Kontera
www.Kontera.com
Kontera is another popular contextual link advertising program. When you sign up to serve Kontera ads on your blog, its ContentLink function automatically links contextually relevant keywords in your blog posts to ads. Those keywords appear with a double underline within your existing blog post. Figure shows how Kontera ads look on a blog. When a visitor hovers the mouse cursor over the Kontera linked text, a small bubble box appears and displays an advertisement served by one of Kontera’s advertisers. When a visitor to your blog clicks that advertisement, the advertiser’s Web site opens in the browser. Kontera works harmoniously with Google AdSense and is open to bloggers whose blogs meet the current requirements outlined on the Kontera Web site.
One of the best features about Kontera is its virtual lack of a footprint on your blog. Rather than use space in your sidebar or header or between your blog posts, Kontera in-text ads appear within your blog posts and link relevant ads to the words that are already used in your posts. It’s a simple way to add a moneymaking option with some upfront effort but little ongoing work to keep it going. You can customize the look of your ContentLink ads, create filtering instructions to define the number of ads and advertisers allowed and
customize other factors, too. Of course, for optimum results, you should monitor keyword performance and write your blog posts with high-performing keywords in mind.
The key to a successful blog is quality content. Don’t write with keywords as your priority. If you write for ads, your visitors will know it. Ads should enhance people’s visits on your blog, not overpower them or detract from them.
To add Kontera contextual link ads to your blog, follow these steps:
1. Visit www.Kontera.com and sign up for an account. Complete the online application to request a Kontera publisher account.
2. After your application is accepted, simply sign in to your account and click the ContentLink Setup tab that allows you to add Kontera in-text
ads to your Blogger blog, as shown in Figure. After you add Kontera in-text ads to your blog, analyze the ads that are served based on your content to ensure that they’re relevant and helpful to your visitors. Also, review your Kontera-provided reports to ensure that the ads are driving revenue. Some people find Kontera ads to be obtrusive. You must analyze your results and your blog traffic statistics to ensure that the amount of money you make from Kontera ads is positive in relation to the effect of those ads on your blog’s traffic.
Text link ads
Text link ads appear as simple text links on your blog based on the content of your pages. In short, when you join a text link advertising network, you submit specific pages of your blog into the network’s inventory. Advertisers look for inventory pages that are likely to attract visitors who will be interested in their products and then purchase text link ad space on those pages. When space is purchased on your blog, a text link ad from that advertiser automatically appears in that space. Text link ad rates, which are typically set by the advertising network, are usually based on a blog’s Google page rank and Alexa rank. Although these two metrics aren’t perfect, they comprise the standard that most text link brokers use to determine the amount of traffic to your blog and attach an advertising rate to it. Be sure, therefore, to submit your most popular blog pages to be included in a broker’s inventory.
Text-Link-Ads
www.Text-Link-Ads.com
The popular text link broker Text-Link-Ads helps bloggers get paid for publishing text link ads, as shown in Figure 10-3. Ad publishers receive 50 percent of the sale price for each text link sold on your blog, and Text-Link-Ads integrate seamlessly with other advertising programs, such as Google AdSense. As a Text-Link-Ad publisher, you can approve or deny all ads that are purchased to display on your blog. The payout threshold is low, at just $25, and payment is sent by way of check or PayPal on the first day of every month. Even though the payout threshold is low, which makes Text-Link-Ads attractive to bloggers with lower traffic levels, smaller bloggers find it difficult to get accepted as a Text-Link-Ads publisher. Blogs with a Google page rank of 4 or higher are automatically accepted; blogs with a rank lower than 4 are manually reviewed and typically aren’t accepted. The price of ads shown on your blog is set by Text-Link-Ads using a proprietary algorithm that first considers your blog’s traffic and page rank statistics.
To become a Text-Link-Ads publisher, follow these simple steps:
1. Visit www.Text-Link-Ads.com and complete the online publisher application. When your application is approved, you receive an e-mail providing you with your account information.
