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I have been asked how to monetize (make money!) with your blog several times in the past few days so I thought it was a great idea for a blog post.  Today, many bloggers realize that while they may enjoy their blog writing, they still have to keep the lights on.  There are many articles out there that discuss increasing your blog traffic but unless you can convert the traffic to sales, it just means people enjoy your writing; which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you love to write just for the sheer joy of it!  Here are some ways to make your blog pay you.

Affiliate Advertising

First, my recommendation is to start researching viable proven affiliate programs.  What is affiliate advertising?  It’s an online sales promotion.  An advertiser (a company with something for sale) pays you (the blog owner/writer; now turned publisher) to promote their products or services on your blog.  There are 3 main types of affiliate promotions or ads.

With these, you won’t earn anything until your blog readers perform a certain action. These are “performance-based” programs.  The reader has to click on a link, or clicking on a link then purchasing something on the page the link lead them to.

1)      PPC: Which stands for pay-per-click.

1. Flat Rate PPC: In this case, the advertiser and publisher agree upon a fixed amount that will be paid for each click. But, it gets a bit more interesting.  It’s very common to have the publisher be given a rate card that lists the CPC (cost-per-click) within different areas of their blog or website. So it only makes sense that the value of the pay-per-click will be dependent upon your content and if the visitors it attracts are valuable or not.  The higher the value of the content, the higher the visitor it attracts, and the more money you will make!  Be aware that advertisers can negotiate lower rates, especially when committing to a high-value contract or if the relationship is to be long-term.
2. Bid-PPC: In this model, the advertiser signs a contract which then allows them to compete against other advertisers in a private auction hosted by a publisher or advertising network. Each advertiser chooses keywords, then notifies the host of the  maximum amount that they’re willing to pay for any given ad spot. This auction plays out in an automated fashion every time a visitor triggers the ad spot.  If the ad spot is part of a search engine results page, then the automated auction takes place whenever a person searches for a keyword that is being bid upon occurs.  The bids for the keyword are then matched to the person searching for the keyword’s geo-location, date and time of the search, and possibly a few other criteria.  Results are then compared and a winner declared.

2)      PPL: Or pay-per-lead.

3)      PPS:  For pay-per-sale.

If you’ve been told affiliate programs are a “get-rich-quick” strategy, you’ll be greatly disappointed.  They can be a fantastic way to supplement your income but they will definitely take work.  You will spend time and effort building your network.  And, you can have the greatest product in the world but if you don’t know what you’re doing, your results will more than likely be “slim to none.”  What do you do to increase your affiliate income?  The higher your traffic rate is, the more likely you will have quality website visitors.  How do you get quality traffic and site visitors?  By having content that gives value! With a moderately-sized blog, you should be able to earn a few hundred dollars a month in a relatively short period of time.  It will be important that your blog visitors relate to your content, consider you an expert in your field, and want to help you build a community.

Besides the quality and relevance of your blog, your success will also depend upon your proper selection of affiliate programs and ads that compliment your blog:

1. First, define your Blog’s purpose: You may be able to define possibly up to four topics or goals that you have identified for you blog.  Your choice of affiliate programs should directly connect to these purposes as much as possible. The affiliate ads should compliment your blog content nicely and not compete with it or draw attention in a new unrelated direction.  As an example, if you belong to a social network for copywriters, think carefully what topics will be of interest to this audience.  You might choose programs that offer products and services for writers, but also take a look at recommending and selling books, CDs, DVDs, institutional or at-home-training courses, software for writers.
2. Less is More: Some people think that if a few ads make them a few bucks, more ads will really pull in the income.  This is not so!  Have you been to any blogs or websites recently that you found entirely annoying?  Flashing, blinking, scrolling, all colors of the rainbow… I just get outta there fast, don’t you?  If you were to ask me what they were selling, chances are I wouldn’t have even remembered.  Pop ups?  Use them sparingly… if at all.
3. Do Not Use Frames: Search engines have a really hard time identifying and displaying content in frames.  It really is not a good idea.  It is really not a good idea then to use affiliate ads inside frames.
4. No, Porn is Not a Good Idea: It may be a multi-billion dollar a year industry, but, you will actually make more money with a G-rated, general audience blog.  Don’t dabble in porn ads if you are trying to reach the broadest blog audience.  Stay away from adult content and focus on content where people will actually stay on your blog rather than getting distracted and leaving!  Search engines give better ratings and results for general content sites.  If you put any adult ads on your blog, you will be considered an adult site and it could hurt rather than help your cause.
5. Your Affiliate Ads are Ready to Display: You don’t need to do a thing!  Most affiliate programs offer a variety of links, banners, and buttons to choose from. These ads have already been through complex research and the advertiser has determined which ones sell best. They use their own branding which often includes specific phrases, colors, images, and even fonts. So, with very few exceptions, I cannot recommend that you start getting creative with the ads and customizing them yourself.  Most programs forbid changes anyway.  They want you to have the greatest success!  If you do make unauthorized changes the affiliate partner may refuse to pay you for any leads generated from your altered ads.
6. Yes, this takes work!: If your ads are not working well, you have to consider moving them, changing them out for another ad, or maybe even removing them altogether.  If your site does not perform well, your advertiser may drop you as an affiliate. Your blog readers must not like the ads you are showing them.  Maybe they’re just ignoring them?

Your blog readers are savvy and if you don’t get their attention within the first few seconds of your content being served, they know they can find what they want somewhere else!  For search engines and humans, keep your content fresh, rich, and let the ads accent and add interest rather than shoving a sale in their face.  Respect your blog readers, treat them with respect, give them value.  Then, watch your affiliate income steadily rise as you build your community.

Part 2 of this article will review particular popular affiliate programs with a history of performing well for online marketers.

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I hope you enjoyed my post about researching available online tools to set yourself apart from the rest. Feel free to add yourself by joining my Google Friends or as a recent Twitter Visitor! If you did enjoy it, please — leave me a comment below! I truly appreciate the feedback I receive so I can improve my skills and deliver valuable content for my readers to enjoy! Just click the “share” button below to share my post with your friends and followers. If you have time, rate my blog on Alexa! Just click the banner in the sidebar!

To your prosperity and online success,

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