Secrets to Making Money Monetizing Your Website or Blog
I’ve heard people say advertising is dead.
That’s not the case, advertising is not dead, the only thing that’s dead is old advertising models. Advertising is constantly changing and evolving. Just look at Groupon.Com. Groupon has created a new advertising model that is HUGELY successful.
Just yesterday I bought four Groupons, all for Nordstrom Rack, a store I otherwise would have never even thought to step foot into. I bought one Groupon, checked out the store and wound up buying three more before days end.
There are endless ways to monetize your website or blog but advertising is still key in bringing money into your site. You just need to know what your getting into and create new and innovative ways to advertise. Here are a few tips for how to successfully monetize your blog…
Content
Content is always has been and always will be king!!! You need lots of content and great content to drive an audience. You also want to vary your content. Have some short social media content but also have more in depth stuff for your website. A steady dose of both and your on track for success.
The following tips will be brief but I really want to expand on content because it’s so important. I recently caught myself trying to find quick ways to drive traffic. Traffic exchanges, forums, social media. The truth is even if you could magically drive traffic to your site if you don’t have content those visitors will never return.
In addition to content driving traffic purely through enjoying what your site has to offer content also will get you ranked higher in search engines. Content will also make others want to collaborate with you. Maybe someone likes your content and links their blog or site to your page. This is huge for driving traffic as un-reciprocal links are more important than reciprocal links in Google rankings. Content may also make others want to guest blog on your site which is also great for a number of reasons.
Content is king, don’t forget that. Focus on keeping good and varied content on your site and the visitors will come.
Size Doesn’t Matter
When your girlfriend tells you this she’s lying to you but in the case of your website it’s true…lol. Even if your website or blogs subject matter isn’t huge and doesn’t have a ton of don’t worry.
Advertisers are looking for niche audiences. Don’t worry about size so much as defining your niche. Even the smallest niche can drive huge ad dollars if your site is a key player in that niche.
In a recent post about using forums to drive traffic I mentioned the Intruder Alert forum which is a niche forum. That niche is not only motorcycles but Suzuki Intruder motorcycles which is a seemingly small niche. A larger advertiser may not appreciate your subject matter or site but a bike parts store that specializes in Suzuki Intruder parts would love your site. Your entire site is their target market.
Think Ahead of the Curve
What’s the new up and coming ad model? Even better try to forecast what the next up and coming ad model will be. It never hurts to try new advertising campaigns and pitches.
Every company out there is trying to push their message to their audience. It’s up to you to create new and more effective methods for doing so. Look for the next big way to do this, if you won’t someone else will!!!
Reach Out to Advertisers
Believe it or not there are advertisers out there who will buy a banner ad to your site, all you need to do is find them. To do this you will need to call, e-mail, and advertise.
Don’t be turned off by low ad revenue from selling your own ad space. A while back a buddy of mine who was running a Sports Handicapping website offered me $10 a month to run a banner ad for him.
At the time I was running a banner ad for a large Sports Book site with a pretty generous commission structure. I declined his offer thinking I would make much more with the banner I was currently running. After two months the banner hadn’t made me any money. Had I taken him up on the offer I would have made $20. Sure it’s not life changing money but something is better than nothing.
If you have friends, family, or colleagues who run websites or blogs by all means reach out to them but don’t be afraid to contact companies, other blog writers in your niche or other websites.
Here’s a great analogy. Think about the last time you were out at a bar and saw a girl with a guy and wondered, how in the world did he get her. There’s a good chance he’s filthy rich and that’s how he got her but most likely its because he asked out every hot girl he came across and eventually one said yes.
It’s the same concept when approaching advertisers. You’ll hear a lot of knows but keep at it and you will get a yes and have paid advertising on your site which is not only more profitable but also much easier than dealing with affiliate programs.
Sponsors?
Think beyond banner ads, sky scrapers, postage stamp ads and pop-ups. Why not try to get a company to sponsor your site, maybe a series of articles for example.
When you watch a special on discovery channel or a movie on USA you often hear how that program is sponsored by such and such advertiser.
Why not do the same thing with your website???
Build a Community
Building a community is hugely important to the success of your website. It’s also very important to the success of your ad campaigns.
A strong community will be more likely to trust ads and partnerships that you have on your site. A strong community will make your ads more successful, making your advertisers more happy, and thus making you more money.
Think Like Your Advertisers
Put yourself in your advertisers shoes. Think about how much you would pay to be on your site? Where would you like your ad placed on your site? What would it take to make you purchase advertising on your site?
