When you are running
your own site and finally start to see some serious traffic, you’ll probably
want to earn some money from it.
In this article we’ll
look at 10 of the most popular ways to make money from your site. In each
section I’ll list the big players in that specific field, but there are many
more opportunities available–Google is your friend.
You’ll find that you
can mix and match many of these methods. Just be careful that you don’t
overcrowd your site with ads. And of course you’ll need to test to find out
what works best for your site.
Let’s get started.
1.
Cost-per-Click Ads
Displaying banners
based on a cost-per-click basis is the easiest way to make money with a site.
Usually it’s just a
matter of creating the ad banners and placing them in visible places and within
the guidelines. You then get paid for each click on the ads. CPC ads come in
many forms, from the traditional 468×60 banners to in-text advertising.
Google’s AdSense
program made this model very popular, and it still offers the highest payouts
by far. Google’s guidelines are strict though. It’s tempting to put ads right
next to navigation items and gain on accidental clicks, but this can get your
account banned.
You are given a
percentage of the revenue made on each click, so more popular terms bring in
more revenue. Earnings from CPC ads vary from a few cents to several dollars
per click.
Popular
CPC companies
Media.net (Yahoo!
and Bing ads)
2.
Cost-per-Mille Ads
The counterpart of CPC
advertising is cost per mille. Here you are paid for each and every ad
displayed, even when no one clicks.
Because advertisers
don’t want to pay for ads that are hardly seen, CPM advertising has even
stricter requirements than CPC when it comes to placement and site quality.
Most of the time you
will also find that you have to meet minimum traffic requirements. Most
companies working with publishers require 100,000 impressions a month or even
more.
Once you’re accepted
into an ad program, you will be getting ads from all of the major advertisers,
which has the side effect of enhancing the professionalism of your site.
It’s hard to determine
what you potential earnings will be. Expect to earn anywhere from $1 to $4 CPM
for general topic sites, and up to $10 CPM for niche-focused sites. (Hint:
Sites that are web-related always do well).
Popular
CPM companies
Google AdExchange (Works mostly with partners. I
recommend MonetizeMore)
3.
Affiliate programs
Affiliate programs (or
referral programs) are considered to be the most lucrative form of advertising
for publishers. If you can match an affiliate deal with your audience, you can
easily earn more than any of the other methods.
The concept behind
affiliate programs is simple: You get paid for each lead or sale you refer.
Some companies offer a fixed fee, while others work with a revenue share.
Affiliate programs are
usually offered though huge affiliate networks, which combine offers of
thousands of different advertisers. Some companies, though, have their own
in-house affiliate program.
How easy it is to get
approved depends on the advertisers. Some companies or networks don’t have any
requirements, while others want to talk with you in person and want to see a
highly professional site. It mostly depends on the commission you get for each
sale–higher commissions come with more requirements.
Earnings for affiliate
programs are calculated as EPC, which can either be earnings per click or
earnings per 100 clicks (you’ll definitely want to find out which a particular
company uses when exploring your options). Targeted and well-promoted offers
can bring you up to $1 for each visitor you send.
Popular
affiliate networks
CJ
Affiliate (Formerly known
as Commission Junction)
OneNetworkDirect (Digital River)
4.
Amazon
While it’s technically
an affiliate program, the Amazon Associates program deserves special attention.
It is quite easy to
get into Amazon’s program, but setting it up properly requires some time and
dedication. Amazon offers many ways of promoting their products, from simple
links to fullblown stores that integration via their API, like this).
The commissions Amazon
pays are fairly low–they range from 4% to 10%–but the great thing is that they
pay you on anything a customer orders after using your
affiliate link. This means that you can send a visitor to Amazon for a simple
war movie (like I do) and end up earning a commission for a purchased TV as
well.
Amazon is also
available in multiple countries, but you’ll need to sign up for each country
independently.
Amazon Associates (US)
Amazon Associates (UK)
5.
Fixed price
If you don’t want to
worry too much about how your ads are performing you might want to consider
selling them at a fixed price.
