How To Monetize Your Blog 2016
In this article I will explain how to earn the maximum from your blog by employing the best blog monetizing techniques.
First lets look at the types of ads:
There are basically 2 kinds of ads PPC(pay per click) and affiliate links. Pay per click ads works just like the name suggests, someone clicks on one, you get paid.
With affiliate links, you refer someone to an affiliate site, if they buy something, you get a percentage. Say you refer someone to a site that gives you 5%. They then buy a $1,000 laptop. That means you get $50. Clearly, you can make much more from affiliate marketing, than from PPC links.
The key to success with affiliate marketing is the quality of your blog traffic. I'll give you an example, one of my blog pages holds the top SERP ranking for "best flash drive" in a Google regional search. People who run that search are looking to buy a flash drive. My blog post reviews the best flash drives and has affiliate links to those products. That page is highly profitable.
Whiners
As soon as you place any new ads on your blog, some of your readers are going to complain. What these people don't get, is that you put a lot of time and effort into making your blog a valuable resource. It is your right to monetize your blog and turn an honest profit from your work. Most of your readers will understand and those that don't, will eventually accept it.
Layout
As you can see from this page I believe in putting down a number of ads. But and this is a big but, the ads need to fit into the style of your blog. You don't want your blog to end up looking like the Frankenstein monster.
The goal of placing ads, is to get your readers to read them and then click on them. To increase the chances of that happening you should place the ads where your readers will notice them. Our Western minds are conditioned to read anything from the top left down to the bottom right. So, if you look at the layout picture, you would expect ads placed in the top left of the Header and Left Column would have the highest CTR(click through rate).
This is true with novice web users. But experienced web users have learned to ignore the Header, Left and Right Columns and to focus on the Content. You will find that I and most other publishers place most of our ads in the Content block, because they receive the most clicks there.
As ad locations go, the Left Column and the Header does better than the Right Column and the Footer is the worst.
Ads - Text VS Images VS Animation
I frequently hear the question: How should I monetize my blog, with text or image ads? The good thing about images is that they attract the readers attention. On the other hand there are more advertisers using text ads, so you can make more, than with image ads.
My recommendation is to use both, but use text ads more heavily than picture ones.
Animated ads are better than image ads at attracting attention, but there are fewer advertisers using them.
As with the other elements in monetizing your blog, experiment to find a mix that works for your blog.
The need for Paypal
If you are going to do business online, you will absolutely need Paypal. It is in the nature of blogging that there are several small incomes and expenses involved. By using Paypal, you will be able to increase your profit, by keeping your costs down. In addition some of the advertisers and affiliates only pay via Paypal, for example Ebay.
Most Profitable Pay per Click sites
Kontera
Kontera isn't really for very small blogs. I don't recommend bothering with it unless you have 10,000 visitors a month. The good thing about Kontera is that it lets you make more money from your posts, without giving up any advertising space.
Their technology reads your posts and turns certain words into ads. The ads are double underlined. If you hover your mouse over an underlined word an ad pops up.
Google Adsense
Adsense is the most widely used PPC service. It dishes out contextual ads, based on your content and it's an easy way to start earning.
Be warned though, Adsense has very strict rules and if you break them, they will ban you.
Adbrite
Adsense won't let you use their ads on blog with certain types of content, like adult and gambling related posts. Also Adsense is a little ban happy. If that happens you need to switch your PPC ads to Adbrite.
FeedBurner
FeedBurner monetizes your RSS feed. If you think about it, everyone that reads your blog through your RSS feed is doing so without paying you. If you have more than 1,000 people reading your RSS feed everyday, you should definitely monetize them with Feedburner.
Review Me
Review me is how the big bloggers make much of their money. You basically get paid to write a review about something. The blogs with high PR and high traffic can demand huge sums for their reviews and they make thousands each month, for very little work.
More modest blogs can make $50 or so per review.
Have you been thinking about starting your own blog? Find out just how cheap and easy it is in how to make your own blog.
Most Widely Used Affiliates
Below I take a look at three of the most widely used affiliates. But because affiliates are so important, to monetizing your blog, I have written an article specifically about the highest paying affiliate programs.
Amazon
Amazon is where the most bloggers start. They aren't great, but they have a huge inventory of stuff, that you can sell and they are good at converting your clicks into sales.
