1. Cost-per-Click Ads
Displaying banners based on a cost-per-click basis is the easiest way to make money with a site.Usually it’s just a matter of creating the ad banners and placing them in visible places and within the guidelines. You then get paid for each click on the ads. CPC ads come in many forms, from the traditional 468×60 banners to in-text advertising.
Google’s AdSense program made this model very popular, and it still offers the highest payouts by far. Google’s guidelines are strict though. It’s tempting to put ads right next to navigation items and gain on accidental clicks, but this can get your account banned.
You are given a percentage of the revenue made on each click, so more popular terms bring in more revenue. Earnings from CPC ads vary from a few cents to several dollars per click.
2. Affiliate programs
Affiliate programs (or referral programs) are considered to be the most lucrative form of advertising for publishers. If you can match an affiliate deal with your audience, you can easily earn more than any of the other methods.The concept behind affiliate programs is simple: You get paid for each lead or sale you refer. Some companies offer a fixed fee, while others work with a revenue share.
Affiliate programs are usually offered though huge affiliate networks, which combine offers of thousands of different advertisers. Some companies, though, have their own in-house affiliate program.
How easy it is to get approved depends on the advertisers. Some companies or networks don’t have any requirements, while others want to talk with you in person and want to see a highly professional site. It mostly depends on the commission you get for each sale–higher commissions come with more requirements.
Earnings for affiliate programs are calculated as EPC, which can either be earnings per click or earnings per 100 clicks (you’ll definitely want to find out which a particular company uses when exploring your options). Targeted and well-promoted offers can bring you up to $1 for each visitor you send.
3. Sponsored content
Also called advertorials, sponsored content is a great way of adding valuable content to your site while earning some money in the process.With sponsored content, advertisers write posts on the topic your site covers to show their expertise and build their brand.
It’s also a great way of doing a sponsored giveaway together with an advertiser (so you can feel a bit like Oprah).
Sponsored content is often confused with paid links, where an advertiser is pays solely for link placement. Paid links can get you in trouble with Google, and there’s a fine line between sponsored content and paid links. A good rule of thumb here is that your audience should value the content and learn something from it. It’s the content that matters, not so much the actual link to the paying advertiser.
Selling sponsored content can best be done by yourself, since most networks are easily abused for link building. Depending on your traffic you can charge anywhere from $50 to thousands of dollars per post.
4. Selling your site
The ultimate form of monetizing of your site is selling it. If you managed to successfully implement one or more of the strategies above, your site might be worth quite a lot of money.While selling your site puts money in the bank, there are other benefits as well. You can stop worrying about your traffic and ad performance. It also frees up your time which you can use for other projects.
The main problem with selling your site is deciding when to do it. Sell too soon and you might be leaving money on the table, sell too late and you will receive less money than you like. Especially with websites revenue can be very volatile, so it will always be a gamble. General rule is to sell when your website’s income stabilizes for a few months.
You can sell your site directly to a buyer or use a marketplace or agency for it. The latter will charge you a commission but will mostly do all the work for you.
Sale prices vary widely, from a few thousand dollars to well into the six figures and beyond.