With this method you
don’t sell clicks or impressions. Instead, you’re basically just renting out ad
space on your site for a weekly or monthly fee. The price is determined based
on the quality of your site and its traffic, but it doesn’t fluctuate as much
as the other methods.
You can sell fixed
price advertising directly or use an advertising network to do it. The downside
of the latter is that you will be paying a hefty fee on each ad sale.
Revenue with fixed
price advertising is generally lower than with the CPM model, since there is
less competition. Another downside: If your traffic explodes while a deal is in
place, you won’t get paid for the additional impressions.
Fixed price ads are
good way of earning a steady recurring income without too much hassle though.
Popular
fixed price advertising companies
iSocket (formerly
BuyAds)
6.
Pop-ups and pop-unders
Yes, these still work!
While most people find popups annoying, they’re still a lucrative way for
advertisers to make money. And that means you can use them to make money as a
publisher, too.
Pop-ups and pop-unders
are perfect for sites with high visitor numbers but low engagement. If your
visitors aren’t clicking any of your ads while on your site, you might as well
earn on them when they enter or leave.
Revenue from this type
of ads is quite low–earnings are often just pennies per thousands impressions.
Still, if you got hundreds of thousands visitor per month if could add up to
some nice numbers.
Popular
pop-up advertising companies
7.
Sponsored content
Also called
advertorials, sponsored content is a great way of adding valuable content to
your site while earning some money in the process.
With sponsored
content, advertisers write posts on the topic your site covers to show their
expertise and build their brand.
It’s also a great way
of doing a sponsored giveaway together with an advertiser (so you can feel a
bit like Oprah).
Sponsored content is
often confused with paid links, where an advertiser is pays solely for link
placement. Paid links can get you in trouble with Google, and there’s a fine
line between sponsored content and paid links. A good rule of thumb here is
that your audience should value the content and learn something from it. It’s
the content that matters, not so much the actual link to the paying advertiser.
Selling sponsored
content can best be done by yourself, since most networks are easily abused for
link building. Depending on your traffic you can charge anywhere from $50 to
thousands of dollars per post.
8.
Related posts
Selling related posts
is a relatively new way of earning money. Instead of linking to related posts
within your own site, you can link to paid posts, usually on a CPC basis. In
most cases you use a plugin which combines your own related posts with paid ones.
Related posts are
usually placed underneath each article, and when a reader gets that far they
are usually very much engaged and interested in what you have to offer. Because
of this high engagement level, selling related posts can turn into a nice income.
To qualify for related
post advertising, you’ll need to have a high quality site and high levels of
traffic.
You may still be
better off using that space for a higher paying affiliate ad, since the
reader’s engagement at this point is worth serious money. Testing is key.
Popular
related post advertising companies
9.
Email advertising
When you run a popular
newsletter you can sell space in your emails as well as on your website.
You can charge a
one-time fee or promote affiliate deals. If you go the affiliate route, make
sure the program allows for email advertising, especially when working with
networks.
When you have a few
thousands targeted subscribers, it is possible to earn a few hundred dollars on
each mailing. Professional newsletter tools allow for excellent split-testing
so you can easily try out what works best.
Ads in newsletters are
mostly sold directly to advertisers, while for affiliate deals you can use the
companies listed above.
10.
Selling your site
The ultimate form of
monetizing of your site is selling it. If you managed to successfully implement
one or more of the strategies above, your site might be worth quite a lot of
money.
While selling your
site puts money in the bank, there are other benefits as well. You can stop
worrying about your traffic and ad performance. It also frees up your time
which you can use for other projects.
The main problem with
selling your site is deciding when to do it. Sell too soon and you might be
leaving money on the table, sell too late and you will receive less money than
you like. Especially with websites revenue can be very volatile, so it will
always be a gamble. General rule is to sell when your website’s income
stabilizes for a few months.
You can sell your site
directly to a buyer or use a marketplace or agency for it. The latter will
charge you a commission but will mostly do all the work for you.
Sale prices vary
widely, from a few thousand dollars to well into the six figures and beyond.
10 of the most popular ways to make money from your site
Reviewed by Anonymous
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Reviewed by Anonymous
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10:06:00
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