A frequent question that I’m asked by other bloggers is:
“How do you monetize your blog?”
There are many avenues of monetization… so many, I couldn’t possibly cover them all but today I’m going to share some favourite advertising programs that you can use to monetize your blog.
Make money #blogging! Read the pros and cons of advertising options for your blog. Click To Tweet
Share-A-Sale
I love Share-A-Sale. Once you sign up for an affiliate account with them, you can pick and choose which merchants’ ads you would like to host on your site. Some merchants have automatic approvals of Share-A-Sale affiliates and some require you to apply to their program separately.
I appreciate the flexibility of Share-A-Sale. I can write a post and decide which ad would appeal most to the person reading the post. So, if it’s a crafting post, I may share a Craftsy ad, or if it’s a post for babies, I may share a Grovia cloth diapering ad. I also love that most merchants have a wide variety of ad sizes and styles to choose from.
Pros:
- Flexibility and complete control over which ads you wish to display
- Some merchants have very high commissions ($15-$18 per purchase), so profits can be quite good
- A straightforward dashboard to evaluate clicks, profits, etc.
Cons:
- A $50 payment threshold
- Some merchants may not approve you as an affiliate
- Extra work as you have to copy and paste code into your site/posts in order for your ads to display
VigLink
I stumbled across VigLink and have been astounded about the simplicity and effectiveness of it. Basically, with VigLink, you install a small chunk of code on your website. VigLink monetizes YOUR content and selects from a catalogue of over 35,000 merchants. If links are clicked and/or purchases made through your links, you receive a commission. For example, if you type a post and mention a particular brand such as iPad or Kindle or you mention a particular merchant, VigLink converts what you’ve typed into a monetized link. You may not see which words VigLink chooses to monetize until after you published the post.
What makes VigLink especially AWESOME is that they optimize your links for you (which basically means they ensure your links are affiliated with the highest paying merchant). How’s that for cool?! VigLink also has the option for you to create “Anywhere Links” (monetized links that can be used on social media sites).
Pros:
- Low ($10) payment threshold
- Paid via PayPal
- Fabulous dashboard; shows clicks per day, which links and posts make the most income, etc.
Cons:
- Initially hard to tell if it’s working
- Two month lag in payment (i.e. if you made $12 in February, you will not receive the $12 payment until May 1)
Google Adsense
I like Google Adsense because it requires little effort. This is especially true if you have a Blogger hosted blog. Right within the Earnings section of your dashboard, you can control the settings of your adsense account. Within the layout section of blogger, you can decide where on your blog you would like your Google Adsense ads to go (sidebar, under posts, or in sidebar and under posts).
Pros:
- Easy to install
- “Smart” ads (displays what it thinks a particular viewer might be interested in)
- Great dashboard
- Runs with minimal effort/time on your part
Cons:
- High payment threshold (i.e. $100 in Canada and the US)
- Hard to control which ads are displayed. You can eliminate certain advertising subjects but it is a hassle to monitor)
Amazon Associates
I love the Amazon Associates program. There is so much flexibility for advertising. Whether you host an ad in your sidebar, write a post with links built into it, or have an Amazon storefront on your site, there are many ways to advertise!
Pros:
- Various choices for payments (check, direct deposit, or Amazon credit)
- Low payment threshold of $10 for direct deposit or Amazon credit
Cons:
- $15 service fee for checks (checks need to be over a $100 payment threshold)
- Two month payment turn around (i.e. sales made in January are paid in late March)
Seek out your own affiliate programs
When I like a business, product, or service, the first thing I do is check and see if they work with affiliates. Some of my favourite “independent affiliates” are MiloTree, The Morning Time Basket, and the Homegrown Learners SQUILT Curriculum.
Pros:
- Work with businesses you already like and whom you find reputable
- You can investigate businesses and apply to ones which pay well. For instance, Web Hosting Hub pays a commission of $50 per sale and after 3 sales in a month, this amount increases to $100 per sale
- Most of these businesses pay by PayPal
Cons:
- Can be a lot of work managing and monitoring independent accounts
- Payment turnaround can take up to two months
BlogAds or Self-Hosted Ads
There is also the option of selling ad space on your blog. The nice thing about selling ad space is that the payment is guaranteed, whereas the previous advertising options are paid per click or per impression. Several websites offer support in selling ad space on your site; such as BlogAds.
Of course, you could always set up your own advertising options within your blog. You could create a sales page, decide what ad sizes/types you would sell, and sell them directly to the businesses that contact you. This would obviously take time to set up, promote, and monitor but the benefit would be that the profits are 100% your own.
Do you have any tips or suggestions for advertising on your blog? If so, please share.
I’ve tried several of these. I’ll check out the others. Is there one option you like the most?
