Making Money With Online Advertising

You’ve probably heard that most bloggers don’t make the majority of their money through online advertising, and that’s definitely true.  However, you can still make money with ads – and here’s how!

Traditional Advertising

Traditional advertising is available as both CPC (cost per click) and CPM (cost per thousand impressions).  You can make more money with cost per click, because the advertiser is paying for a visitor, but you have more control over the money you make through impressions.  If you are getting paid on impressions, most advertisers want ads “above the fold” which means the area of your site that shows when you first look at the site (without having to scroll down).  Having a smaller header on your site means you’ll have more room for above the fold ads.

Most ad networks have requirements you’ll need to comply with, and you generally have to be accepted into the network.  Many networks sell ads on all of their “inventory”, not specifically for your site.

Suggested networks:

Burst Media
Six Apart Media
Google Adsense
Federated Media

In-Text Ads:

Unlike text links, in-line ads are not delivered as hyperlinks.  When users mouse over the link, an ad pops up.  If the user clicks on it, you receive revenue.  Some complain that they are obtrusive, but, the good thing is that don’t take up any additional space on your site.

Suggested Networks:

Kontera

Text Links

Text links are an actual hyperlink placed on your site.  Google frowns on these, but they pay really well, so it’s up to you to make your own decision.

Suggested Networks:

Text Link Ads

Affiliate Networks:

When you have an affiliate relationship with a company, you’ll receive a percentage of the revenue generated when a customer clicks on a link or ad on your site, and then makes a purchase.  These relationships can pay well when you have the perfect content on your site, but it can be difficult to make money.

Suggested Networks:

Share A Sale
Amazon

Affiliate links

Jodi Grundig is a co-founder of Boston Parent Bloggers, and is the editor/publisher of Mom’s Favorite Stuff, Family Friendly Boston, and Family Travel Magazine

3 comments

  • David

    Hello Jodi

    This is David from Kontera.

    Thanks for mentioning us in this great post. Allow me to share some information about what makes Kontera so great.

    Kontera is the exclusive In-Content platform reaches over 170 million unique users per month through more than 15,000 web publisher using Kontera.

    The reason that Kontera is so effective for so many different people is thanks to our unique Synapse platform, an algorithm that rather than just scanning for keywords like other in-content companies do, can read your text for actual meaning. This added understanding allows us deliver relevant information and ads directly related to user intent, leading to higher CTR and better CPC.

    Another advantage of Kontera is our exclusive ad inventory from some of the biggest brand names in the world including Toyota, UPS, Sprint, American Express, Swiffer, L’Oreal, Kraft Foods, HP, and many more. These premium, often Rich-Media ads are the most attractive to users, offer the best possible CPC, and are only available to Kontera Publishers.

    We offer the highest revenue share around at 70%.If you’d like to apply to become a Kontera Publisher, we’re currently offering new publishers a $50 Bonus if you get at least 25,000 U.S. page views during your first 30 days on the network. Kontera also offers a low $50 minimum threshold, good across all of our payout methods.

    Thanks
    David Stein
    Kontera Community Manager
    davids@kontera.com
    Monetize your site with Kontera In-Text ads

  • Nice article Jodi! Why is it that Google frowns at text links?

  • Jodi

    Hi John, You can get more information on that here – http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/text-links-and-pagerank/

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