Introduction to Making Money on Your Site
Blogging can be a very rewarding hobby. You get to enjoy the opportunity to express yourself on topics that you’re passionate about. You can grow as a person by studying for articles and learning to articulate your thoughts and ideas.
One of my personal favorites is that you can get the satisfaction of knowing that you helped someone learn something or better themselves.
I’m thrilled every time someone tells me that they took a principle from this site and applied it at their blog or website.
Blogging can also be financially rewarding. Many people actually start blogs simply to make money. These authors either fall away for lack of passion or they hunker down and learn the principles that can drive them to success. Today we are going to look at a few of those principles.
Caution: Beginners Beware
As exciting as it is to make money online, beginning bloggers should be very careful. The amount of money made on a blog is largely related to the number of visitors that it gets. When your blog is very new and hasn’t yet reached it visitors potential it can be very discouraging to view your accounts at or near zero day after day. Stick with it and build your blog and eventually you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Just remember to never sell yourself out. Blog about your passions and let the money come whenever it comes. I want to make money from Site Sketch 101 but I don’t plan on selling out who I am to make a few extra dollars. I don’t want to sacrifice the joys of helping others learn and grow as bloggers and I don’t want to give up the excitement of connecting with real people.
I want you to do the same with me.
How Do I Make Money on my Blog?
- Google Adsense & Pay-Per-Click Advertisements - Pay-per-click advertisements are a form of income in which you place advertisement on your site from an ad agency like Google Adsense and every time a user clicks on one of the ads you receive a payment. Google Adsense is probably the most popular way to make money using this model.
- Direct Advertisers & Pay-Per-Time Advertisements – Pay-per-time advertisements is the most common form of direct ad sales. Often advertisers will approach bloggers directly and request to place their ads on the blogger’s site for a set rate per month. Blogger’s can choose the amount of payment that they are willing to accept and determine the length of time for which they wish to set each contract. This model often results in a higher level of income than pay-per-click because you can place more ads than Adsense will allow but it also usually demands a higher level of traffic in order to attract advertisers.
- Shopping Carts & Direct Sales – This method of creating income simply means that you transform your blog into a marketplace and you begin selling a product or service. You can literally sell anything that you could possibly think of from eBooks, to sunglasses, to used comic books. You name it and you can sell it.
- Referrals & Affiliate Marketing Sales – This model refers to placing advertisements on your site where you only get paid if they click through the ad and they make a purchase. Instead of being paid per click, you are paid on a direct commission basis. You might receive 20%, 35% or 50% of the total of the sale. E-junkie is a popular company that connects you with hundreds of affiliate advertisers.
The Well Balanced Blogger
Most bloggers I know want to make money on their blogs but many end up failing in their pursuits for one of these two reasons. Either they place so many ads in ridiculously obnoxious zones on their blogs in an attempt to get more clicks that it takes away from the quality of the site and chases away their visitors or they don’t put any on ads on because they don’t want to lower their site quality and in turn they make no money at all.
If you want to be successful at generating revenue then you need to strike a balance right in the middle. You need to place ads in good positions to get noticed and clicked while at the same time not taking away from the quality of your site. To truly master this you need to find a way to blend them into your site without making them invisible.
This balance is a crucial part of making your ads really effective and you can plan on reading more about this topic in the near future.
Now I want to hear what you have to say. Which method of making money on your blog have you tried out and how well did it work for you? Would you recommend it to the rest of us or would you warn us to stay away from it?
Eric Silva said:
Hey what’s up!
Dude, that was well written and not overly long/complicated like most. I’ve used all those models into one site or blog. I mainly do cpa marketing but building authority sites is one of my avenues as well through blogs. A blog is a great authority site with a face.
I use all those models in moderation (like the tanqueray commercial says). It really makes your income stable with various income streams rolling in. You can charge more for private advertising due to limited space availability.
Also, you can in “moderation” do affiliate recommendations when you capture there email. Notice I said recommendations and not forceful selling. If they Know, Like, and Trust You then they’ll love what you recommend and offer to them.
