So, last time, I had mentioned how I monetize my blog. Let me talk about various things which you can do. The list is exhaustive but I am going to talk only about things which actually appeal to me or I have a bit of experience with.
Sponsored Posts
Yes, this is one of the simplest way to earn quick bucks. The company contacts you and asks you to write a post. You negotiate the price and deliver the post by the said date. It pays well if you have a good page rank and fan following for your blog. More the reach, more you can charge.
But, the method has some serious drawbacks. Not all readers are happy with sponsored posts. Such a post can end up looking very advertising without any benefit for the reader. Excess of such posts can cause a fall in the readership. And, worse of all, the brand approaching you might not be related to your niche which is a waste. And, the last is quality of the website you will link back to.
So, before you start negotiating, do a proper research on the company, its product and if possible, try it out before doing a post on it. But, maximum sponsored posts are on services or websites which you might not always be able to give a try. So, the best option there remains to weave a creative and useful post around the theme of the product so that you can provide one unobtrusive link in between somewhere.
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| sorry but this is not possible in virtual world :D |
Also, be sure that the company is gonna pay you for the services. It is always good to get the payment before the post goes live. Otherwise, they might never respond back. Some companies approach the big bloggers directly for sponsored posts but for regular bloggers, you can check out sponsoredreviews.com and payperpost.com which provides an interface between the brands and bloggers and takes a commission from the amount you earn.
Ad Networks
Infolinks is not the only one which provides contextual links. There are small ad networks (generally closed) which when joined ask for the best ad space on your blog and pay you on the amount you fix (if they think it is worth it!) One which I know is blogher network which allows only women to join. But, I think googling would reveal a lot more.
Adspace Renting or Text Links in the Posts
Sometimes some companies may just approach you for adspace renting or would ask you to place some text links in some of your posts or insert some keywords with links.
You can rent out the ad spaces to them and charge them depending on the placement of the ad and the ad unit size. The only issue with such kind of collaborations is that you have to be extremely careful of the kind of websites you are linking to.
These are the ones I can remember right away. I shall put up ones I recall in another post!! So, what are your monetizing methods?
Related Posts:
Blogging Series Vol. 14 - Why do you love blogging?Blogging Series Vol. 13 - How to improve traffic on the blog?
Blogging Series Vol. 11 - Setting goals for the blog!
