Different models that bloggers are using to make money from
blogging into two areas – Direct and Indirect methods.
Direct Income Earning Methods - these methods are where a
blogger earns an income directly FROM their blog.
Indirect Income Earning Methods – these methods are where a
blogger earns an income BECAUSE of their blog.
Direct Income Earning Methods for Bloggers;
1. Advertising
There are many ways of selling advertising space on a blog
(this could almost be a series of its own) but some of the different
advertising options that I see bloggers experimenting with include:
Contextual Advertising
– Programs like AdSense and YPN (beta) are very popular with bloggers and are
probably the most common income stream being used by them today (MSN are
developing one too). In short – these programs scan the content of your blog to
assertion what its topic is and attempt to put contextually relevant ads (text
and image) onto your blog. They are generally simple to use and involve pasting
some code into your blog’s templates.
Payment is on a ‘per click’ basis
(referred to as CPC or ‘cost per click’ ads). Contextual ads suit blogs that
have a particular niche topic, especially if it has some sort of commercial
angle (i.e. it has products and services associated with it). They are not so
good with ‘general’ type blogs (i.e., many topics) and/or political/spiritual
blogs which argue just one side of a case (this confuses AdSense). I write much
more extensively on how to use AdSense on your blog here.
Other CPC Advertising
– There are a variety of other ad systems that pay on a per click basis which
are not contextual in nature (which is important as systems like AdSense do not
allow you to run contextual ads on the same page view as them). These systems
include Chitika’s eMiniMalls (aff) which I reviewed here.
Impression Based Ads
– Impression based ads pay a small amount for every person who views the
advertisement. The amount that they pay varies from program to program (and ad
to ad) and is generally a fraction of a cent. There are a variety of ad systems
around like this including Fastclick (aff) which I reviewed here and Tribal
Fusion. Impression based ads won’t earn you much if you don’t have a lot of
traffic but can be great if you do.
Blog Ads –
BlogAds have become something of an institution when it comes to advertising on
blogs. They traditionally have had a focus upon monetizing political blogs but
are expanding their focus lately. The beauty of them is that bloggers set their
own rates and can accept or reject advertisers that apply to them to be
featured on their blogs. These ads put the control of what ads show and how
much they earn into the hands of the blogger.
The downside is that if you price
them too high you could never have any ads showing at all. They can also be
difficult to be accepted into as a publisher as these days they only accept people
into the system if they have someone who is already in ‘sponsor’ or recommend
the new publisher.
Text Ads –
Another increasingly popular way to sell ads on your blog is to look into text
links. The beauty of these are that they don’t take up much room and that
depending upon the system you choose to run them you can have control over
which advertisers you accept and reject. AdBrite (aff) is one such system that
gives you control in a similar way to BlogAds in that you set your own prices
and approve all ads. They are also other formats of ads. Text Link Ads (aff) is
another text link seller that more and more bloggers are using. The beauty of
both of these systems is that they have a pool of advertisers already so you
don’t have to go looking for your own advertisers.
Their systems are also both
very automated and are just a matter of pasting some code onto your blog. I use
them both and while they don’t earn anywhere near as much as AdSense or Chitika
for me they add up over the year and have done well for me. Bidvertiser and
Adzaar are other system that I know are popular with some (we’ve used them
quite successfully on b5media although I have little personal experience with
them).
RSS Ads – An
increasingly popular way for people to read blogs is via RSS. As a result
publishers and ad providers have been keen to find ways to place ads in feeds.
These attempts have been met with a variety of success levels. I’m yet to hear
of too many people making big dollars with RSS ads yet but the ad systems seem
to be improving.
AdSense offers RSS ads to some of its publishers (you have to
have a certain number of impressions first) as does YPN. Feedburner is a tool
I’ve used to help monetize my own feeds – they give publishers three options
(1. AdSense if you’ve been approved by them, 2. Amazon affiliate program and 3.
If you have a lot of subscribers (over 500) they have an Ad Network). Pheedo is
another system that you might like to try (although I’ve not had much
experience with it).