That’s my half cent bro!
Eric Silva
http://twitter.com/ericEsilva
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Eric Silva >> You’re half cent is made out of gold, my friend. I didn’t even begin to talk about multiple streams of income on here and you mentioned that and it is a great point. That is one of the keys to securing a more stable income in an fluctuating industry like this. I also like how you said that you use these models in moderation. That is a huge key to success.
Olli >> So many people that I know either bounce one way or the other but I’m becoming convinced that the key is to strike up that balance. Thanks for stopping by and joining the discussion!
Evan >> As you work to make them more prominent you should ask people how they feel about them. If you can find a way to blend them into your site in a tasteful manner then they can be a great addition to your blog as well as a great source of side income. If you make them too annoying then you will lose readers who are annoyed by it.
I was talking to my wife about this issue and she told me that when she visits a blog that has a 300×250 banner right in the beginning of the article that you have to read around that she will just leave and not come back. That certainly defeats our purpose.
Arisu >> I’m really looking forward to seeing your blog. I can’t wait for it to be done. The shop is also a great idea if it is done right. Especially, like you said, when you are selling something that is very relevant to what you are writing about. You right about the ads not being huge. That goes right along with having the right balance that we’re talking about.
George Serradinho >> Be sure to let me know when you get that working. I’ll definitely be by to check it out and see how things are going.
Olli said:
“then you need to strike a balance right in the middle”
This is the part of your article i liked most because this is the way to make money online. The right balance between advertising and quality content…
Greetz
http://www.twitter.com/followolli
Evan said:
This is an idea I’ve been wrestling with for a while. I write mostly because I enjoy it, but certainly would love to make money at it as well. My ads right now are pretty much “out of the way,” as I wanted to establish my site first. My next project is to find that middle ground that you mention, so that they are more prominent yet not intrusive.
Oh, and thanks for the mention of E-junkie. I’ve been wondering where to find other affiliate advertisers aside from Amazon.
Matt Longley said:
Great post Nick! One great way to manage ads on your blog is with free software called openx you can find it at openx.org. That software will rotate banner ads and track click through rates. That way if you have many ads you can rotate them all in or if you have many affiliate products you can figure out which ones are optimal to place on your blog. It also runs on javascript, so that way you are not giving away PR by linking externally. Keep up the good work, your site is looking really great.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Matt Longley » Thank for the recommendation. I used openx for a long time and it is definitely a great piece of software. I was able to run many ad campaigns through it and it made it very easy. For most beginning bloggers, though, it may be a bit more than is really needed.
Arisu said:
Nicholas, you make it sound soooo simple, that I think I´ll try them out as soon as my blog is done.
Mmm, let´s see… also you could look out for some shop to put an add on your blog, if you write about cooking then a grocery shop or software/computer stuff for tech/design blogs.
And adds don´t have to be huge. Remember the million dollar homepage? A little but but well designed add can be more effective than a large nasty one.
George Serradinho said:
I’m trying to set up a shopping cart on my site and have purchased a plugin to seel normal products and digital products. I hope to get this into action soon, but it takes time to load and configure the products.
All the other points about making money are so spot on.
Chris said:
Great blog post…thanks! I just started my blog and it is purely a creative outlet for myself. I am with you on really enjoying sharing knowledge that I came across or learned myself that perhaps others can use.
While I have no visions of making lots of money and quitting my day job, a nice little income stream to put away for the kids might be nice. Your post opened up ways to make money from my blog beyond just Google AdSense.
Moreover you hit the nail right on the head with those blogs that just completely overwhelm their posts and pages with AdSense ads in every nook and cranny. I run from those sites as quickly as I can.
Thanks again!
Chris
http://twitter.com/DaddyExecutive
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Chris >> Running from those sites seems to be the trend. I hope that I don’t deceive people into thinking that I don’t want to make money from this because I do. But I don’t want to sell myself out for it.
