site Sponsored Reviews links publishers with companies and individuals looking to have products and websites reviewed in which you will get paid for doing so. It’s important that you only take on reviews that are related to the content of your blog, so you don’t confuse and alienate your readers. It’s also important to have a fine balance of sponsored reviews and other blog posts.
To keep up to date with the ever changing ways to monetize your blog, visit sites in your niche to see what they are doing.
About James Brands
This is nice article. It explains well to us as a readers of your blog. I prefer to use Direct Advertisement. Because many big blogs are earning in this way. If your blog gets popular enough, then this will surely top the list of money making for you. The best part in the direct advertisements is that, you set your price yourself. Also, as no third-party works as a broker between you and advertiser, so you get the full payout without sharing even a single penny. You can bring clients for your advertise page by linking your ‘advertise’ page from blog commenting and forums posting.
Jay Ryan Macabato recently posted…5 Tips for Successful Infographic Promotion
Hi Jay,
I agree, direct advertisement is a great way to generate guaranteed revenue from your blog. If you are able to successfully combine that with another method of monetization, even better.
James.
James Brands recently posted…How To Decide What Topic To Blog About
Thank you so much for your reply sir. This is based only my experience. I prefer to use Direct Advertisement.
Jay Ryan Macabato recently posted…Possible Updates for Blogger Interface in 2013
Finding a direct advertiser to a website requires some sort of internet and direct marketing. I think that is reason why people are looking for ads from ad networking firms.
Aseem Pahwa recently posted…How to Update Genesis Framework
I agree Aseem,
Finding direct advertisers for your site definitely takes more time and work.
Advertising the fact you have ad space for sale on your website is often overlooked, and can be an effective way to get direct advertisers on board.
It’s also a good idea to check out who’s advertising on your competitors sites and approach them with an offer.
In order to make direct advertising successful you are going to need an established blog, with decent traffic and reasonably high alexa rank. Unlike adsense for example which you could stick on a new blog and earn a few dollars here and there, direct advertisers are going to want to see proof that its going to be worth their time and money.
James Brands recently posted…How To Decide What Topic To Blog About
As a blogger myself, I want to try all of your tips and techniques! I love blogging, it is my hobby, but having some extra cash because of it is a big plus and boost for me!
Hi Joy,
Probably not a good idea to try all the methods of monetization at once!
It’s great that you love blogging and it’s your hobby. So many people start blogging for one reason and one reason only, to make money! These are generally the people that fail, when they realize how much work and effort you need to put in.
Have a play around with some of the methods i’ve mentioned in this post, see what works and what doesn’t.
Good luck.
James Brands recently posted…How To Decide What Topic To Blog About
They seem hard, but your post made them look like I can indeed try them. Thanks for sharing this with us! Such an informative blog!
Hi Stacey,
Some of the methods are harder to implement than others.
If you have a decent amount of traffic visiting your blog it may be a good idea to try adsense, and see how you get on.
Depending on your niche you can receive some really high paying clicks, and with clever add placement make some really decent money.
I write a rather in depth guide to making money on adsense on my blog:
How To Make Money With Google Adsense
James.
James Brands recently posted…How To Decide What Topic To Blog About
This is well explained. Blogging is a really good hobby for most people, and to know that you can earn more by it can actually make you encouraged and enjoy it more.
Kelly recently posted…New Years Eve Cruise in Sydney 2012 Harbour Fireworks Cruise!
I agree Kelly,
Earning money from your blog is definitely is a huge motivational factor to carry on with all the hard work.
James.
James Brands recently posted…The Best Freelance Websites – Top 20 List
So that is how I should do it. I will sell my own ad space! Thank you so much for sharing this with us, James!
No problem Vianney, glad it helped.
James Brands recently posted…The Best Freelance Websites – Top 20 List
I love! Thanks for sharing ways to make money with the thing that I most love doing. This blog is such a heaven-sent! Thank you so much!
This is a great blog, it’s great to have the opportunity to guest post on it.
James Brands recently posted…The Best Freelance Websites – Top 20 List
This is informative and I think will be helpful to bloggers, but I think these tips should be tried one or two at a time. Many bloggers aim to earn online, and I think these tips would be great to try.
Hi Arianne,
I agree.
Trying all these methods of monetization at once would be a big mistake.
Its important not to alienate your readers with ad heavy blogs, people will be turned off and look elsewhere.
James.
James Brands recently posted…The Best Freelance Websites – Top 20 List
Impelling share James .
Blogging is my hobby and ways to generate an income from blog always sound welcoming .I have recently dived into the blogging world so would surely try these tips to monetize from blog .
?
Glad you found it useful.
Its important to point out that providing great content to your blog and getting traffic should be your main focus if you are just starting out.
Good luck.
I do not seem to understand fully how Sponsored review works. Could you please explain further?
valentine recently posted…How to find the best and paying Survey sites or companies
Aseem,
Monetizing is something everybody is interested in. I think you have some of the best money making opportunities listed here for the beginners in the blogging arena. There is a lot of value to be received from your post if somebody takes those recommendations and goes ahead to make money online.
However, I have personally not used most of them. I do participate in affiliate products marketing, but I have not so far entertained PPC type of advertizements such as Google Adsense or so. it’s just me. May be in future, I will think about some…
Kumar Gauraw recently posted…Schools Kill Creativity – TED Talk By Sir Ken Robinson
Hey, great post. Adsense and clickbank have been my primary source of income from my blogs. Adsense – for my micro niche blog and Clickbank – for my primary blog.
Ram
Ram Shengale recently posted…4 Simple Ways To Find Authority Guest Blogging Sites In Your Niche
Very useful post. I have tried and read all the tips before except valueclickmedia.com. Now I wanted to try at valueclickmedia once and see how it works. Thank you for sharing useful tips especially for new bloggers very useful post.
Chitra Lekha recently posted…Pool and Water Safety Tips
Thx for this article. Everyone wants to make money blogging, and its sounds very easy but it isnt.
thanks a lot friend. great info. i like your post