You can see an example, on the right. As with all affiliate marketing, you have to keep the ads relevant to your post's content.
ClickBank
ClickBank is a digital good affiliate. That means they sell items like Ebooks. They are the best affiliate for monetizing your email lists.
Commission Junction
Commission Junction is a broker site, they bring affiliates and publishers together. They are great if you are monetizing some service site, like an insurance blog.
Related
Comments
Thanks for the information about review me. I am going to check that out and sign up
- AUTHOR
Feedburner is pay per click. Also Review Me is a new title not under PPC.
Hi,
Nicely written hub. Thanks for sharing. It will especially useful for new bloggers.
Jyoti Kothari
hi
i don't know much about how to blogging
i have created a blog but don't know how to make it better so plz anybody help me
my email is nihkilgoyal2131994@yahoo.com
plz i am requesting you
im still trying to figure out how to put LINKS into my articles on hubpages.. any help?
Thanks for the useful and timely information. You are a true pro and I hope to learn more from you. I haven't tried much to monetize because i was more interested in just learning better writing technique. Now i realize that trying to get traffic and monitization is the way toward better content. It's a delicate balance between writing for readers entertainment and focusing on making a little money too.. After reading your stuff, I am motivated to get behind the whole concept you are all into. Your readers are an intelligent and helpful lot, and I appreciate their comments and suggestions too. thanks for your time and interest in helping others.
Let's all go get em!
Thanks for this Hub :) My fiancé is just starting up a parenting blog, and I'm sure some she will find this information useful. I'm sending her the link to it now!
Nice overall-strategy article. But I was wondering if you'd have tips covering the content on one's blog? The ads placement and site layout are well discussed, including where to place the ads so more people would click on them. But what about a guide on the quality of the content?
Good article for those of us seriously intending to get income from blogs. I'm sure a newbie to organizing elements on his blog will find your info spot on. Any thoughts on driving more traffic to one's site other than selecting keywords? I'm always open to good ideas.
Ways How To Monetize Your Blog
very good, I support you, come on , welcome to my hub!
Excellent information am in the process of setting up my first blog so this hub has been a real help.
Nice basic monetization list for beginning bloggers. I just published a Hub about Free eBay Wordpress plugins: https://hubpages.com/technology/Free-Wordpress-eBa...
I'm surprised you didn't mention the eBay partner network as a way to monetize blogs, it pays more than anything else you mentioned!
Very nice list. Details on blog platform choises would have been great addition. Thanks anyway for the nice tips...
Excellent information! It's very important to know where to place your ads, and if you use Adsense, you need to make it look like it's a part of the site, by using the right combination of colors.
Very good introduction, although I don't quite agree with Kontera as being in the most profitable margin..better contextual ad services are available, with the right plug ins one can even make the same effect that Kontera uses to advertise clickbank and amazon products...so with a little research Kontera can be blown out of the water as far as profitability goes
Great Hub and what a response in comments. I read them all and have learned that with over 490,000 hubbers, there is no need to make a website individually. Also I signed up for Review Me to get a better idea of what the site is about. I have Amazon up as an affiliate and is being patient getting eBay started. I do not bother with Kontera because I was told that you must make at least $50.00 a month to use them as an affiliate. Adsense is up and running however from two months payments came out to be less than $50.00 so I have to continue to load content into the hugs. The impression by the way was about 7,000. My goal is to get at least 600,000 impression for a take of $30,000 but it is going to take a lot of work. I hope this detailed information help others to measure their progress and either decide to up the ante or to promote their blog more. The best shared icon so far is Google, Yahoo Buzz, Ask.com, AOL.and Digg.com. Use the share icon on your blogspot account is you have one and try to promote your article on all if you have the patience. Social Media such as FaceBooki, MySpace, and Twitter has not shown up in the stats on HubPages as increasing traffic though if your blog gets read in a chat room with over 175 million members at FaceBook Along, imagine the traffic and the number of impressions.
Don't forget Clause 4.3 on Kontera or Catch 4.2 - it says that if you make $5 or less in any month then Kontera keeps that money for themselves !
good hub. Help me with good information and encouraged me to start a blog, which i did. Than you for that push I needed to get in contact with the online community through my blog ^^.