They say that if you can get paid to do the things that you love then you never have to work a day in your life. You just have to do the things that you love.
On here, like you, I love helping people and connecting with others. If I can make extra on the side then I’m all about it. I’ll share some more advice about this topic in some future posts as well.
Stefan >> You’re comment is right on the money (no pun intended…well maybe a little). Mixing up your earning strategy between a series of ads like Adsense and a series of affiliate ads is excellent advice. Don’t try to get rich quick. You will be quickly disappointed. Focus on creating quality content and connecting with people and money can come down the line as long as you continue to do the right thing.
Jeff B. >> Thanks for the plug about the email subscribers. (I promise that I didn’t ask him to say that. LOL). But it is true. When I was starting out I was grasping for every piece of advice that I could find.
I didn’t know how much I didn’t know. (That actually makes sense if you think about it.) I had to read and find out and follow people who were willing to articulate what I was trying to learn.
Stefan said:
As you wrote in the end there’s way to many bloggers trying to make fast cash by cluttering their whole site with advertising.
For serious bloggers I think they should use a combination of Google AdSense and affiliate marketing. Put a small widget in your sidebar with Google Ads without being disturbing and then try to promote products you like.
Products could be books, hosting, clothes, etc.
Lian Vaiphei said:
Hi Stefan,
Thanks for the tips man. I never thought of putting adsense on the side bar.
I have an unused space on the sidebar where I could put in a good banner but decided not to. Google adsense should be a good option.
Lian
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Lian Vaiphei –> Yeah. Try to make a few extra pennies from that space on your sidebar. It’s a good idea.
Jeff B. said:
It’s articles like these that remind me how important it is to subscribe via e-mail on blogs that have premium content such as this. If I hadn’t received the email this morning from feedburner, I could have missed this excellent blog posting!
Thanks for the excellent work and ease of reading on this article!
Satkrit said:
Thanks for this great post. I like google adsense and adwords. This post summarize all the essentials to making money. :]
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Satkrit » I currently use both adsense and adwords and I’m pretty happy with both. I’m glad this helped.
Bruce said:
I’ve noticed you don’t do text ads with your adsense although last I checked text adds get a higher click through rate than googles photo ads. What’s your reasoning for this? Have things changed since I last checked… I don’t believe was too long ago.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Bruce » That’s a great question and I’ll be glad to share my thoughts on that. They may have a higher click through rate but they are ugly in my opinion. I think that the full color pictures look much nicer on my template than text ads. This is one of the those areas where I am willing to make less in order to preserver what I believe is the quality of my website.
Bruce said:
That’s fair and I agree, they are rather ugly.
Tycoon Blogger said:
Good stuff and I just started to start making some decent money on my blog. It took about 6 months to build up traffic, but I seem to clicking on all cylinders right now.
Olli said:
Thanks for your email. This is the first time a get an email because of writing a comment. This is a nice way to keep visitors. I will come back more often to your site. I am a german guy so excuse me for my english
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Olli » You’re welcome and your English is great!
cancer treatment research said:
It is true that it can get pretty discouraging when you check your blog and you have no new visitors or comments. However, I find that as long as I keep in mind that I ‘m writing my blog just because I want to write and not to gain traffic, then no comments or no visitors doesn’t seem that depressing at all.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
cancer treatment research » That’s a great attitude to have. The more that you can drive on just for the joy of writing out your passions the better off you will be.
xienararya said:
Hi..cool post..and i supposed you could suggest more idea on this topic. I think i will try this on my new blog.
Thnks man..so helpful..
Luisa Mercado said:
I am one of those with blogs, actually 2 of us sharing it (Couple’s Nest). I am paralytic (half body – right side and I am right-handed). I have no more work now and totally dependent, but I truly believe God has something for me in writing. Even our church pastor encouraged me.
I want to start, but I am quite afraid to do it. Your website opened my mind to possibilities. I love writing and I also desire to earn so that I won’t be a “burden” anymore. I chose your website being a fundamental baptist myself (my fiance is an IFB. Where and how can I find a very legitimate and good blog-supporting website that offer income as well?