2. Sign in to your Text-Link-Ads account and follow the instructions to install the ad code on your blog in the Get Ad Code section of your account. You can find here the ad code to copy and paste into your blog, and instructions for doing so. After the code is pasted into your blog, ads begin appearing on your blog as they’re purchased.
TextLinkBrokers
The popular text link ad broker TextLinkBrokers accepts applications from blogs with a Google page rank of 1 or higher. This site sets the ad rate for text link ads that appear on your blog based on your Google page rank and an evaluation of your blog. The ad publisher can approve or deny ads, and the payout threshold is $100. Overall, the process works similarly to Text-Link-Ads (see the earlier section “Text-Link-Ads”). To become a TextLinkBrokers publisher, visit www.TextLinkBrokers.com and complete the Publisher sign-up form, as shown in Figure. When you submit your sign-up form, TextLinkBrokers reviews your application and e-mails you with an acceptance or rejection. It also notifies you of the amount you’ll be paid for links if your application is accepted and sends you a list of questions to answer in order to add your site to the TextLinkBrokers inventory. When your site is added to the TextLinkBrokers inventory, an e-mail is sent to you with the information you need to create an account in the Partner’s Console section of the TextLinkBrokers Web site. After your partner’s console account is created, you receive a link to activate the account. When an advertiser selects your blog to place a text link ad, you receive an e-mail directing you to log in to your account to view details of the request. The publisher’s terms of service with TextLinkBrokers says that you agree to place ad requests (or deny them) on your blog within two business days.
Impression-based ads
Impression-based ads pay you as the publisher based on the number of times an ad is shown on your blog. With each page view where the ad is placed, that ad is delivered to a visitor, which counts as an impression. Cost-perimpression ads typically pay bloggers a small fee, such as ten cents per 1,000 impressions, so you’re not likely to make a lot of money from these ads unless your site generates a lot of traffic each day. However, the ads are easy to set up and work particularly well below the fold (the area of the page that
isn’t visible unless you scroll down the page).
ValueClick
www.ValueClickMedia.com
ValueClick is an easy-to-use, impression-based advertising program that offers banner ads, pop-unders, videos, and rich-media ads. As the publisher, you can set the minimum cost per impression (CPM) that you’re willing to accept on your blog. The minimum traffic level to become a ValueClick publisher is 3,000 impressions per month, and you can pick and choose which types of ads you want to run on your site. Take the time to read the complete ValueClick terms of service before you apply. The site has a wide variety of restrictions related to the types of blogs (for example, you must host your blog on your own domain) and blog content (no non-English pages or excessive advertising)
that are accepted into the ValueClick ad program. To sign up to become part of the ValueClick ad network, follow these steps:
` 1. Visit www.ValueClickMedia.com and click the Join button in the Publishers section of the Web site. This step opens the online application.
2. Complete and submit the online application. You receive, within 24 to 48 hours, an e-mail notifying you whether your application was accepted with additional instructions to set up your new account.
TribalFusion
www.TribalFusion.com
The popular impression-based advertising network TribalFusion operates globally. The site offers a variety of ad formats to publishers that receive a minimum of 2,000 unique users per day. Additionally, the blog must be active and updated frequently and must have a professional design. Tribal Fusion pays publishers 50 percent of all revenue made from their blogs. The payout threshold is $50 with payment made by check. You can control the types of ads delivered on your blog by Tribal Fusion by blocking ad categories or specific advertisers. The site includes Flash ads and pop-up ads, which might be viewed as intrusive to your visitors. Be sure to monitor your Tribal Fusion revenue as well as any traffic changes to ensure that your efforts help you meet your overall goals for your blog. To apply to become a Tribal Fusion ad publisher, simply complete the online application on the Tribal Fusion Web site, as shown in Figure 10-6. A representative from Tribal Fusion reviews your blog and responds to your application within one business week. If your application is accepted, instructions to establish your account are provided so that you can begin publishing ads on your blog.
