If you want to make money blogging, then you'll be happy to hear that it is not that hard to do. Of course, the amount of money you make depends entirely on your ongoing efforts to publish a great blog, grow your audience, and continually test new money making opportunities in order to find the best ways to match your audience's expectations for your blog and your own goals for your blog. With that in mind, check out the 10 fairly easy ways to starting making money from your blogging efforts.
1. Join an Advertising Program
There are many advertising programs available for bloggers to join. One of the most popular online advertising programs and possibly the easiest to set up on your blog is Google AdSense, which offers a variety of pay-per-click text, display, and video advertising opportunities for bloggers. With a bit of effort, experimenting, and tweaking you can definitely make some money with Google AdSense.
2. Join an Affiliate Advertising Program
There are many companies that offer programs that enable you to sign up as an affiliate of that company and earn money. Amazon Associates is one of the most popular and easiest affiliate advertising programs for bloggers to use.
3. Join an Affiliate Advertising Network
There are a number of affiliate advertising networks that link online advertisers with publishers (such as bloggers). Commission Junction is one of the most popular affiliate advertising networks.
4. Sell Your Own Ad Space Directly to Advertisers
You can attempt to sell your own ad space directly to advertisers, but unless your blog is established with a sizable audience, it can be difficult to manage and make money selling ad space directly. Fortunately, there are sites like BuySellAds.com that link online publishers (like bloggers) up with online advertisers to make selling your ad space easier.
5. Publish Posts and Reviews for Pay
You can write blog posts on your own blog in exchange for pay, and there are several Web sites that link online publishers (such as bloggers) up with companies and individuals who want their products and services reviewed or discussed online. Just be sure to understand how to safely publish a paid post or sponsored review on your blog, so you don't negatively affect your blog's traffic.
6. Sell Merchandise
There are a number of Web sites that make it extremely easy for bloggers to create their own online stores where you can sell custom or stock merchandise and make money doing it! CafePress, Zazzle and Printfection are three of the most popular sites for creating your own online store.
7. Become a Professional Blogger
If you write well and can work autonomously, then you could work from home as a professional blogger! Fortunately, there are many sites where you can search for paid blogging jobs. Keep in mind, blogger pay rates can vary drastically, so make sure any opportunity you take matches your long term blogging goals.
8. Join a Blogging Network
There are a number of blog networks that include a number of blogs and bloggers all publishing under a larger brand or company. Many of these blog networks pay bloggers a flat fee per post or word that the blogger writes or the blogger receives a percentage of advertising earnings tied to the number of page views his or her posts generate (some networks even pay both a flat fee and a percentage of advertising revenues). As always, make sure the opportunities you pursue match your long term blogging goals.
9. Ask for Donations
While you're unlikely to make much money from donors, it certainly can't hurt to ask for donations on your blog. It's easy to add a PayPal donate button, and you never know who might be feeling generous!
10. Make Money without Ads
There are a variety of ways that you can make money from your blog without publishing any ads on your blog at all. Don't be afraid to get creative!
Tuesday 29 November 2011
How to Make Money Online
Start your own blog.
You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising. At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger even automates setting up Google AdSense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.
Once you have a site up that is regularly updated and gets a steady amount of traffic, you should start thinking about monetizing. The list below provides ways to monetize that won't take up a lot of your time, so you can focus on building your site with good content and growing your traffic. These are the most basic (and arguably the least profitable) methods, but they are effective interim monetizing strategies.
As with most strategies regarding money, diversification is key. Try a combination of these methods to maximize earning potential (without making your site too ad heavy). Play around with your layout, if it's flexible, to give different ads more or less exposure (don't let them overshadow your content). Test a variety of networks. Make sure you are being paid accurately and in a timely manner. Monitor your performance and if you are not happy with the service or results, try another company.
1. PPC Ads (Pay Per Click)
Google Adsense is the most popular and widely used option. They serve contextual ads (image or text) based on your content, and pay when someone clicks on the ad. How much you make on Adsense depends on several things. First, advertisers bid on keywords, so if you happen to write about a topic that has high paying keywords, then each click will be worth a lot more than another topic with low valued keywords (keywords that has really low bids). Also, people who came to your site from search engines are more likely to click on these ads than people who are repeat visitors. It makes sense then to spread out your Adsense ads to provide easy access for search visitors.
2. CPM Ads (Cost Per Thousand)
Unlike CPC ads, CPM ads pay per impression. Viewers don't need to do anything for you to be paid. You just need to serve the ad to them. The downside is that you're paid almost nothing for each impression. Rates can go as low as $0.10 per thousand impressions. But it's still a good option to use in conjunction with CPC ads. CPM ads can be placed in less prominent spaces (below the fold) whereas CPC ads should have better position. Most ad networks that offer CPM ads have CPC ads thrown in as well. You can set your own prices and remove unappealing ads.