Thanks you very much. God bless us all.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Luisa Mercado » I have to tell you that it is very difficult to make a blog profitable. It doesn’t come easy and I don’t have any easy ways that I recommend. You see this blog here is very successful and I still don’t make very much money from it. Of course, making money is only a secondary goal of mine but my point still stands. It’s very hard work. You have to create content that people want to read. You have to present it in a way that makes it easy to read and you have to do a lot of work. My best suggestion is to browse this site and to browse other sites like this one. It can be done, but it takes a lot of work. Best of luck to you.
Lian Vaiphei said:
Hi Luisa,
I admire your positive attitude.
You mentioned you love writing. Have you tried ghost writing for other bloggers?
If you look around on the net there are numerous examples of people earning a full time income selling articles.
Here’s an example of a guy selling his writing skills : http://www.warriorforum.com/warriors-hire/67918-article-writer-available-high-quality-cheap.html
If you surf around a bit in the forum, you’ll notice how highly sought-after article writers are.
I wish you all the best.
Lian
Luisa Mercado said:
What can I do to “meet” possible visitor-clients later?
Luisa Mercado said:
Thanks. I know now, but I am willing to to wait. Yes, you are right, we are never forgetting what the blog is intended for in the first place – to reach out to people. Money is way back secondary.
I have already applied what I learn from you – increase the font size. Again, Thank you very much.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Luisa Mercado » Keep growing and getting better. I’ll see you at the top!
Luisa Mercado said:
God-willing. Thanks for helping me out.
ZXT said:
Luisa there are a lot of websites or blogs willing to pay for you to write articles for them. You can also sell your articles online if you have articles ready already. Just Google them and for sure you will find them.
This is faster than earning through blog.
Luisa Mercado said:
By the way, putting the RSS icon on my blog takes too long? I think it does mine. Well, that’s what I call experience.
Typhoon said:
Haven’t tried to build a site with Shopping Cart and those stuffs..I think it will need a great hardwork but at the end you will be making huge moolas..
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Typhoon –> I’ve never used a shopping cart either, but I think I will be someday as I develop some things that might be worth selling.
Mukund said:
This is a wonderful post! Not too complex to understand. I love it! I still have one doubt with making money with my blog. I run LinkWorth Text Ads(LinkWords) in my site and I would like to know, whether it will degrade the PR of my blog? I currently have a PR1 and it has been the same for a long time. So what to do about that?
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Mukund –> Outgoing links don’t take away or add to your page rank. They only share your existing page rank with others without taking away from yours. It is like when one match lights another match. The first match doesn’t go out just because it lit the other. They now both burn.
Mukund said:
That is indeed very clear explanation. Understood things clearly now. I am happy that I can continue with my text ads and earn money through them, without having a risk at my PR. That is great! Thanks Nicholas!!
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Mukund –> Good. I’m glad that I could help.
ZXT said:
Not only that but if you have an outgoing links to a website with better PR than you then it will also help gets you optimize your SEO. I know its not the same as backlinks but more and more people says outlinks to a good website helps in SEO.
Mukund said:
Yes!! Yes!! I read this tip some where!!
Ron Boracay said:
As of now, I am using Google Adsense as a part of my blogging. I don’t mix it with other ads or form of advertisement.
Making good money with google adsense takes a lot of time, patience and hardwork, so this is not a rocket science or alike.
And yeah, it will be always TRAFFIC = MONEY.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Ron Boracay –> I use Adsense a lot also. I’m actually finding that it’s quite useful and very effective if you position your ads well and don’t make them ugly.
Mukund said:
I recommend you to place a 468×60 ad below your posts or may be below the related posts widget, that will definitely improve the click rate provided the ad running is related to that post. So why don’t you give it a try Nick?
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Mukund –> I had one there before but I don’t know what happened to it. I just put it back.