Affiliate ads
Affiliate ads help you generate an income based on your blog visitors’ actions, similar to a sales commission business model. Most often, a visitor clicks an ad placed on your blog through your affiliate ad network membership, and you’re paid when that visitor makes a purchase. Affiliate advertising comes in a wide variety of formats, allowing you to generate revenue from a myriad of products and services related to your blog. In fact, affiliate ads perform best when the products offered by the ads appearing on your blog are directly related to your blog’s topic. The reason is simple: People who visit your blog are likely to be interested in products and services related to your blog’s topic. By visiting your blog, they’ve already demonstrated their interest in your blog topic, so offering products that might appeal to them based on that interest is a natural fit. With so many programs to choose from, you must be sure to research each one, and test several, to find the ones that are the best match for your blog and your audience. The success of your affiliate advertising efforts comes directly from your efforts in finding the most suitable program to help you meet your blogging goals.
Amazon Associates
www.affiliate-program.amazon.com
Amazon.com is one of the most popular Web sites now online, so it makes sense that Amazon Associates is one of the most popular affiliate advertising programs available to bloggers. Amazon.com not only offers an incredibly wide variety of products to choose from to advertise with your affiliate link on your blog, but it also makes it extremely easy to set up your Amazon Associates account. Additionally, you face almost no barriers to entry. To become an Amazon associate, simply visit the Amazon Associates Web
site and click the Join Now link to fill out the online registration form. Doing so gives you immediate access to Associates Central, where you can build ad links and start earning money. The Amazon Associates program also offers a great deal of flexibility and customization. You can choose from a wide variety of ad formats, and you can choose the specific products and links used in your Amazon Affiliate ads. You can even set up an Amazon store and link it directly to your blog to increase exponentially your Amazon Associates revenue-generating potential. Because Amazon is a well-known brand, your blog visitors are likely to be comfortable clicking Amazon links and purchasing products from Amazon.
However, the commission earned from Amazon Associates ads is typically small and varies greatly among bloggers. The bottom line: It takes time, experimentation, and patience to figure out how best to use Amazon Associates ads to monetize your blog, but the potential does exist to bring in revenue.
eBay Partner Network
www.ebaypartnernetwork.com
The eBay Partner Network is an excellent way to use the popularity of online auctions to generate revenue from your blog. The concept of the eBay Partner Network is similar to the Amazon Associates affiliate program in that you can create banners and links to products on eBay or an eBay storefront. When visitors to your blog click those links and make a purchase or win an auction, you earn a percentage of the revenue received by eBay. Additionally, as in the Amazon Associates program, you need to experiment with the eBay Partner Network to find the best products and ads that convert clicks from your blog visitors into sales and thus generate earnings for you. Each eBay Partner Network program has different payment structures and ads, so be sure to read about the programs you’re interested in before applying to make sure that they match your needs and goals. To join the eBay Partner Network, simply complete the online application by clicking the Join Now link on the eBay Partner Network home page.
AllPosters
www.affiliates.allposters.com/affiliatesnet
AllPosters is a profitable affiliate program for blogs related to celebrities, sports, music, art, or other topics where visitors are likely to be interested in related posters or art. AllPosters sells posters, art, photography, magnets, apparel, and more with images from celebrities, travel, animals, movies, musicians, and education. Using the wide variety of ad formats offered by the AllPosters affiliate program, shown in Figure 10-9, you can include ads for specific products on your blog or create a storefront. The AllPosters affiliate program pays a commission of 25 to 30 percent, with a payout threshold of just $20 paid monthly. You can imagine the potential income a niche site can generate if it ties nicely to the products offered on AllPosters. Think Britney Spears or Paris Hilton! To join the AllPosters affiliate network, simply click the Join Now button on the Allposters affiliate program Web site and fill out the online application.