Good question Jennifer. I do use all these options (except selling my own ad space). I would have to say that VigLink is my favourite because of the ease of use. You install the code and forget about it! I installed at the end of January and have made $20 so far but often with these programs it takes time to gain momentum. I can see it growing a lot more in the next year.
I’ve made the most money from Share-A-Sale though. I dislike the time it takes to install the ads though.
Best wishes as you seek out something that works for you.
{Melinda} We just started monetizing our blog with Google Adsense. You’re right. It does take some time to really monitor it and sort through all the categories you do and don’t want displayed. We’re not making a lot now, but hoping that will change as our traffic increases.
We also just signed up for BeaconAds.com, it is a faith-based clearinghouse for ad sales. They take 30% of your sales, but handle pretty much everything and expose you to all kinds of potential advertisers that are looking to advertise on blogs just like yours. We thought it was worth a shot. Time will tell.
Visiting from Sharefest!
Hi Melinda! I’ve never heard of BeaconAds.com – I’ll have to check them out, sounds interesting.
Thanks for visiting. I hope this post has helped you. Wishing you a lovely day.
Great tips, thanks! Advertising has been very confusing and frustrating for me, hahah. Right now I only use Adsense, because it was so easy to set up! The payment threshold is annoying though, I haven’t received anything yet because of it! Oh well, someday ;)
Glad you enjoyed these tips. The payment thresholds with many of these programs can be the most frustrating part, that’s for sure!
I us passionfruit in my blog, and so far I had no regrets I can set my ads for hours, days, months or years. Once the company or blog buy the add, you will review the add and it will display directly. No coding necessary.
They charge you 2.9 + 30cents per transaction (paypal) not bad at all. So far I have one advertiser for one year :) and one contacted me this week to work is us.
On the other hand, you can do more than sale ads space, you can do sponsored tweets, Facebook, Instagram and many more. I recently add these services to my blog.
I guess is attractive to your customers to have displayed your services in one place.
I’m really interested in Passionfruit. I may try it out after my blog is switched to WordPress. Don’t they charge a monthly fee as well as the per ad transactions?
Thanks for sharing your insights Remy!
They have a year subscription If I’m correct I paid 85.00 dollars, I can’ wait to see your blog in WordPress I did the switch by myself and I don’t have regrets. First days it’s a little bit confusing but in less than 2 weeks you will do fine.
Thanks for cluing me in to a few new affiliates, Jennifer. I tend to lean on Amazon for simplicity’s sake, though I know the payout isn’t that great. Do you use Webhub Hosting?
Hi Jelli! My blog will be hosted by Webhub Hosting after my blog transfer on Wednesday. So far I have been thoroughly impressed with their customer service. I also just signed up as an affiliate with them. Their payouts are fantastic! I haven’t made a sale yet but like I said, they are new affiliate program.
Viglink is super simple Jelli. Just install the code and let it convert your content for you! I am always surprised when I receive a payment from them because it’s not something I physically schedule and monitor, they do all the work for you!
Thanks for stopping by my friend!
Thanks for sharing your ideas on the Saturday Sharefest. I use Adsense and Amazon, but haven’t expanded my horizons yet.
I hope these tips help you out! Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for sharing these – never have heard of any of these! To be honest I never click on links (maybe blogs, but not ads) on others sites – so I’m curious if it is worth the trouble to set all of these up – I can’t imagine I would make more than a few bucks… hmm!! Either way, thanks for the insight!
You’re welcome Caroline. I don’t click links unless I really know the blog. I figure if I’m going to shop online, I might as well make sure one of my blogging friends gets commission. Like I said previously, with VigLink I’ve made $20 since I signed up at the end of January… so someone is clicking them.
Thanks for this article, Jennifer. I’ve tried Adsense only so far and while it’s easy to use, I wonder whether the average blog will make any substantial money. Might be best to sell ad space directly to partner companies that stand to benefit from your fan base.
I’ve had Adsense since I first started blogging almost 4 years ago. My account is currently sitting at a grande $44! It will take forever to hit that $100 threshold! That’s why I like other options as well.
Thanks for stopping by Shana.
I really haven’t used ads to my benefit. I have Adsense and I am part of another ad network, but I haven’t done a whole lot with ShareaSale or Amazon. VigLink sounds interesting too. I’ve played around with advertising on other people’s blogs, but I barely received any traffic from it, so I’m too not sure about that as an option. I think there has to be other services offered with it, like tweets, etc…if I ever offer that as an option to people, I’ll do some shout outs as part of the package. I would hate for someone to advertise on my blog and get one or two click throughs for the month, which has essentially been my experience. Great info here!
VigLink is amazing Michelle. You literally install the code and forget about it until you get a notice from Paypal saying that VigLink deposited $ into your account!
Glad you enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing your insights as well!
Stopping by from Say G’ Day – great info on blog ads. I need to look into more of the ones you recommended – pinned it.
Glad you enjoyed this Kimberlee! I hope it helps you decide which advertising options you wish to go with.
