Recently, I posted my “How bloggers make money MindMap” on Google+. I’ve had a few people ask for clarification around the Advertising section, and what all the options there mean. Here’s a summary:
1. Ad networks
These are services like AdSense and Chitika but also smaller or more local ones like NuffNang (which operates out of Australia and Asia). They can probably fit in some of the other categories as well, as they use different models to deliver their ads.
2. Cost Per Impression (CMP)
This is where you sell space for an ad and get paid based upon how many times it loads. Usually you get paid per 1000 impressions of the ad. The rate varies a lot, depending upon topic. There are lots of very low, “remnant” ad networks out there that pay you a pittance per impression, but if you have a higher value niche you can get better money. I’ve been paid up to $40 per 1000 impressions.
3. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
These ads pay out only when someone takes some kind of action after clicking the ad. The action might be a sale but could also be them signing up for a service, leaving an email address, etc.
4. Cost Per Click (CPC)
This is what AdSense used to be: every time someone clicked your ad, you’d get a certain amount. Now AdSense do a combination of CPC and CPM ads—they mix them in.
5. Sponsorships
This is what I do on ProBlogger. I sell ad spots on a month-by-month basis to sponsors for a fixed amount per month.
6. Text links
When you sell a text link on your site, the person buying the link is usually doing it for search engine ranking purposes. As a result, Google frowns on these and you could be risking your own search rankings by doing it. I don’t do this, as I see it as a little too risky, but some bloggers still do. Proceed with caution.
7. Pay per post
Also known as sponsored posts (advertorials), this is where you’re paid to review a product or to promote it in a post. Bloggers have varied ethical stances on this. Generally these days you are required to disclose that you’re being paid for the post.
8. Job board/classifieds
If you operate in a niche where people are buying and selling products or there are jobs that people want to advertise this can be a nice source of income. You need to be able to attract both advertisers and those they want to see the ads to make it work, though—so you need traffic and profile.
9. Newsletter advertising
This is a growing area for me. Some advertisers love to have their brand included in emails that you send to readers. We find bundling some onsite sponsorship banner ads with inclusions in our newsletter is a good way to sell space to advertisers.
Some ad networks (like AdSense) have ways of doing this but you can also sell sponsorships in your RSS feed directly. We use a WordPress plugin called RSS Footer to add an advertisement in the RSS feed of ProBlogger.
Here are a few more ideas that I should add to the mindmap…
Ad networks like Kontera offer these, and I think Chitika and a few others do, too. They are ads that appear in your posts, turning certain keywords into little ads (they usually change the color of the word and/or underline it to make it look like a link). When someone hovers over the word a little ad pops up with a description of a product that they can buy. Some bloggers find these ads convert well, but others find them intrusive.
12. Video advertising
If you publish videos, you might be interested in Youtube’s integration with AdSense, which allows you to earn money from ads that appear in your videos.
13. Image ads
Yesterday +Scott Fitzgerald alerted me to ImageSpace Media, who have a system that adds advertisements into your images. These are similar to the ads you might see in Youtube videos that pop up and that can be minimized.
There are of course other typs of ads and ads that fit into multiple categories above. What types do you use, if any?
For those interested, or curious, I found an alternative to Image Space Media. A company called GumGum (gumgum.com).
I have to say, we tried ImageSpaceMedia and they literally paid pennies compared to Pixazza (now Luminate). Pixazza is the clear winner here, IMHO…just FYI.
Thanks for all the different forms of advertisements Darren! :) I guess its time to start something different. I shall now try the Image Ads, hope to get something good out of it !
But first is first, getting high traffic.
What happened to points 10 and 11?
the first one should be CPM (not CMP)
Seriously….
I guess that’s a great way to make it seem like you have larger lists – just skip some numbers :)
er second one…
Quick question about selling Ad spots. Who would you typically contact at the target companies you want to ask about advertising? Any tips on locating the right person to contact about advertising on your site, would be appreciated!