LinkShare
www.LinkShare.com
LinkShare, a large affiliate advertising network, works with hundreds of advertisers to provide ad inventory to publishers such as bloggers. Some of those advertisers are shown in Figure 10-10. When you become a LinkShare affiliate, you have access to revenue-generating opportunities from some of the most well-known brands in the world, such as Wal-Mart, American Express, LEGO, and others. You select the ads you want to display on your blog that you expect will meet your revenue criteria. Of course, selecting ads
from advertisers whose products match the wants and needs of your blog visitors is the key to success. Not all advertisers in the LinkShare network pay the same amounts, and not all pay based only on conversions. Take the time to research the various advertising options and choose the ones that work best for you, your blog, and your audience. Of course, take the time to experiment with different ads, advertisers, and other elements to find the best mix for your blog in order to generate the highest returns.
LinkShare is popular for many reasons:
✓ The program is open to just about anyone with few barriers to entry.
✓ People feel comfortable following links to Web sites (and buying products from) well-known brands and companies.
✓ The payout threshold is only $1 with payments made monthly
To sign up with LinkShare, simply follow the Join link in the upper-right corner of the LinkShare home page and complete the online registration form. An e-mail is sent to you with instructions to complete your registration and begin selecting affiliate advertisements to display on your blog.
Commission Junction
www.CommissionJunction.com
Commission Junction is a well-known affiliate advertising program with a wide variety of advertisers in its CJ Marketingplace network. The site is owned by ValueClick Media (discussed earlier in this chapter, in the section “Impression-based ads”). Commission Junction works primarily with large companies and well-known brands, which typically appeal to consumers and blog visitors, particularly when the ads align closely with your blog topic. The minimum payout threshold is just $25 with payments made monthly. On the negative side, in order to earn money through Commission Junction, you need to go through a multistep approval process. First, you sign up to become a Commission Junction publisher by using the online form. After your application is accepted, you apply to each advertiser’s program that you want to participate in, which can make the process to monetize your blog through Commission Junction a long one. Another drawback to Commission Junction is the user account center, which is more challenging to navigate than the interfaces offered by other affiliate.
Merchandising and mini-malls
Selling merchandise from your blog is a helpful way to bring in money. No matter what topic you blog about, you can likely find a way to link merchandise to it, whether you create a logo and sell T-shirts or imprint a quote on a magnet or button. If creating your own designs for merchandise doesn’t work for you, some programs let you simply sell popular products, from iPods to baby gear and everything in between, from a wide variety of merchants.
CafePress
www.CafePress.com
CafePress is one of the most popular online merchandising Web sites, where people can upload custom designs to appear on products such as clothing, posters, calendars, and mugs. You can then sell those products from your own CafePress storefront, which can link directly to your blog by using a unique URL. Each product is produced on-demand when an order is placed and shipped directly to the customer. CafePress also manages all exchanges and returns and offers customer service. You receive a check each month with your
earnings from each sale, which come from the markup you choose to place on the base price of each item. You can open an unlimited number of basic shops for free and sell as many as 80 items per shop, or you can open a premium shop for as little as $4.99 per month and offer an unlimited amount of merchandise, which also gives you the most customization options. To create a CafePress store of your own, simply click the Sell Stuff link from the top navigation bar on the CafePress home page and then click the Start Selling Now button in the sidebar on the right to create your account. Follow the instructions to create your storefront, upload images, and perform other tasks. Simply link your blog to your store and you’re done. Of course, promoting your store by blogging about it helps, too! Make sure you own the copyright for (or get permission to use) any images or artwork you use on merchandise you sell.