Congratulations on a great hub about Monetizing one's Blog. It's a must-read for anyone looking forward to capitalizing on his/her blogging skills.
The simplicity and clarity, with which you tackle the subject matter, are very inviting, captivating. It's a How To Monetize Your Blog 101. Concise. Succinct. To the point.
Excellent Hub. Keep it up.
I like this article which provides me a lot of information. I will follow your instruction to create a good blog. thanks. I wish we write more such articles to help each other.
Seems like the best advice you can give for MMO is
1) Start now
2) Work for page rank
3) ?????
4) Profit!
Very helpful hub. I think I will apply some of that to my blogs :)
Some good info, I am not all that happy with Adbrite as their ads are good with geotargeting but the nichetargeting is bad, resulting in very little clicks. You're right about Adsense, you build really good sites and blogs and then they get it in their heads you violate their rules, you cannot find those rules in theirs terms of service though, but they are still the best. Kontera is SUPER I use them and love them. What is amazing they are always so civil when you write to them and that is a big contrast to some of the others being downright rude!
I have an affliate site but no traffic and I am still waiting to make the first cent. I also have 2 hubpages and I am hoping this will point me in the right direction. Thanks for the good info.
How long does it usually take you to set something up ? When is it profitable ? Im new to this and Im not sure if I'm on the right track. I'm stuck on getting traffic.
I am a huge Haim fanatic, how can i make my Corey stories make me some money? http://hubpages.com/hub/Corey_Haim
Great info, I am into making money from blogs and make no mistake, it takes a lot of work.
But when you begin to get consistent flows of SE traffic, it makes it all worthwhile
In the meantine, don't lose track of the fact that you always need good, fresh content
- AUTHOR
Jupitar if you look at this web page, how to monetize your blog.
You have Kontera, Google Adsense, Amazon and a MSN ad on it. So clearly you can put a number of ads on the same page. The key to monetizing your blog is to experiment with the combination of ads until you find the most profitable combination.
very good list, but i think it's not possible to use all these options in only one blog. you can also include- blogads, buy&sell ads etc,
good luck.
good arcticle, i will miss your technique
Don't forget, too, about paid advertisements. You can create banner ads on your blog and then sell that advertising space to interested parties for a period of time. In many cases, you can make much more in this type of ad than you can with Adsense.
HI!!! I think that explanations in your hub are fantastic....a really way to understand better this difficult world. It's very interesting to know like use methods to be paied more. I'm new here...and it's strange understand like use Feed...and some methods of affiliation.
thanks for help
I don't like social return readers on my made for money blogs - instead they are niche and are focussed on specific keyword terms. The idea is to make the blog as boring as possible in style and to some extent content - and to make the single most appealing thing on the page my ads! When the visitor from the search engine arrives they leave immediately - hopefully via an ad!
- AUTHOR
2patricias in my personal opinion the Adsense ads need to fit into the color scheme of the site. But there are a few ways to make it a little more noticeable by the use of color and background images. I do believe that this does attract more clicks, but is less important than location.
Thanks for the clear information. We think that colour co-orinating the blocks of Goggle ads increased the 'click rate' - do you have any views?
I was beginning to get tired of making useless blogs but this information might help me next time I make a blog, thanks for the information :-)
Very well done and a great layout.
Did I miss anything about SEO? or how to attract traffic?
Cheers
Too many affiliate links can get your serps to go down, but if you have few of them and place no-follow tags, you should not face much problems
- AUTHOR
As far as I know they don't, as long as you don't cram too many affiliate links on one page. If you are paranoid you can script your own redirect php page or you can use a free service like tinyurl.com The idea being to make the affiliate link look cleaner and to throw off the search engines.
does google de-rank you when you use affiliates? I've read they're are territorial....=))
You hit upon some good ways to monetize a blog. I wonder if anyone thinks about their Web ranking and how many people will visit their blog? My webmaster turned me onto Hubpages as my blog because they get much higher traffic than my site does, although I'm marketing alot with free reports, free teleseminar and using twittter, facebook and linkein. Ilove article mkg-it's served me well the past 9 years. Whatever path you choose, it does take some time,knowhow, and effort.