About text links, I just had a print company offer me $30 a month to put an ad for them on my art webpage. Its a link in the sentence, For great prices on printing try ###. Is this what you mean by text link and am I in danger allowing it?
Thanks for the ideas. I have AdSense, Chitika, Kontera, and affiliate links on my site. So far the conversion has been ridiculously low. Chitika seems to serve only unrelated ads and Kontera pays only 0,02$/1000 clicks?! AdSense is the only one that even seems to work. I’ve spent some time fiddling around with the placements and other factors, but still CTR is really poor. Do you have ideas on how to implement AdSense better on my site or generally on any site?
My blog is about happiness and you can read it here: http://www.myhappierlife.com
Thanks in advance for any ideas :)
Well compiled list for a newbie blogger to monetize his/her blog. Very few people use 7 to 13. They have good potential to add to income.. Expecting another great list like this. Thanks.
Darren,
Some great tips.. but I think your math is bad. (you missed 10 and 11) ;)
What do you base sponsorship costs on. Total site traffic or some kind of bid from sponseres?
Image Ads could be something annoyed for the readers to view the pictures at the blog and could lead to the decrease on loyal readers. Just my 2cents
For those wondering about Adsense paying off, here’s my experience.
My blog is just over 1 year old, and yesterday I posted the 200th post. It has a definite niche that has associated products (@peter — I’m guessing that “happiness” is hard for Adsense to get a handle on for ads). I get between 250 and 300 visitors a day. Both numbers of posts and visitors have been on a steady upward trend through the life of the blog — no new big spike. Ads in the same locations and no other big changes in layout.
Until 2 months ago, my Adsense earnings were a pittance — about $10 (US) per month for the 5 months previous (and less before that). I thought about ditching it. Then July was $18 and August was $31. September is on track to have another increase. OK, still not enough to retire on, but the increase is enough to make me stick with it.
The big thing I’m suddenly noticing is that the ads seem much “better” targeted to the topic of the blog (although maybe they’re just more targeted to ME) and that there is a greater variety of ads showing up. I’m wondering if I suddenly got to some threshold??
So if you’re relatively new and not happy with the money your ads are producing, I’d say to stick with it.
Thanks for the tips on making money with advertising on blogs.I am going to look into You tube to bring extra cash.This sounds interesting and could help bring traffic
Yea, these are 13 categories of the many such providers and vendors in the market. I have a list of links pointing to the various sites for monetizing your blog by such networks. Take a look and let me know what you think – http://www.dailymorningcoffee.com/300-ways-to-monetize-your-website-part-i/
Darren,
Nice Article. But, I believe this may be useful where the blogs hold handful of traffic and visitors already in place and the techniques would help them to impress very well. Can you provide some insight for entry or middle level sites as how they can approach to advertise products being with fewer visitor community.
Even I post an article about unique affiliate marketing techniques http://www.mediacrayon.com/affiliate
Just share your thoughts. Thanks
Thanks Manickam. I was thinking the same thing. If you figure about a 5% click rate and only get $1-$2 per click, you would need 10,000 to 20,000 visitors a day just to make $100. Darren is in a great position, but not all of us are that lucky.
This is a great list. I would love to see some tips on how to accomplish these steps. I’m new to the blogosphere, but I’m interested in learning. Do you have a post on your blog that I can research more on these tips, specifically “sponsorship advertising” and possibly how to make AdSense work on my blog? I would love the help/information. Thank you!
I don’t get it. I’ve got AdSense on my blog. I’ve got dozens of affiliates, including Amazaon and I’ve tried other pay per click ads (but all were pretty much useless). My blog is only 13 months old and I’ve gotten over 1 million hits on it. The only money that I’ve earned is with the AdSense and even that I can’t collect until it reaches $100.
What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried to target the ads to the blog, and think I’ve done pretty well, not perfect I’m sure, but close. How would I get sponsors? I know it’s a personal blog, but I get so many hits, more than other bloggers with the same basic subject that have been blogging longer than me. I must be doing something amiss.
