There’s going to come to a point you’re going to explore opportunities to make money through your blog. You have to remember blogging is a business, so your ultimate objective should be to profit through online marketing. Even if you’re blogging for a passion, you’re going to find ways to monetize from the high levels of traffic flowing through your website. However, finding the right profit channel can be very difficult because you want to make sure you’re getting a high ROI in return. It’s often said NOT exploring all the marketing channels you have will harm your blog in the following ways…
- Advertisements taking away visitors
- Poor quality ads hurting the credibility of your blog
- Poor quality ads hurting overall blog design
- You’re getting peanuts ($) in exchange for advertising a competitor’s products/services.
However, advertising can be very lucrative, and I suggest everyone give it a try after testing out different platforms. The problem is NOT displaying ads on your website, but the lack of testing you do before adding them hurts your conversion rates. If you decide to try selling advertising space on your blog, then here are some methods to help you get started…
Banner Advertisements
The concept is very easy, and you’re selling banner space on your blog for either a PPC or a fixed price for the month. It’s important to make sure you have a designated space for your ads, like either a sidebar and/or below content. There are two networks with a solid track record of providing you with a great selection of advertisers…
BuySellAds.com – Awesome selection and completely moderated. You’ll find bloggers looking to advertise on your blog from every niche. They take 25% of all earnings, which is very high. However, they handle everything; all you need to do is approve advertisers.
I’ve used BuySellAds.com, and the response is awesome, but the marketers you get will depend on your niche.
Here’s an alternative,
BlogAds.com – I haven’t used them, and the interface is NOT as clean as BuySellAds.com. However, if you don’t get approved on BuySellAds.com, you can always try this network, but you’re going to be dishing out 30% of all income earned.
Pay-Per-Click
Unlike banner advertisements, where the advertiser pays for the placement no matter if someone clicks or not, PPC has a slightly different structure. With PPC, the advertiser is ONLY paying when their ad is clicked, and the rate will be determined by several factors. Google Adsense is a great example of PPC advertising; as you’re aware, you’ll only pay if someone clicks on your ad. However, the PPC can be very high depending on the niche and in certain professions, I’ve seen it go as high as $12.00 per click. Here are awesome networks to get started with…
InfoLinks.com – A PPC network that converts words within your content to ads. For example, if someone wants to advertise for link building, this phrase in my content will be a clickable ad. However, I’ll only get paid when someone clicks on my ad. They use a structure consisting of different types of in-content ads like intext, infold, in tag, and inframe.
Media.net – An awesome network and is considered an alternative to Google Adsense. It’s gaining popularity because it’s powered by the Yahoo Bing Network. The structure is contextual, with the main focus being based on keywords, just like the Google Ad network. If you’re looking for a quality ad network, then Media.net is perfect because it’s screened and controlled by Yahoo Bing. The minimum PayPal payout is $100.00.
Chitika.com – An alternative to both those above and is toward the lower scale. I’ve used this network and haven’t been too happy. Very low payout and lacks customization, so ads look ugly.
Sponsored Reviews
This will obviously depend on the type of website you have and if you write reviews. SponsoredReviews.com will connect bloggers with product and SEO marketers looking to build brand awareness. For example, if I’m a blogger who has been around for several years with a massive following, writing a product review for someone can be lucrative. I’ll not only get FREE access to the product to try out but will also be able to write a review. I’ll get paid for the review and any possible commission off sales directly through my blog. The main reason this strategy is so effective is that it connects successful bloggers with beginners looking to build their brands.
However, it’s important to…
- Set a minimum price per review, which should be based on blog popularity
- Always write an honest review
- Always write a quality review
Here are some benefits when using SponsoredReviews.com…
- Direct relevant traffic
- Create a viral buzz quickly
- Get feedback on product and/or service
- Benefit from search engine rankings.
Product Reviews
Did you know review blogs are extremely successful in generating enormous passive income? It’s because you can get a commission with each review you write whenever someone reads the review and purchases the product and/or service. However, if you decide to start a review blog, it’s crucial you follow this principle:
Every review you write should be honest because approx. 60% of people are inspired to seek out a product after reading content about it. Therefore, don’t recommend a product or service you would NOT use yourself. Why? Because if you are writing to make a commission, you will hurt your credibility quickly when people figure out you are recommending crappy products. Anyways, if you are thinking about starting a review blog, here are some tips:
First, start by thinking about your focus or topic. For example, one of my favourite blogs, funnelstakreviewed.com, creates content-reviewing training programs for people interested in making money online. So, take some time and think about what will be your focus. Second, choose your blogging platform, i.e. WordPress, Blogger, and Wix. I recommend sticking with WordPress because you have so much flexibility with this platform. You can easily configure it to your needs by adding and removing plugins. Third, purchase your domain and hosting. To find out the top-ranked hosting providers, search Google for “best hosting provider.” Finally, don’t forget to install a theme, create a logo, and start writing content. Finally…
Follow a publishing schedule that makes sense! But don’t overdo it when you start creating low-quality content. When making money from your review blog, content quality is critical to ranking in Google and growing your audience.