How To Monetize Your Blog

If you want to monetize your blog, you have to ask yourself a series of questions, starting with what kind of blog is it, and do you have any readers? If you’re not getting readers at your blog, you might as well put all your money-making plans on hold. Even if you got the greatest pay-per-click program in existence with the highest rates (which won’t happen if you don’t have readers) you can’t make money because there’s no one there to click the ads. Generate traffic first, and then worry about monetizing your blog.

If you have a steady stream of traffic, then the best ways to make money from your blog depend on the type of blog you have. If your blog is a general interest blog, it’s probably harder to make money from that than a specialized niche blog. Of course, if you have thousands and thousands of readers, you can run general advertising for things people typically need like credit cards, mortgages, insurance and very general basic things.

If your blog is general interest, though, no one is coming to your blog searching for cheap insurance, the best way to refinance a mortgage, or a better rate on a credit card. They’re coming to read how you burned the cookies, your thoughts on today’s politics, and the latest celebrity gossip, or whatever you’re blogging about.

But if you pull in thousands of unique visitors over a month, you could still make some money from these kinds of advertisers because a certain percentage of them will click the ads, and a certain small percentage of them might buy. This is a hard way to monetize that requires thousands and thousands of readers.

If your blog is smaller and more of a niche blog, you have many more options. Lots of people use Café Press or other sites that will print custom t-shirts, mugs and items for you. You could have some principle of your blog, your logo, or some great concepts you created printed on these items and link to them from your blog.

You can use the mother of blog money-makers, pay-per-click ads like those through Google and Yahoo. Don’t just sign up and assume it’s all automated, though. You have to watch the ads that show up, the click-through rates, and your pricing. If the ads that are showing up aren’t targeted closely enough and aren’t getting good click-through rates, you’ll get less per click than otherwise .So watch your statistics and make adjustments as needed. These pull off your keywords, so be keyword focused when you write posts.

Affiliate marketing is a top way to monetize a blog, too. If your blog is about how to lose weight, for instance, you can promote a weight loss product or information that has an affiliate program. When people follow your link to that product and buy it, you get a commission. The more narrow your niche, the easier it is to monetize your blog because the people coming there are looking for specific information and products.

Click Here!

Click Here!

5 ways to monetize your blog

Ads

Ads are generally the bread and butter of bloggers. However, they're also the most likely to irritate readers. To keep a happy balance, focus on relevance and make sure that you're not overloading your blog with too many ads. It should go without saying that you should absolutely not use every single one of these ad programs, either. Rather, pick a handful and rotate them until you find what that works the best for your blog.

Yahoo! Publisher Network: Display contextual ads on your site via the Yahoo! Publisher Network.
ValueClick Inc.: You'll get quality advertisers, support and advanced technology from ValueClick.
Tribal Fusion: Tribal Fusion's impression-based ad service focuses on targeting and optimization.
eXelate Targeting eXchange: This program relies on delayed ad cookies.
Clicksor Inc.: Clicksor focuses on contextual ads that can be presented in a number of different ways, such as text, graphics and in-line links.
Indeed: Post job listings from Indeed and get paid.
Chitika eMiniMalls: Promote products through interactive merchandise kiosks and provide both relevant content and comparative shopping to readers. You'll get paid per click.
AdSonar: Attract advertisers and build relationships with them individually through this platform.
ExpoActive: Get freedom, from specific ads to style, with ExpoActive.
AdVolcano LLC: Using AdVolcano's platform, you can design your ads, set your own prices and screen your advertisers.
eXelate Targeted Links: Pick and choose the advertisers you want on your site with this program.
grokAds.com: Set your price and choose which advertisers to accept with grokAds.com.
Adify: Get editorial control and high-value advertising on your site with Adify. You can even set your own prices.
AdBriteInc.: Using AdBrite, you have the option to approve and reject ads that will appear on your blog, and you can even use it to sell directly to your own users.
BidVertiser.com: These ads are highly customizable, and you have the option to block any ad you don't want displayed on your blog.
Blogads: Get invited to this exclusive network of bloggers, and you'll have high-quality, relevant advertising on your blog.
Casale Media Inc.: Get high-quality advertisers and control with Casale Media.
DoubleClick Inc.: DoubleClick offers differentiation and lots of solutions for publishers.
BlueLithium: Get great ad targeting, selective partnerships and better ad performance with BlueLithium.