I hope someone is monitoring this and will respond to me, I really would, scratch that, I really need some help here. The website is: http://texaninthephilippines.com. Please check it out and let me know what I need to do via my e-mail. Thanks in advance, thanks a lot.
It looks to me that you may be confusing “hits” with “unique visitors” as your Alexa rank would suggest that you only get around 20 or so daily visits. On the other hand, your site has a lot of elements on it and each one will register as a “hit” when the page is loaded per visitor. You also want to use Google Analytics to track traffic and not anything like awstats or other program from within your hosting dashboard. Your host will track robot traffic and the number of pages on your site will rack up the “hits” without actually having humans see your ads. Also, it is likely unwise to monetize a blog until you get more traffic as it will inhibit early growth (natural backlinks). Shoot for over 200 a day (according to Analytics traffic). I would love to be wrong about this and not be the bearer of bad news, but I do not believe so. Sorry :(
CPM is the best way to earn money if you have huge traffic anyway thanks for the nice information Darren
Oddly enough, I began making money on my blog when I focused less on making money and more on just writing posts about the subjects I cared about. I think most folks can sense genuine writing and intentions on a blog or website.
I say, just put your energy into what you care about. The money will follow.
Great post. Most people don’t understand the difficulty in making money online. Providing information on several ways to make money is a plus.
I have tried Chitika before but it pays quite less.
Thanks for the informative post.
I like what Patrick says above. Write what you love, and the money will follow
All these are the ways to increase traffic which will grow readers and money as well.. I believe the whole idea revolve around Mind set to make money and innovation. I am not investing a lot but making money nicely.. So i am happy and want to apply this to get more in future.. but start has begin now.. :-)
As an alternative to Youtube check out VideofyMe. Specially made for making videoblogging easy and profitable. Give a try and let us know what you think.
Thanks Darren for the informative and much needed post. You are always great with words and always find a way to success. I just love your blog.
I am new to this trade and not to mention that I am not getting the game. But fortunately guys like you always shows the way and we the followers some day get through the door of success.
Let’s hope for the best.
Nice and handy that, lay it out just like that so we don’t have to go reading through pages and pages of stuff looking for the keywords! thanks
Great post Darren. Many different sources out there. – Mitt
I think this is the ultimate list we may need to use when we think of making money from our blogs and websites through various advertising means.
Echoing what some other people have said, you need to give AdSense time!!!
In my first couple months with AdSense this summer, I barely made $5-10 a month with around 10-20k visitors. Now, I’m making $30 a month, increasing every month, with the same number of visitors. Word of advice, don’t freak out immediately over Adsense CPC and earnings, give it a few months and it will rise.
Thanks for the information everybody. I will definitely checkout the above options, instead of relying on Adsense.
hi Darren, i tried Chitika and NuffNang but none compares with adsense from all points of view in my opinion
I’ve experimented with almost every item on this mind map and here’s my two cents…
A) build up great content
B) stick with something longer than you think you should. tenacity pays.
good luck!
Agreed. Those two points are the foundation to any successful blog. The money will come later.
And I have to keep reminding myself of this when things don’t seem to be working out.
Darren…you do great job with this article…
I sell my blog’s space with image ads, and textlink ads
Great promotion tips darren. I have tried many but then forgot about several like adsense in you tube videos, (guess i am on brain overload) haha. Great stuff
i am currently have android blog and i am concentrating on adsense… in future i have planned to go with buysellads, since some android blogs are using that… i hope google adsense is the best choice for my blog…
For german speaking people adsense is much less attractive due to the lack of readers. Does anyone of you know a good monetization strategy for german blogs?
A few posts up, someone hit it on the nail when they said “worry more about your readers then your income”. While that’s easier said then done, I can tell you that it’s working for me.
Almost exactly one year ago today, I started this long and steep road to blogging. I waited 6 months before I even put on Adsense, as I had so little traffic it wouldn’t have mattered.