Chitika eMiniMalls
www.chitika.com
Chitika eMiniMalls offer an interactive product merchandising service where ads for merchandise are shown based on the content of the page in which the ad code is placed. In other words, Chitika displays ads based on the keywords found on your blog page. The ads are unique in that they include a picture of the product and several tabs offering a product description and comparative shopping information.. Chitika eMiniMall ads are based on pay-per-click, and you earn 60 percent of
Chitika’s revenue each time someone clicks an ad on your blog. The payment threshold is just $10 for accounts paid by way of PayPal and $50 for accounts paid by check. You can easily sign up for the Chitika eMiniMall program by visiting the Chitika home page, clicking the Publishers link in the top navigation bar, and then clicking the Apply Now button to fill out the online application. A response is e-mailed to you as soon as your application is manually reviewed. Chitika eMiniMalls work best on sites that are related to tangible products, receive a significant amount of traffic each month, and use highly targeted keywords. Chitika offers tools to help users choose keywords and maximize their earning potential, but it can take time and patience to figure out how to make Chitika eMiniMalls perform well on your blog. The potential exists to make a significant revenue stream after Chitika eMiniMalls are optimized on your blog.
Feed ads
Many bloggers use feed ads to monetize their blogs’ RSS feeds. With more and more blog visitors using RSS feed readers to view their favorite blogs, bloggers have found that they lose money from lost page views. One way to combat that lost revenue is to add advertisements to your blog’s feed. If you have an RSS feed set up for your blog, , you might want to consider monetizing it with one of the following feed advertising programs.
Feedburner ads
FeedBurner is one of the most popular tools that bloggers use to create their blog feeds (called burning a feed). BecauseGoogle owns both Blogger and FeedBurner, you can easily add Google AdSense ads to your FeedBurner feed.
Pheedo
www.pheedo.com
Pheedo offers RSS feed advertising from a wide variety of well-known brands and companies, including Microsoft, Ford, and ESPN. Ads are placed between, beside, or within your RSS articles or as stand-alone items. The position and format choices are up to you. Figure 10-14 shows how several Pheedo ad formats look online. Your earnings from Pheedo are contingent on your feed traffic, the frequency with which you update your blog, your blog topic, and your blog’s popularity. Advertisers determine how much they’re willing to pay to reach your readers. Popular, highly trafficked, and frequently updated blogs typically generate significantly higher revenues from Pheedo RSS ads than smaller blogs do. If you try Pheedo RSS feed advertising, make sure that you take the time to analyze your results in terms of the revenue generated from those ads as well as the impact on your overall traffic patterns. Some people find RSS feed ads to be intrusive. The last thing you want to do is turn away visitors because they don’t like your RSS feed ads. To join the Pheedo syndicated content advertising network, simply visit the Pheedo home page and click the Get Started button in the Publishers section on the right side of the screen. Complete and submit the online application, and a Pheedo publisher services professional contacts you for follow up.
Direct ads
Rather than rely on ad networks and third parties to provide advertising content for your blog, you can sell ad space directly. You can sell a variety of types of ads on your blog by setting up a page on your blog and announcingthat you’re accepting ads and inviting interested advertisers to send an e-mail for details. Selling ad space can be difficult until your blog grows to a minimum of at least 1,000 visitors per day, but it’s certainly not impossible, particularly for niche topic blogs. Your Google page rank and Technorati authority ranking can also help you (or hurt you) in your direct advertising sales efforts. Basically, an advertiser doesn’t pay to place an ad on your blog unless the amount of exposure and number of click-throughs and conversions (such as leads or sales) bring in a higher return than does the initial advertising investment. Your goal in selling ads directly is to make your blog attractive to advertisers by offering appropriate rates based on the return they’re likely to get.
