R
Rivmedia
Guest
For most people that get involved with the internet marketing and blogging scene, the first port of call when it comes to monetisation is displaying advertising. Although there are many forms of display advertising, banner ads (either text or image based) tend to be the most common. In fact, unless you have AdBlock installed, you'll probably see banner ads on almost every website you visit. However, these banner ads are not only obtrusive and distracting for your visitors, but they can also be poor methods of generating revenue from your website. Modern day visitors are so accustomed to banner ads that typically, they'll ignore them without realising. Because of this, CTR's can be as low as 1% or lower for most sites, which doesn't usually lead to much of a revenue source if your CPC is just a few cents. But what other methods can you use to generate revenue from your site? Here's a few suggestions: ?
#1 - Sponsored Posts
If you can build up an engaged and highly targeted audience in a lucrative niche, sponsored posts will probably offer one of the best monetisation strategies out there. Sponsored posts are typically seen as a spammy tactic and often, they are, but they can also be extremely a legitimate and high quality way of earning revenue. It's important to realise that sponsored posts are not the same as paid guest posts. With a sponsored post, you should be nofollowing the link to the sponsors website. The idea of a sponsored post is for the sponsor to effectively brand a blog post on your site, thus leading to clickthroughs and sales/sign-ups for their product/service. Depending on your traffic statistics, you could earn a few hundred dollars a time with these.
#2 - Affiliate Sales
Another one of the most lucrative monetisation strategies for any blog is affiliate marketing. Essentially, this is nothing more than selling someone else's product to your audience in exchange for a commission. When you sign up to an affiliate program for a product or service, you'll receive your own personal link that tracks any sales. When a visitor clicks your link and buys the product/service, you'll receive a commission. Writing product reviews or marketing to your email list is a good way of making affiliate sales and with the right program, it can be extremely lucrative.
#3 - Testimonials
Ultimately, banner ads take the visitor away from your website and to the advertisers site. The advertiser hopes that they will make a sale when this happens. But, why does it have to a banner ad that does this job, couldn't it be something else. One emerging trend at the moment (that is working well for a few sites) is to actually replace banner ads for testimonials. Instead of the typical 'click here' in-your-face banner ad, a testimonial can attract a visitors attention in a more subtle and less obtrusive way. Plus, they can often convert better as the visitor is clicking the link to the advertisers site due to a positive recommendation from your site (i.e. a site they trust). This doesn't work for every site, but it's something worth testing.
#4 - Pop-Ups
Pop-ups are annoying, there's no doubt about that, but the surprising thing is that they typically convert extremely well, especially for those looking for email signups. Pop-up ads can be a great way to make sure your visitors see what you want them to see. There's no chance your visitors will miss pop-ups as they combat ad blindness quite easily. But how can you use them to monetise your site? Well, you could use them to build an email list which you then market affiliate products (or your own products) to. Or you could use them to showcase an affiliate offer right there and then, whatever works best for you. We would advise that you allow the visitor to click off the pop-up if needed though, otherwise you might end up alienating your audience and your site will suffer.
#5 - Sell Your Own Product
If you're serious about making money from your blog, there really is no other option other than selling your own product or service. It will take a lot of time and effort to do this but ultimately, you can match exactly what your audience is looking for. Plus, if you have your own product/service, you'll be able to attract your own affiliates and make money from other people's blogs too. This is a win-win situation if you can pull it off, but it probably isn't the best tactic for beginners.
#1 - Sponsored Posts
#2 - Affiliate Sales
#3 - Testimonials
Ultimately, banner ads take the visitor away from your website and to the advertisers site. The advertiser hopes that they will make a sale when this happens. But, why does it have to a banner ad that does this job, couldn't it be something else. One emerging trend at the moment (that is working well for a few sites) is to actually replace banner ads for testimonials. Instead of the typical 'click here' in-your-face banner ad, a testimonial can attract a visitors attention in a more subtle and less obtrusive way. Plus, they can often convert better as the visitor is clicking the link to the advertisers site due to a positive recommendation from your site (i.e. a site they trust). This doesn't work for every site, but it's something worth testing.
#4 - Pop-Ups
Pop-ups are annoying, there's no doubt about that, but the surprising thing is that they typically convert extremely well, especially for those looking for email signups. Pop-up ads can be a great way to make sure your visitors see what you want them to see. There's no chance your visitors will miss pop-ups as they combat ad blindness quite easily. But how can you use them to monetise your site? Well, you could use them to build an email list which you then market affiliate products (or your own products) to. Or you could use them to showcase an affiliate offer right there and then, whatever works best for you. We would advise that you allow the visitor to click off the pop-up if needed though, otherwise you might end up alienating your audience and your site will suffer.
#5 - Sell Your Own Product
