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.
Popular places to sell your site
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