Thanks again,
Judy Cullins, book coaching.com
I am a total stranger to this so-called BLOG thing. Many of the words, terms sound strange to my ears. Indeed I'm a newbie and got no formal training and expertise about the computer and internet but am really thankful to GOD ALMIGHTY for giving me this rare privilege to join you in the web. Despite the difficulties, I resolved to bear the pangs of hardships, study, digest and swallow things so I could understand them. For me if I could master all the things and suggestions about monitizing BLOG, I could be one of the happiest creatures on earth what with the money I'll earn on-line
- AUTHOR
dagny
There really are many affiliate programs out there. The problem is that when you register with them they ask to see your site or blog, before they will let you join.
Hupages will let you put down affiliate links, in your hubs. They are like hyperlinks, but with some extra bits on it that tells the affiliate that you sent the visitor.
Review Me is really a good money spinner. Big blogs with a PR of 4+ can really harvest money with that program and programs like it. They tend to make half their money from that.
You might enjoy reading my hub about starting a blog.
Thanks for the great advice. I am new to this and confused as Hub Pages only has a few of the affiliates you menationed as options. Where else can I post my blogs to maximize some of the other affiliates you mentioned?
Thanks for the helpful tips,specially where you said that we have the right to make some profit from our blogs.It is very encouraging indeed for a new blogger like me.
Of course do not forget that you have to post on a regular basis and they need to be interesting. Without that you will not have readers who will click on the ads and buy the affiliate products that will earn you the money.
Thanks for the link to the review site. I'll see if it works for me, in my boating niche.
Personally, I'd avoid animated ads like the plague. They certainly turn me right off.
Thanks mate for sharing such useful information. You have really shared some useful tips about PPC and affiliate marketing which would be useful for any blogger.
I was thinking to starting a blog, i only know about adsense... great information and advice your have here, thanks!
Thank you so much for this blog. You've given some great information. I've seen words with double underlines and haven't understood them. Now I do (Kontera ads). Also, I didn't realize about making money off my RSS feeds. I will definitely look into some of these options that you have mentioned. Thanks again!
WOW!!! FABulous Blog!! Thanks so much. Although I've done a lot of marketing online, I've struggled, and it's great to have this put so clearly and simply. Excellent job! :) xxx
- AUTHOR
Mac Daddy I think there are a number of people, making big money online. The thing is the only ones that tell you how much they are making are the "make money online" blogs.
I agree that organic search engine traffic is the best kind to convert to cash.
Organic search is the way forward for smaller affiliate sites...The whole monetizing a blog idea is quite difficult, thinking about it - most the bigger blogs that make money just blog about making money online lol.
- AUTHOR
Well all of the ad and affiliate programs that I have mentioned are free. Getting your page up, can be done free at http://www.blogger.com or here on Hubpages.
I'm impress your suggetion but can u tell me how can monetiz without spend money and only organic method.
Not everyone's blog explodes overnight, therefore some patience is needed as well. I find networking by leaving relevant comments (not blatantly leaving my link, but most link to your name), and blogging about other blogs (referencing something you read and pointing others their way) will also bring readers. Good information to bookmark. Thanks.
Thanks for the tips! I just got hooked on blogging, this answers a lot of questions!
The problem with Amazon is that commission earned is extremely low. When putting amazon ads on your site you might focus on expensive stuff like blu ray players, lcd tvs. I personally prefer CPA or clickbank.
Hi,
This is great, I started a blog so the advice is useful.
Good tips! I am about to create a blog, and have these tips to follow. didn't know about Adbrite.
Hi JGaunt, I have yet to learn so many things about monetizing my blog. LOL One thing that struck me today was people click more on the left column than on the right? Gee, most of mine are on the right. Now that explains why. Hahahah I better fix that one.
Here's the best news: This hub has been chosen as one of the hubnuggets for this week. Click this link and off you go to Funride's hub: https://hubpages.com/community/hubnuggets-feb6-200 and he will explain what this is all about. Isn't that something to celebrate? Yes it is! Do vote and invite your friends to vote too. The more the merrier. Congratulations!
Nice list... You have covered it all.
Superb hub! That's practically all one would like to know about monetizing blogs. Thx for making it simple and precise. Thumbs up.
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