Other Ads Systems
– In addition to the above systems are many other advertising options which we’ve
not had experience with and so won’t personally recommend. I’m sure they are
worth experimenting with however as I see many of them being used by bloggers
every day. Here they are in no particular order:
AdGenta, CrispAds, Clicksor, Intelli Txt, Peak Click, Double
Click, Industry Brains, AdHearUs, Kanoodle, AVN, Pheedo, Adknowledge,
YesAdvertising, RevenuePilotTextAds, SearchFeed, Target Point, OneMonkey, and
TextAds. Feel free to add your own and tell us how you’ve gone with them in
comments below.
2. Sponsorship
Another form of advertising that a smaller number of
bloggers are using is to find their own advertisers. All of the above systems
have the advantage of finding you advertisers (or at least assisting in the
automation of ads to your blog) but as your blog grows in profile and influence
you might find other options for private deals come up.
The big blog networks have people dedicated to the task of
finding advertisers (often working through ad agencies) but smaller bloggers
might find this worthwhile also. I’ve been selling ads on my Digital Camera
Blog for two years now and as it’s grown in traffic and profile and managed to
attract larger companies (who are willing to pay more) to buys space. Currently
the blog features ads from Adobe who have bought a combination of banner,
newsletter and text ads.
The key if you’re going to take this approach is to target
advertisers in your niche that have products that closely relate to what you’re
writing about. There are a variety of ads that you can offer them including
banner ads, buttons, text links, mentions in newsletters and even individual
post sponsorships. I would highly recommend that you always make it clear to
readers that your post is a sponsored one when you’re writing a sponsored post.
3. Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs are where you take a commission for
referring a reader who purchases a product or service to a company. Probably
the most common of these for bloggers is Amazon which has tens of thousands of
products that you can link to (I reviewed it here). Other affiliate programs
that represent many different companies and products include Linkshare,
Commission Junction and Clickbank.
Affiliate programs take some work if you want to get the
most out of them (perhaps more work than advertising) but can be lucrative if
you match the right program with the right blog/topic. If you want to explore
affiliate programs more you might like to read 10 tips for using affiliate
programs on you blog.
4. Selling/Flipping
Blogs
The idea of selling (or flipping) your blog is one that many
bloggers have in the back of their minds for ‘one day’ but in reality it is not
something that is overly common… yet (I think this is changing). Probably the
largest sale is that of Weblogs Inc (a network of blogs) which sold to AOL for
a reported $25 million. Of course this is the stuff that most of us can only
dream of – but there are examples of smaller blogs being sold, either privately
or via auctions on sites like eBay and SitePoint. One such auction was that of
the Blog Herald which took place here.
Starting a blog with the main goal of selling it down the
track is one that I’ve heard of a number of bloggers doing but few have been
successful. Rather than starting with this intention I think if you start with
the intention of building a quality site that has a large readership and it’s
own good income stream you are more likely to find buyers down the track.
5. Donations and Tip
Jars
A very small number of blogs have a history of making good
money with these (Jason Kottke being one of them). To be successful with asking
for money from readers you’ll want to have a large and loyal readership (and a
rich one might help too). Most bloggers just don’t have the critical mass or
the cult following to make it work.
6. Merchandise
Another method that some blogs use with reasonable effect is
to sell T-Shirts, Mugs, Stickers etc with the blog’s name, logo and/or taglines
on it. This is another idea that will probably only will work if you either
have a brilliantly designed merchandise range and/or you have a cult-like
status as a blogger with some fanatical readers who are a little obsessive
about your blog. Some blog topics lend themselves to this more than others.
7. Selling
Subscriptions
The idea of charging readers for content is one that
surfaces from time to time. While there are numerous websites around the web
that do this successfully (community membership sites) I’m yet to see many
(any) blogs do it well. The problem that most bloggers who have tried it have
run into is that most topics that you could think to start a blog about already
have free sites available. To make it succeed you would need to have some sort
of premium/exclusive content and/or real expertise on a topic.
8. Blog Networks
Another emerging income source for bloggers is blog
networks. There are two ways to make money here. Firstly you can start a
network and contract bloggers to write for you or secondly you might like to
join a blog network as a writer. There are many networks out there and all have
their own strengths and weaknesses. I’ll attempt to write a post on what to
think about when you’re looking at whether to join a network later in this
series.
Source: http://www.problogger.net
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