My earnings were slow to start and were quite discouraging (and I believe that it’s against TOS to disclose your earnings) but I can tell you that this month I finally cracked the 4 figures.
None of that would have happened (I believe) until I started to change my writing style a few months ago and think more about readers and less on keywords. I am still working at re-writing old articles and learning how to do a better job at keeping the readers on my site.
I spend a great deal of time at it and probably make about $1 an hour, but I enjoy what I am doing. I spend about 25% on KW research – 25% on writing and 50% building appropriate links. I average about 25-30 hours a week at it.
I was told early on, that if you treat it as a hobby, you’ll make hobby income, treat it as a business and you can build it into a sizable income.
I’ve thrown a lot of money at all the different crap that will give you the “secret” to earning tons of money with a push of the button. Find yourself some sites that you keep going back to and figure out why it is that you do….then do what they are doing.
Good luck everyone!
Think this is great advice –
“I’ve thrown a lot of money at all the different crap that will give you the “secret” to earning tons of money with a push of the button. Find yourself some sites that you keep going back to and figure out why it is that you do….then do what they are doing.”
Very true. Great advice Darren.
Cheers
Interesting information about ways for bloggers to make money with advertising. We have a travel blog, and we are looking at different ways on how we can take on board sponsors (with products that we can use, and or advertise)
Thanks for the great tips n hints. Looking forward to the Melbourne Pro-blogger event, and also to following more information here at pro-blogger.
Cheers
Lisa
Thanks for the tip on ImageSpace Media, checking it out. I’ve had the best results with AdSense.
Very nice article and I am sure its going to be very useful for all new bloggers. Thanks buddy. I need to ask one question to you? Is it possible to use all the 13 at a time? Are you using all 13 ways of earning? Isn’t it a violation of each others?
a guide which can really help a layman :) awesome!!
This is a great guide. The picture you have drawn tells a thousand words. Great post!
Are affiliate links considered text links? That has been our bread and butter revenue source as of late.
Another option is to use Fiverr.com I have found that we can earn some revenue on the side, albeit $5 a sale its better then nothing. We have been selling text links and don’t really see any issues. In fact it’s a great deal for $5 companies can place their anchor text and url on the Mountain Weekly site. If you want more info check out: http://fiverr.com/mtnweekly/place-your-anchor-text-and-backlink-google-page-rank-3-on-1400-pages-of-the-mountain-weekly-news-1-month
But with any business you need customers, or in our world visitors. As our traffic increases so does our incoming advertising opportunities. We just hit our first full year in business and now finally companies are contacting us. As of Alexa rank shows were gaining more and more readers from across the globe. So I would say content is key, without lots of new content why would anyone come back to your site day after day?
Informative article, Darren.
What surprised me(Okay , not really) with this article post, is the quality of many of the comments.
There are some really insightful and practical lessons amongst them.
A few of the commentors have hit the spot.
A pretty comprehensive list, though in-text ad networks like Infolinks and Kontera seem to be omitted. I particularly like Pay Per Post, especially the one that allows no-follow reviews and pays quite well.
I personally use Ad network, in-text advertising and CPM ads. Trying to integrate image ads, as I have many images in my blog. Suggest me some of the best in-image ad networks other than ISM.
Excellent list but I still find I make more money advertising affiliate programs.
Hi,
How do you advertise affiliate programs? I am learning about affiliate programs for years but I am not making much money from affiliate programs.
The thing is for me i got rejecting repeatedly from some ads network. Especially from Google AdSense. I never got reason why. I run out idea how to get ads into my blog.
I would be so glad if anyone can help me.
Nice list, I completely agree that text links are just not worth it. If Google catches on it can quickly kill any benefits you would have achieved financially by selling those link slots and kill future shots at making money. I’m personally only using CPA as an affiliate marketer.
I only use AdSense right now, but probably I will try Chitika too. Thanks for the article!