Mukund said:
Yes! Yes! I did take a look at it now! Even you have put an affiliate banner (Chitika)at the end. I am sure it is an effective place for your ads. You click rates will definitely increase provided the post and the ads are relevant.
Pinaybackpacker said:
Let me just say that I feel very fortunate to have a friend who showed me the ropes when I was starting out my blog.
One of the first things that my friend told me is not to EXPECT that I will make money in a few weeks time. It may not even happen in a few months time. So, I think I’m fairly prepared for that.
So, even though I do get frustrated once in a while that my traffic is not where I want it to be YET, I try to count my victories and celebrate each triumph no matter how small it is.:D
And I feel grateful for people like you who genuinely wants to help others succeed in their efforts as well.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Pinaybackpacker –> It’s very hard to make money online. There are a million or more people tweeting, blogging, stumbling, and shouting about how easy it is, but it’s not. It takes hard work. It takes a charisma to connect with people and attract traffic. It really takes effort.
ZXT said:
I don’t have any ads yet in my blog as it is just 11 days old. But maybe after a couple of months or so after I gain some decent traffic then I’ll go back here and read it again.
For the moment I am concentrating on learning what to write and what not to write and SEO and building relationship with fellow bloggers.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
ZXT –> I’ve got a great SEO tool for you to help you with that. I’ll mention it in my post this coming Saturday. In all honesty, those are the right things to focus on.
ZXT said:
Looking forward to that post Nick, thanks in advance.
Pinaybackpacker said:
I could definitely use some help with this, too, Nick. I’ve read a few ebooks on SEO and most of them are contradicting each other. I really don’t understand yet how to put in meta tags and stuff like that. Hence, I’m not getting as much search engine traffic as I would like to.
ZXT said:
I know a little about SEO but for sure Nick’s article will bring in more wisdom about SEO.
Pinaybackpacker said:
I’m eagerly waiting for his next article, too.
I can relate to your blogging experience, ZXT. I didn’t have any idea when I started that it would be as time-consuming as this. But I’m definitely enjoying the journey so far.:D
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Pinaybackpacker –> On Wednesday we’ll be posting the first of at least three articles that will guide you step by step through setting up solid SEO tactics on your WordPress blog.
akira07 said:
I advice you to open google Rules after reading SEO techniques and check if it againts google rule or no.
About meta tag, there is already many blog write about it. Just google it and find a thousand of meta tags tutorial.
akira07 said:
I’m also already jumped into internet business world since 1 years ago. And i’m already feel the joy of getting money online
.
And because i have experience, i wanna advice to the newbie about 1 common mistake newbie do. It’s : Don’t waste your time by download and download MMO e-book. Please decide quickly which program you’ll try and put concentrate in it.
Anyway, i think google adsense is not worth again
@Nicholas
You do direct sales? Where you sell it? I wanna take a look
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
akira07 –> I don’t have direct sales on this site right now, but I do have plans for it near the beginning of the next year. I’ve got an exciting project that I’m working on for that.
ZXT said:
Hi Akira,
Why do you think Adsense isn’t worth it? What is your experience with Adsense? How many impressions are you getting and how many ad clicks in comparison?
Thanks in advance.
Mukund said:
Hi ZXT!! One of my friends had a very bad time with Adsense. He earned some $96 after some 8 months, he was about to complete the minimum payout of $100 and he got a mail saying your account is banned due to violation of agreements and as far as I know, he never violated any law. Infact, he never installed any other alternative to Google Adsense too!!
ZXT said:
Did Google explain whats the agreement that your friend violated? Illegal clicks?
I also read something similar to that, when you are about to cash out they will send an email to tell you that your account is suspended or banned.
Actually a friend has been earning for more than 2 years already. In some months he earns $100 plus, in some months only $50. He always get paid until last summer when he accumulated $140 for 3 months worth, he received an email that his account is suspended but the reason never explained.
