How to Monetise your Blog

The new year is here and its time to try some fresh ways to make money off your blog. Here are some of the ways ImAFish makes money through advertising. ImAFish got 250,000 hits in 2007, at the beginning of the year I was just using Google Adsense, by the end I had experimented with a range of other ways to monetise the site.

Google Adsense

Adsense works by delivering relevant ads based on your content. There are three different product types ImAFish uses through Adsense:

1. Text Ads - the ones you see in the navigation and scattered within content, these are pay per click.
2. Search - when someone uses the search on ImAFish then clicks on an advert.
3. Product Referals - e.g. Firefox and Google Pack, paid a set fee for installing.

Advantages:

• Good range of products.
• Quick and easy to setup.
• Adverts can be customised in a range of ways including different colour schemes and rounded corners.

Disadvantages:

• Adsense advert are very common (it seems half the internet is made for Adsense).
• You don't know what cut Google are taking from the ads.
• Sites with a high number of impressions but low number of clicks are known to be penalised.

Text Link Ads

TLA works differently to Adsense, you simply get paid for displaying your advert rather than on someone clicking on it. TLA find the advertisers for you then split anything 50/50. I've found TLA to work as well as Adsense.

Advantages

• You are paid for displaying the ads.
• They do the work in finding adverts for your site.
• Paid by PayPal.

Disadvantages

• They decide how much the adverts on your site are worth.

PayPerPost

I first experimented with PayPerPost in October 07 and until December 07 wrote a number of sponsored posts. However then Google removed the majority of my page ranks and the opportunities available to me dropped from $45/post (£22.50) to $12/post (£6). Google have been specifically targeting PPP users as a number have reported losing their page ranks. PPP said they have got around the problem with their new RealRank technology however most advertisers still use page rank to determine a blogs popularity.

If you rely on page rank for other advertising networks then I wouldn't take the risk with PPP.

Advantages

• Potentially better income than adverts.
• Paid by PayPal.

Disadvantages

• Their Real Rank technology does not have a good uptake with advertisers.
• You may be penalised by Google.

TNX

TNX is the newest advert network I've been experimenting with. They work in a similar way to TLA in that you are paid for displaying an advert rather than on a per click basis. Unfortunately TNX rely heavily on page rank as a metric to determine how popular a page is, apart from its obvious flaws I've suffered worse because of losing my page ranks from PayPerPost.

Advantages

• You are paid for displaying adverts.
• You can exchange your TNX points into money which can be paid via PayPal.

Disadvantages

• Puts too high a value on Page Rank in determining advert value.

Better than Banners/Bucks for Banners/ The Ad Network

This is one of those services that you never know if its going to be around from one month to the next. With its third name change in 18 months The Ad Network have different sign up bonus's every month, when I signed up it was £5/month for displaying 3 adverts on every site you add, currently it is £10 for signing up. I get very little else through the service

Advantages

• Easy income for displaying a small number of adverts.
• Paid by Paypal or Amazon vouchers.

Disadvantages

• Adverts bring in very little or no other income.
• Service will likely change again.

Chikita

Chikita was one of my biggest gambles that didn't really pay off. The service displays relevant products that pays when someone buys the product. I trailed Chikita for about four months but removed the service after poor results.

Advantages

• Great for sites which are product orientated.

Disadvantages

• Not so good for the average blog.
• Only paid once a user purchases a product.

Conclusion

Each of the various advert networks ImAFish has trialled has advantages and disadvantages. At this point in time I would recommend Adsense and TLA as they have been consistent money earners.