THE TOP 5 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING

There are lots of ways to make money from your blog. Here is a quick round up of the pros and cons for five of the most popular. We hope this no-nonsense review helps you wade through the money making marsh.

 

1. DISPLAY ADVERTISING

Banner ads, at the top, side or embedded in your blog articles – these can be static or animated images, or interactive media with audio or video.

How will I get paid? Usually Pay Per Click (PPC) – you earn money every time a member of your community clicks on an ad.

Pros. It’s easy. Sign up with an ad network, create an account, add some html code to your blog and you’re away. You choose where the ads go, and how much space you want to give up, so you maintain some control.

Cons. Takes up space on your blog where you could be saying something better. You can’t always control the quality or relevance of the ads. The threshold for getting paid is usually $100, so can take a while for smaller bloggers to start earning.

2. IN-TEXT ADVERTISING

These ads tend to display as a ‘pop-up’ or 'roll-over' - so if you mention a product like an iPad or a make of shoes, when the reader hovers their mouse over the text a mini-window will appear with product info and a link to a merchant website.

How will I get paid? Pay per click (PPC).

Pros. Easy to set up – just paste the html code into your site and your service provider will automatically convert the keywords into adverts. Ads are keyword matched so they’re generally pretty relevant to your community.

Cons. Pop ups can annoy your audience. Your earnings depend on how much your community is willing to interact with this kind of advertising.

3. SPONSORSHIP

If you run a popular blog you can forge a relationship with advertisers who will pay you to place adverts on your blog. Some advertisers may just want to place a single advert somewhere on your blog, while others may be interested in sponsoring the whole thing, like wrapping your content in a branded background with supporting banner adverts.

How will I get paid? Typically this is on a CPM (Cost per Mille i.e. Cost Per 1000 impressions) basis.

Pros. You have full control to select advertisers you want to partner up with, negotiate your terms and your pricing. The right sponsor can pay well.

Cons. It can be difficult to find suitable willing advertisers, most will require a minimum amount of traffic and you may have to allow sponsorship that isn’t totally relevant. The sponsor can end up being very prominent on your blog, leaving you less space to say what you want.

4. AFFILIATE LINKS

Affiliate marketing is where you are rewarded by an online merchant for bringing them business. There are both DIY and automated types.

How will I get paid? You get paid a commission. Typically this is on a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) basis - you get paid when someone purchases a product having clicked through an affiliate link on your blog.

Pros. You maintain a lot of control, and ads tend to be relevant to your community. DIY affiliate advertising is totally flexible. Automatic services match products for you, but you can disable certain advertisers/products to an extent.

Cons. Managing the links takes up time for DIYers. Affiliate networks can take up to 90 days to pay you the commission you’ve earned.

5.  MONETIZE YOUR VIDEO CONTENT

Video is hugely popular these days. If you have videos on your blog it’s probably some of the most valuable content you have. By using a tool like Coull Vidlinkr you can quickly and easily monetize the video content on your blog.

Coull’s Vidlinkr tool adds a ‘Vidlink’ - a clickable button linking to a relevant product or offer page - to each of your videos. When a viewer purchases that product you get paid a percentage commission on the sale.

How will I get paid? Either CPA / CPC - you get paid when one of your viewers clicks the call to action in your video or purchases the Vidlinked product/service.

Pros. Creating an account is quick and easy, and the set up process only involves adding a couple of lines of html code to your blog template. Vidlinks are integrated within your video content, but are designed to let the video take the lead. You don’t compromise the look and feel of your blog.  Coull Vidlinkr can manage your videos’ Vidlinks for you, or you can choose to select appropriate products for each video yourself. The threshold for payment is only $15/£10 too.