Mukund said:
Same here! No!! It was not due to illegal clicks! They just sent him saying some violation of terms and conditions and suspended his account. It really hurts when they do that at the time of cash out. That is why, I never tried Google Adsense!! I have some good income with LinkWorth! You should definitely try that!!
ZXT said:
Yes it hurts nore when you are about to cash out already. My friend was also very disappointed because the months are slow so it took him 3 months to get over $100 last summer and it accumulate $140 something. It’s been 2 years so Adsense is like regular income to him.
He felt like he wasted 3 months for nothing. And yes he tried to appeal but Google just reconfirmed their decision.
Mukund said:
Hi Nicholas! I have one small doubt! I know you sell your ads through BuySellAds. Do you know what is the minimum site requirements? Can you please visit my blog and suggest, whether my blog will get accepted or not?
ZXT said:
When you say minimum site requirements, do you mean what are the Alexa ranking and Google page rank?
Mukund said:
Exactly!! I want to know if I am in the top 100,000 in Alexa, will I be selected? On what basis they accept the blogs?
ZXT said:
In that case I want to know the answer too!
Mukund said:
Lol!! I thought you knew the answer! Let us wait for the reply of Blogging MasterMind!!
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Mukund –> It will probably not get accepted. They generally accept sites that are already well established and have lots of visitors and a high Alexa rank.
ZXT said:
Mukund has an Alexa rank of 201k, not enough? Also how will they know if your site has lots of visitors? Will they ask for your stats? What if you fake your stats?
Mukund said:
Yes Nicholas! I expected this answer! I am constantly trying to improve my Alexa rank and PR. I am planning to submit my site once I reach the top 100,000. Will my site be accepted at that time or will it take more time?
I don’t want to get a snubb on my face saying your site is rejected.
So, I want to submit once my site reaches certain requirements. Can you guess what that requirement would be? An approx. guess of Alexa and PR Nicholas?
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Mukund –> I can’t really guess. I was denied the first time that I applied but I applied a second time and wrote a personal request to them in the details field and eventually they let me in.
Mukund said:
Hmmm!!! I heard the same comment some where else. So, you mean to say if we request them personally, they will accept out site? Is it so?
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Mukund –> There is no guarantee, but we don’t lose anything for trying.
Mukund said:
Ha!! Good one! Sure! I will try it this weekend!
ZXT said:
Hi Nick, can you tell us what ads is that? I mean what ad you are showing right now that you got rejected when you applied the first time?
Mukund said:
Those are ads from Buysellads. Check out the site here: http://buysellads.com/
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
ZXT –> I didn’t have an ad get rejected. I had this site get rejected. I wanted to sell space on this website and let others advertise here. Now I’m listed at buysellads and they sell some of the advertising space on this site for me.
Arisu said:
Wow, I didn´t know your site could get rejected for space adds… publicity is publicity after all, even if some “places” are more expensive than others due to their popularity.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Arisu –> I know that buysellads rejects some people because they want to keep the quality of their marketplace as high as possible so that they can attract the really high rollers.
Dave said:
I agree about striking a balance. When I was getting started, I figured I’d be selling out if I sold a lot of advertising, or placed it prominently. Now, I’m making a good bit of money each month from embracing text link sales. Also, I find a good theme will have already figured out where best to place adverts, so that can take some guesswork out of it for the blogger.
Nicholas Z. Cardot said:
Dave –> That’s true. I am very careful not to sell out also, but I do want to make profits. For that matter, I want as many other people to make profits as possible.
Kok Siong Chen said:
Until now, i just manage to use Google adsense to make money on my blog. The site traffic is too low to attract the advertiser to advertise in my blog. However, the traffic is increasing now and the alexa ranking increased too. Hope that i can do the things just like you in the coming months time. Thanks for sharing!
My Latest Blog Post: Cytogenetic Studies in Malignancy Cancer
Self Improvement said:
I’ve tried using Google adsense so far but I took it off. I like it much better without it. I will switch to Chikita ads and also affiliate marketing. Better get to building my list!
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