Thanks for stopping by! I love the Say G’ Day party… glad to hear you’re visiting from Natasha’s blog. She’s awesome!
Really great tips! We’re using adsense right now and sharesale for affiliates, though we haven’t made any sales through them. But then again we haven’t promoted anything from them too much and don’t have a huge amount of traffic yet. So with Viglink can you tell what words they link up? Like do they have a different color or something like when you add your own links yourself? Thanks for sharing these tips! I think I might check the Viglink out and will definitely be pinning this.
I find with Share-A-Sale you really have to monitor what is getting the hits and be strategic with which ads to place. I love when affiliates through Share-A-Sale offer you $ just to put their ad up on your blog. I think Mabel’s Labels and Craftsy did that with me when I signed up with them. $5… just for putting their ad up on my home page.
With VigLink you can tell the links that are inserted. The hyperlink is coloured like other hyperlinks you might manually insert. Also, if you hover over the link for a few seconds, you will see a bubble pop up that says “Link added by VigLink” (you can see that in Davy’s comment above when referencing Amazon)… yes VigLink even monetizes your comments!!!
Of all the programs I would have to say it’s my favourite because it’s hassle-free. Just install the code and wait for a notification from PayPal saying that VigLink made a deposit to your PayPal account! It’s a pretty sweet deal.
Thanks for pinning! I hope this helps you!
This is a great list!! Unfortunately, most of these don’t work for me and others who live out of North America.. I’ll tweet for others who do.
Yes, you’re right, many of these are limited to North America. Thank you for reading and sharing Kyomm.
I think the only reason I’ve done so well with Amazon is because all my friends started using my link to do their shopping during our adoption process to help with travel supplies and some of them still use it.
What lovely friends you have. When I know I’m about to do some online shopping, I always try to visit through the affiliate link of a blogging friend. They might as well earn the commission since I was going to spend the money anyway.
Thanks for visiting Shecki!
Oh, Jennifer, you’ve hit it out of the park once again with this one.
From hence forward, I shall call you The Wise Mistress of the Blogging World.
Thank you for a very thorough — and insightful — post.
I hope you’re having a great weekend…
I’m blushing Courtney! I just like to share my first-hand experience with others. I hope this proves helpful to you!
We are enjoying our weekend. The weather has been so nice!
Wishing you a lovely day.
Great tips! I love amazon!!:)
Amazon is fabulous! You can reference virtually ANYTHING on their site as well, so it’s very easy to incorporate affiliate links into posts.
Glad you enjoyed this Jennifer.
This is great! I have had so many questions about this lately and have just started a book about it. Thanks for the post!
You are so very welcome. This topic is definitely extensive. So many options to investigate, that’s for sure.
Thanks for sharing your tips via Mommy Monday. I’m going to start offering ad spots on my blog again… well my new blog :) I think I’ll use Passionfruit
XOXO
http://www.mrsaokaworkinprogress.com
I’m so glad you enjoyed these tips! It was my pleasure to share.
Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
Thanks for sharing on Say G’Day Saturday, glad I visited as this is a great post for me, I am currently starting to look into these options and there were some suggestions here I had not heard of, so thanks, now I have more to add to the list to investigate.
I am so glad you enjoyed this posting Rachel! I hope it helps you explore your options when monetizing your blog.
Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you a lovely weekend.
Some really good ideas here. I’m not sure how many will work here in the UK but I’ll go through some and see. Thanks! #PigAndDac
Yes, some of these ideas may not be eligible in the UK but I’m sure some of them could cross over. Thanks for stopping by! Best wishes to you as you explore options to monetize your blog.
This is just the kind of information I needed! I planned to just get my blog going for the first year and learn as much as I can to get a level of comfort, then work on ads after that. I really had little idea of where to start. Thanks so much for your great list. I especially appreciate the pros and cons. That is extremely helpful in choosing which sponsors to pursue.
I’m delighted that you found this useful! I hope it helps you as you plan to monetize your blog.
This was very helpful! Right now I am not doing anything as far as profit. I read somewhere that you need to build up your followers first. Is this true in your opinion? should I wait until my blog gets more popular or start now in the beginning. I have been at it for just two months now but would really like to start adding some profit to help out with the finances!
Pinned! Thanks for sharing and linking up to the Say G’day Saturday linky party. Hope you will be back to join us again this weekend.
Best wishes,
Natasha in Oz
Thank you for pinning Natasha!
Hi Jennifer, your blog is too much!…In a nice way!
Recently I’ve been tweaking my blog and messing around with advertising. I am signed up as an affiliate for a couple of companies I would highly recommend and I’m an Amazon affiliate, but I had never heard of VigLink.
I’ll be checking that out for sure…There’s just not enough hours in the day for a family life and blogging!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Debbie! These were my favourite monetization methods. I hope you find something you like that works for you.