Blog Monetization - First Step
November 28, 2007
These little boxes look rad, don’t they?
Well, finally, after keeping Blogging Bits advert-free for four months, I’ve decided to place an advert or two in a bid to monetize my blog - albeit in a very unobtrusive way.
I am not a fan of obtrusive advertising - which is a hallmark of some advertising programs such as AdSense and Kontera - on a blog that is focused on the community aspect of blogging. My first priority, as a result, is to ensure the best possible user/visitor/reader experience.
The best thing about 125×125 banner ads is that they don’t look like ads - at least to me. I think of them as legitimate ads.
So where did I get these ads from?
They are simple affiliate links. Even you can sign up for one of these services and get your own affiliate link/banner.
With affiliate ads, you have complete control over who you want to promote unlike contextual ads where any AdSense arbitrage can misuse advertising space on your blog.
Even though AdSense can give you instant results because it’s a cost-per-click program (you are paid for every click on the AdSense ads), you risk cluttering your blog, and turning off your readers. AdSense ads also don’t perform well if not disguised to look as legitimate content, which, again, is a no-no for community oriented blogs.
There are a number of affiliate networks you can join to get affiliate links.
Apart from above sites, you can also sign up as an affiliate with services such as PayPerPost and BidVertiser.
Direct advertisements are another big money maker
While affiliate programs pay you well if your visitors generate valid sales and leads, you are not paid if the visitors do not make a purchase on the advertiser’s site.
Direct advertisements fill this gap too. You set your own rate and invite advertisers to advertise on your site. Once a deal between you and an advertiser is brokered, you’ll be paid whether the clicks from your blog turn into actionable results or not (though if you generate a lot of clicks, leads, and sales, the advertiser will be happy to renew the contract).
So if you are a potential advertiser looking to advertise on Blogging Bits, contact me!
I’ll keep you updated as I take more steps to monetize Blogging Bits in future, and shall let you know how much I make from these strategies.
Have you monetized your blog yet? How much do you earn from your blog?
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Nice article, I’m in the process of trying to build my readership base up, but I’ll be looking to direct advertise soon. Keep up the good work!
Andrew, how old is your blog?
The ads are definitely non-intrusive. I’m not a fan of anything in the body, like you mentioned Kontera and AdSense. Good luck with the monetization!
Mohsin–
My site is barely a month old, but I’ve had some pretty good success with slowly building my readership. A lot of my articles are already pulling up on the first search pages of google, so I get a lot of direct traffic that way.
Direct advertising the way to go. At least you know what you’re getting when the advertisers come.
Thanks Steven. I hope I find a few good advertisers too.
Andrew, I have visited your blog. Nice content.
Considering your blog is only a month old, you are doing a great job.
And good luck with Google traffic. Google didn’t send me a lot of traffic at start, but I am getting 60+ visitors/day these days.
Teejay, yep. Though I have yet to find one.
Actually, this is odd but it is great to see you have ads on your blog. 125×125 ads have been a trend and it is odd if i don’t see such ads on niche blogs.
I am happy that I have successfully made my first private ad sales. It is something great and it proved to be a great motivation.
Good luck with your private ad sales.
You know, AdSense used to consist of “legitimate ads” as well. It’s just so cheap spam sites and other morons have been buying ads and making them less valuable to people.
Wayne, actually I am not a very rich man, so a bunch of ads are necessary to keep me motivated to blog.
Congrats for your first private ad deal!
redwall_hp, I agree to that. There are 10 spammers for every legitimate advertiser in AdSense. What they do is advertise on other sites to drive traffic back to theirs, and serve high paying ads to that traffic and make quick money.
What’s worse is that Google doesn’t do anything abut it.
I am someone who is still trying to muster the will (or do i mean courage) to start a blog of my own, and i have a lot to say which i fancy people will be interested in reading. However, there isn’t much motivation if there is no money for my efforts, so this is a lucid and informative article you have written here; very useful for me. Thanks for this.
Are you using a special plugin for the ads, or did you just insert the code manually into your sidebar?
Great article here, really helped
Cheers
Nathan