If you have a website or a blog you probably heard about multiple ways to monetize your website traffic but you thought your website is too small to bring you any revenue. I want to change your mind. There is no reason for you to pay for your hobby or pastime activity from your own pocket. In this article, I’ll present some really simple and accessible ways of monetizing a website.
Google AdSense
One of the better ways to start monetizing your website traffic is to sell your advertising space to ad networks. One of the biggest networks that offer Pay-Per-Click campaigns is Google AdSense. The range of ad formats is quite big: top banners, side banners, bottom banners, native records, side videos, and pop-ups. Basically, every basic type of ad display is available here. However, choosing the ideal ad for your website depends on many things. How big is your website? Is it a blog with multiple pages or an informative website with just a couple? Where can you place ads in such a way to not destroy the website’s design?
Although you may be tempted by bigger revenue to place all types of ads on all pages, remember to not add the ads everywhere you can. You don’t want to irritate your visitors. You want them to come back. Luckily, these ads are practically always in your website context, so there’s small chance your audience will be attacked with something completely unrelated to them.
Everything has its cons. In the case of Google Adsense it’s their strict policy regarding types of content they accept in their network which makes it impossible for many website owners to advertise with them. Your website will go through a thorough audit which can take some
time. Moreover, they have very limited payment options and it is practically impossible to remain anonymous. Luckily, there is a ton of alternative ways to monetize a website traffic.
If you’re looking for a direct alternative to the Google AdSense, Media.not may be the best possible choice. In short, Media.net is AdSense but for Bing and Yahoo search networks, and not for Google. They still offer contextual ads in dozens of formats, shapes, and sizes as well as PPC models. Media.net is characterized by their attention to detail and UX so the chance that the ad will stick out like a sore thumb from your meticulously crafted website is really low. These ads are so-called native ads and if you love harmonious and coherent designs they will be your best friends. You can read more about Media.net and other ​ Google Adsense alternatives​ in website traffic monetization check at the Shorte.st blog, so feel free to check it out if you are interested.
Affiliate Networks
If you can’t or don’t want to advertise with Google AdSense or any other contextual ad network, you may want to try your luck in affiliate marketing. Basically, you just have to find an affiliate network that sells a product or a service that may be interesting for your visitors and regulars. Usually, you, as an affiliate partner, will get paid every time someone makes a purchase coming from your website. It sounds complicated, but in fact, it’s really simple and straightforward. You will still most likely show ads of certain products through your website and write from time to time about this particular product. In general, the affiliate marketing industry is pretty large and offer something for anyone, but, depending on your niche, it can be very hard to find a trustworthy affiliate network that also pays well.
Referrals
Somewhat similar to affiliate marketing, in this case, making money depends on your personal charisma. Basically, you just present certain products, systems and third-party services that have any referral programs and add your referral link. Now, depending on the type of referral program, when your readers sign up for these services through your link you may get paid a percentage of their income for some time after their registration or even lifetime in certain cases. Nowadays, almost every service has such referral programs. Just remember not to spam with your referral link, because many blogs, websites and discussion panels do not accept them.
Sponsored articles and guest posting
If you like to write posts and your website is a blog you may want to reach out to companies that you want to write an article about. There is a big chance they will want to pay you for this review. This is also a good choice when you have fewer but very loyal readers or when you write about very niche topics. The website traffic will be lower than in case of a generic blog, but you will have a very specific readership – one that some companies may want to target. Just remember to always be honest and don’t try to sell the product/service. Some bloggers I know had to close their business when they lost their audiences’ trust.
On the other hand, If your website is rich in content and frequently updated but you don’t like to necessarily write two or three articles per week you may try finding people that will pay you for links from your site to boost their SERP scores. This is usually in form of guest posts
– articles published by the interested party at your website with a link back to their website. The most important thing that decides the payout are the stats of your website: its domain/page authority and age, trust flow and, of course, average monthly traffic. It is a good idea to put up a guest blogging page at your website on which all the requirements and article guidelines will be presented.
Look for your own path
There are other ways of monetizing your website or blog traffic, but I feel that these are the easiest, to begin with, especially if you just starting monetization. Just remember, to check for new things and new methods, because every website or blog, every audience, and every content niche is different and some very weird things may bring you big revenue now and well into the future.