Actually, money gives everything a new meaning. Especially when you’re the one on the receiving end. Now when it comes to blogging, money can flow in fairly easily, and just like for everything else, there is a right and wrong way to monetize your website or blog and this week you’ll learn the Do’s and Don’t’s of monetization.

Instant* Ads

These are ads placed on your site that will pay you a flat monthly fee for simply placing their ads regardless of how much traffic your blog receives.

Freebies4Webmasters – Sign up, make ~$10 per month for displaying three banners and an additional ~$18 bonus for signing up and implementing ads. This may not be much, but it should cover your monthly hosting bill before your other ads start bringing in serious revenue.

Contextual Ads

This is probably the number one way you’ll be making money whether it is through contextual ad programs, link sales or whatever, ads are the way to go for beginners. Here are some programs to sign up for to start making money from day one:

Google Adsense -You’ve probably heard about Adsense already so it’s pointless for me to brag on how well it pays. Adsense is a must have, but it should not be the only

network you should rely on. We’ll get into more details on Adsense in the next couple of posts.

Chitika eMiniMalls – This program might not be one you’re ready to sign up with, but definitely works great in the latter stages of your site’s life.

WidgetBucks – Widgetbucks pays well, but it’s not much of a ‘contextual’ ad server but rather a program that shows product deals. If your blog is up for this, it is a great earner.

Link Sales

Link sales means selling links on your site. This is relatively straight forward and is all based on how much effort you put into your blogging extravaganza.

Text-Link-Ads: Simply sign up, add a widget, and get money. I mentioned some time ago when I launched this blog that it is a bonus to have a domain that has some Pagerank because Text-Link-Ads loves pagerank. I enjoyed PR5 for a while, and now although it dropped to a 2, I still get sign ups through this program. Don’t let their 50% commission fool you though. It’s better than nothing.

Referrals

Referrals also payout fairly well in blogging areas as opposed to some sites particularly due to that personal touch a blog offers. The only referral ad I’ve implemented here was the OIO Publisher which is a $37 plugin that allows you to have your own link sales manager giving you the opportunity of keeping 100% of the revenue. I didn’t expect much from it, but I was very amazed at the results it gave.

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are very similar to to referrals as you are getting paid for referring visitors to whatever you’re showing them. These are not, however, recommended until you have some sort of established traffic otherwise you’re simply plaguing your visitors with unneeded ads that don’t bring in serious revenue. Some great programs include:

Clickbank - The leading digital product sales site. The bigger the sale, the bigger your commission.

CommissionJunction – Another very big advertising corporation and pays well.

Paid Reviews

Paid reviews are great as well, but for this you will need to become an expert in your niche. With us being this far in our blogging course, you should already have a clear idea of what you’re blogging about and add a paid review option to your advertising page and in due time, you will see results.

Donations

Donations are a handy thing as well, but be careful where and when you use it. I would suggest putting it on pages other than you’re front page because a person will only donate if they are very happy and satisfied with what you’ve offered them and this will only happen if they liked your post, they’ve browsed through your blog, and they’ve been on your about page. Then only on one of these pages (about or contact page) should you add a donation button.

All being said, stay tuned for more detailed methods of successfully and strategically monetising your blog.

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