Sponsored reviews
Sponsored reviews help you get paid for writing and publishing posts. Advertisers search for bloggers to write posts and reviews, for example, about their brands, products, and Web sites to create an online buzz, increase Web site traffic, and boost sales. A number of companies run sponsored review networks, and the three most popular are discussed in
this chapter. Each sponsored review network operates similarly in that you submit your blog for inclusion in the network’s marketplace. If your blog is approved, you can either search for sponsored review opportunities that your blog qualifies for, or advertisers can search for your blog based on the criteria they establish for each opportunity. When you accept a sponsored review opportunity, you’re given the requirements of the opportunity and a timeframe within which the sponsored post must be published. The payment amount is agreed on upfront and is typically based on the specific opportunity as well as on the Google, Technorati, and Alexa rankings of your blog. Be sure to read the specific rules for each sponsored review network you consider joining. Each network has individual nuances that make it unique. Sponsored reviews are a useful way for smaller bloggers to make some extra money, but they can also hurt your blog in the long run. Unfortunately, Google and other search engines don’t like paid links, and the links in a sponsored review are exactly that. If the sponsored review network you join doesn’t use the NoFollow HTML tag, discussed earlier in this chapter, and doesn’t allow you to fully disclose sponsored reviews on your blog, Google is likely to downgrade your page rank or remove your blog from its searches entirely, which can lead to a significant decline in search-related traffic to your blog. With that in mind, you should consider avoiding sponsored review programs that don’t use the NoFollow HTML tag, don’t allow you to disclose your posts as paid for by sponsors and don’t allow you to write honest reviews.
PayPerPost
www.payperpost.com
PayPerPost is the pioneer of sponsored reviews. Bloggers who join the PayPerPost marketplace submit an application by clicking the Sign Up Now button on the PayPerPost home page. After your application is accepted, you can set up your blog’s profile, select your blog’s category, and begin looking for opportunities.PayPerPost bloggers have six hours to complete an assignment after accepting an opportunity and are paid 30 days after the sponsored review post is published. Opportunities begin at $5 and can increase to thousands of dollars, but those high-paying opportunities are typically available only to blogs with very high amounts of traffic.
ReviewMe
www.reviewme.com
At ReviewMe, another popular sponsored-review network, bloggers can click the Signup Now button on the home page. When your application is approved, you can set up your blog information for advertisers to find you. Rather than search for opportunities as you do on PayPerPost, advertisers search for bloggers with Review Me When an advertiser sends an opportunity to you, you can approve or reject it. Completed reviews typically pay between $20 and $200, but higher-paying reviews are usually reserved for highly trafficked blogs.
SponsoredReviews
www.SponsoredReviews.com
SponsoredReviews works a bit like both PayPerPost and ReviewMe, in that bloggers can search for opportunities and bid on jobs, which allows for rate negotiation directly with the advertisers, and they can create a blog profile and let advertisers bring offers to them, which they can accept or reject. If you accept an opportunity through SponsoredReviews, you’re given three days to complete the assignment. Your post is reviewed to ensure that it meets specified guidelines, and you’re paid by way of PayPal every two weeks. SponsoredReviews opportunities are available from $10 to $1,000, but the higher-paying reviews are usually available only to extremely popular blogs. You can sign up for SponsoredReviews by clicking the Free Sign Up button on its home page.
Other monetization options
Advertising and merchandise sales are common, but you’re not limited to those moneymaking options on your blog. Don’t be afraid to be creative and think “out of the box.” What would your blog readers enjoy? Find ways to provide the content, links, and information your readers want, and then create ways to monetize them. You can even extend your monetization opportunities outside your blog. For example, as your blog grows in popularity and your online presence becomes stronger, you can seek out opportunities to write paid articles for online publications and magazines, for example, or pursue paid speaking engagements as an expert in your blog’s topic. The opportunities are available with creative thinking, effort, and commitment. Check out the monetization options in the following sections for some ideas to get you started.
Donations
As your blog and your audience grow, you can ask visitors to donate money to help keep the blog going. You can use that money toward hosting costs, contest prizes, design costs, and other costs. To make the process of asking for donations simple, you can add a PayPal (www.PayPal.com) donation button to your blog, which automates the process by electronically transferring the money from the donor’s account to yours. An example of a PayPal donation button. Setting up a PayPal account takes only a few minutes and can be quite helpful as your blog grows to accept advertising payments, pay hosting fees, and much more. After your PayPal account is up and running, you can simply use the tools provided on the PayPal Web site to create your Donation button and upload it to your blog by adding a new gadget to your sidebar, as described in Chapter 8.
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