3. CPA / Affiliate Ads (Cost Per Action)
CPA ads pay per action. Viewers don't just need to click on them, but they actually have to do something, either sign up/register or make a purchase. Not surprisingly, they are the highest paying ads. However, how likely your visitors will click on the ad and perform the desired action will depend very much on how relevant the ad is to your content. For example, a site about digital photography may do very well showing digital camera CPA ads. Some sites are much better suited for CPA ads. Consider whether any CPA ads would add value to your visitors.
4. Text Links
Text links work the same way as the above. You set aside a space on your page and text links will start showing up when they are purchased. You need to submit specific pages into the inventory, so enter your most popular pages (homepage, category pages, and very popular articles). Rates are based on your PR, which has to do with how many other sites link to your page. If you often get linked and mentioned, text links may be profitable for your site.
5. In-text Advertising
In-text ads don't require any additional real estate, which is attractive to many site owners. Ads are attached to text in your content, showing up as underlined or double underlined words that are clickable. Some will pop up a little advertisement when the word is moused over. Many viewers, however, find these ads distracting.
6. RSS Feed Ads
Offering a feed of your content is essential. More and more readers are using feeds to catch up with their favorite sites, and not offering one will alienate a lot of readers who would be interested in your content. There is yet to be a lot of advertising options within feeds, but for now you can still monetize the traffic to your feed.
You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising. At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger even automates setting up Google AdSense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.
Once you have a site up that is regularly updated and gets a steady amount of traffic, you should start thinking about monetizing. The list below provides ways to monetize that won't take up a lot of your time, so you can focus on building your site with good content and growing your traffic. These are the most basic (and arguably the least profitable) methods, but they are effective interim monetizing strategies.
As with most strategies regarding money, diversification is key. Try a combination of these methods to maximize earning potential (without making your site too ad heavy). Play around with your layout, if it's flexible, to give different ads more or less exposure (don't let them overshadow your content). Test a variety of networks. Make sure you are being paid accurately and in a timely manner. Monitor your performance and if you are not happy with the service or results, try another company.
1. PPC Ads (Pay Per Click)
Google Adsense is the most popular and widely used option. They serve contextual ads (image or text) based on your content, and pay when someone clicks on the ad. How much you make on Adsense depends on several things. First, advertisers bid on keywords, so if you happen to write about a topic that has high paying keywords, then each click will be worth a lot more than another topic with low valued keywords (keywords that has really low bids). Also, people who came to your site from search engines are more likely to click on these ads than people who are repeat visitors. It makes sense then to spread out your Adsense ads to provide easy access for search visitors.
2. CPM Ads (Cost Per Thousand)
Unlike CPC ads, CPM ads pay per impression. Viewers don't need to do anything for you to be paid. You just need to serve the ad to them. The downside is that you're paid almost nothing for each impression. Rates can go as low as $0.10 per thousand impressions. But it's still a good option to use in conjunction with CPC ads. CPM ads can be placed in less prominent spaces (below the fold) whereas CPC ads should have better position. Most ad networks that offer CPM ads have CPC ads thrown in as well. You can set your own prices and remove unappealing ads.
3. CPA / Affiliate Ads (Cost Per Action)
CPA ads pay per action. Viewers don't just need to click on them, but they actually have to do something, either sign up/register or make a purchase. Not surprisingly, they are the highest paying ads. However, how likely your visitors will click on the ad and perform the desired action will depend very much on how relevant the ad is to your content. For example, a site about digital photography may do very well showing digital camera CPA ads. Some sites are much better suited for CPA ads. Consider whether any CPA ads would add value to your visitors.
4. Text Links
Text links work the same way as the above. You set aside a space on your page and text links will start showing up when they are purchased. You need to submit specific pages into the inventory, so enter your most popular pages (homepage, category pages, and very popular articles). Rates are based on your PR, which has to do with how many other sites link to your page. If you often get linked and mentioned, text links may be profitable for your site.
5. In-text Advertising
In-text ads don't require any additional real estate, which is attractive to many site owners. Ads are attached to text in your content, showing up as underlined or double underlined words that are clickable. Some will pop up a little advertisement when the word is moused over. Many viewers, however, find these ads distracting.
6. RSS Feed Ads
Offering a feed of your content is essential. More and more readers are using feeds to catch up with their favorite sites, and not offering one will alienate a lot of readers who would be interested in your content. There is yet to be a lot of advertising options within feeds, but for now you can still monetize the traffic to your feed.
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