Take a step back and pretend your thinking about buying advertising space on your site. This will help you to optimize both your site and your pitch to potential advertisers.
Don’t Be Shy About Your Ads
Don’t over do it but people understand nothing is free. Everyone needs to bring in money to keep things going. Having a few ads is not going to corrupt your site.
Some people seem to be of the opinion that putting up advertising is corrupting your site or is going to turn off your visitors. From a personal stand point I am not put off when I see ads on a site. Any newspaper site, sports site, any site in general for the most part has some type of advertising on it.
If for whatever reason you choose not to advertise on your site more power to you. If you do however choose to advertise do it right. I often see people put a postage stamp size ad on the bottom left hand corner of their page.
This strikes me as extremely stupid. The point of advertising is for people to see it so why hide the advertising. Plus if your not crazy about ads you’ve already “corrupted” your site with ads, and on top of it they are ads nobody is going to see so what’s the point of even having them there.
If you are going to advertise and find ways to monetize your website don’t over do it but by all means don’t be shy about advertising. I’d recommend having a banner ad across the top and a sky scraper to one side. This is something people will see but is not over doing it and will not turn off your visitors.
Take a Look at the Competition
Look at who’s successful in your industry or niche. If possible try to find out what they did and what their site was like in their early days.
Focus on your competitors sites and pay attention to where they place ads, what kind of ads they are placing, what kind of sponsorships are they running?
Don’t just look at these sites once and never go back. Monitor them on a regular basis. Ads and sponsorships will come and go and you can see what your competitors are doing and take cues for your own site.
Build Additional Revenue Streams
Kind of odd that in an article about advertising the last tip I have for you is don’t get all caught up in advertising. Many people assume ads are the only way to make revenue off your site.
Keep your eye out for other revenue streams as well whether it be additional content users have to pay for, eBooks, additional subscription sites or even just a paypal donate button on your site.
So what did you think about these tips? Do you have any of your own to pass on to fellow Entrepreneurs? If so please leave a comment or contact us if your interested in doing some guest blogging!!!
When you watch a special on discovery channel or a movie on USA you often hear how that program is sponsored by such and such advertiser.
Why not do the same thing with your website???
Build a Community
Building a community is hugely important to the success of your website. It’s also very important to the success of your ad campaigns.
A strong community will be more likely to trust ads and partnerships that you have on your site. A strong community will make your ads more successful, making your advertisers more happy, and thus making you more money.
Think Like Your Advertisers
Put yourself in your advertisers shoes. Think about how much you would pay to be on your site? Where would you like your ad placed on your site? What would it take to make you purchase advertising on your site?
Take a step back and pretend your thinking about buying advertising space on your site. This will help you to optimize both your site and your pitch to potential advertisers.
Don’t Be Shy About Your Ads
Don’t over do it but people understand nothing is free. Everyone needs to bring in money to keep things going. Having a few ads is not going to corrupt your site.
Some people seem to be of the opinion that putting up advertising is corrupting your site or is going to turn off your visitors. From a personal stand point I am not put off when I see ads on a site. Any newspaper site, sports site, any site in general for the most part has some type of advertising on it.
If for whatever reason you choose not to advertise on your site more power to you. If you do however choose to advertise do it right. I often see people put a postage stamp size ad on the bottom left hand corner of their page.
This strikes me as extremely stupid. The point of advertising is for people to see it so why hide the advertising. Plus if your not crazy about ads you’ve already “corrupted” your site with ads, and on top of it they are ads nobody is going to see so what’s the point of even having them there.
If you are going to advertise and find ways to monetize your website don’t over do it but by all means don’t be shy about advertising. I’d recommend having a banner ad across the top and a sky scraper to one side. This is something people will see but is not over doing it and will not turn off your visitors.
Take a Look at the Competition
Look at who’s successful in your industry or niche. If possible try to find out what they did and what their site was like in their early days.
Focus on your competitors sites and pay attention to where they place ads, what kind of ads they are placing, what kind of sponsorships are they running?
Don’t just look at these sites once and never go back. Monitor them on a regular basis. Ads and sponsorships will come and go and you can see what your competitors are doing and take cues for your own site.
Build Additional Revenue Streams
Kind of odd that in an article about advertising the last tip I have for you is don’t get all caught up in advertising. Many people assume ads are the only way to make revenue off your site.
Keep your eye out for other revenue streams as well whether it be additional content users have to pay for, eBooks, additional subscription sites or even just a paypal donate button on your site.
So what did you think about these tips? Do you have any of your own to pass on to fellow Entrepreneurs? If so please leave a comment or contact us if your interested in doing some guest blogging!!!
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