SKIN CARE ROUTINE: monetizing the blog

Sabtu, 19 September 2015

Blogger Series Vol. 15 - Continuing with Monetization Methods!

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.

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?

Sabtu, 08 Agustus 2015

Blogging Series Vol. 12 - My Story of Blog Monetization!

So, two days back I get a mail from Roshni asking me how did I go about monetizing the blog. Ohk, so a long story short, content is the king whenever it comes to anything with blogging!! Now, let me start with my story.

Adsense and Infolinks

I had applied for adsense (January 2010) right when I had started blogging (December 2009). Yes, I was ignorant that the blog needed to be 6 months old and few other restrictions when it came to adsense approval of blogs from India. So, obviously, they refused.

Then, infolinks came my way and it was easy to get accepted so there it was. I had started earning money right from the start of blogging. But, don't be buoyed, it was a measly 1$ per month or something like that and it took almost a year and half (June 2011 to be precise and I had integrated it in January 2010) to reach the threshold of 50$. But, fortunately, all time I did not falter and was very regular with blogging and slowly the traffic got better.

Adsense and Chitika

In the mean time, I had again tried for adsense after making sure that all the clauses were fulfilled. My blog was 6 months old and I had almost 400-500 posts up and had a decent traffic. Again I was rejected :(

So, I signed up with chitika. It wasn't really a great earner so I removed it quite soon.

Finally Adsense!

And, suddenly in the start of January 2012, adsense accepted me just like that. The year had started on a good note. And, adsense is quite a good source for earning money according to me except the getting accepted business.

I have to mention that first year has been quite up and down in terms of money but it was decent.

Private Advertising Networks

And, in this year, I have been contacted by private advertising networks which are also turning out profitable. In fact, they quite compliment the adsense income. I would not mention them because I am not really sure how their application and acceptance standards are.

Final Thoughts...

After so much struggle, I have understood one thing. Ultimately, it is the content which drives traffic which drives advertisers which brings money. Also, another thing I have learned is more content you publish is directly proportional to money you earn.

This post is just about how I tried to monetize my blog. I shall in some weeks write about how to monetize your blog, some of its basic principles and other networks and ways to monetize but one thing you already know - content is the king!! And, patience the key.

What other advertising networks do you think are great to earn money? Do you know of any which are better than the ones I have mentioned, not that I have mentioned many?

Blogging Series Vol. 10 - How to overcome Blogger's Block?

Blogging Series Vol. 9 - Reviving Old Posts!