Saturday
06Dec2008
Monetizing My Blog: The Experiment Continues
Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 1:39PM
Monetizing my blog never used to be something I thought about all that much. But actually posting to my blog used to be something I didn't think about all that much either.
Now I can't imagine my life without my blog. It's become my sounding board, my creative outlet, and way to capture my ideas. My blog is also where I learn from your comments, where I attempt to teach, and get inspired.
Because of the amount of time I spend on my blog and related activities I think it only makes sense to monetize it. I know many of you feel the same way and I'll try almost anything once so today I'm sharing with you the platforms I am currently testing to see how they work and if they're a viable way to make money off my blog.
First is Pheedo, this is an ad platform just for your feed. You can link it right up to your feedburner feed and the ads can be optimized in a myriad of ways. Their tracking statistics are also made available to you, the user, giving you insight to your feeds and how they are used by your readers.
The second is Chitika Premium Ads. What I like about this ad model is that you can set it so that the ads are ONLY viewed by those who come to your blog via a keyword search. So not only are your regular visitors not met with the ads when they come to read your blog, but the ads are targeted for the keywords that the visitor used to search, and therefore are relevant. Of course, you can set the ad units so that any visitor that lands on your blog sees them, but I like the former option.
The third is OIO Publisher. This advertising platform does cost money upfront but it allows you to sell advertising for your blog directly and you'll never have to pay a percentage of revenue. Within two days of integrating OIO Publisher into my blog, the platform paid for itself four times over.
The fourth is Social Spark/Izea. Paid review posts are becoming a hot way for those with some established traffic to pick up some extra bucks. The opportunities vary by your blog's topic and how much traffic you receive but it's a good way to build some steady blogging income. Some will make a lot of money, some might make a few bucks...but they're network is growing and their transparency and disclosure practices make them a leader in this method of blog monetization. Their code of ethics includes 100% Transparency, 100% Real Opinions, and 100% Search Engine Friendly, Social Spark covering all the bases. Plus, there's a whole section on causes that members join together to support. I've just signed up but definitely think this is a promising way to monetize your blog and will look forward to sharing experiences as time goes on.
And finally, we've all heard the buzz about MoFuse for making your blog mobile phone friendly. Well now you can make your blog mobile friendly AND monetize it. Using FeedM8 to do both is super easy and takes minutes to do. Plus you can offer your readers text message updates for when you post to your blog. How cool is that? In fact if you want to get a text message anytime I have a new post, sign up here, your mobile provider's standard text messaging rates apply.
What monetization methods have worked for you?
Now I can't imagine my life without my blog. It's become my sounding board, my creative outlet, and way to capture my ideas. My blog is also where I learn from your comments, where I attempt to teach, and get inspired.
Because of the amount of time I spend on my blog and related activities I think it only makes sense to monetize it. I know many of you feel the same way and I'll try almost anything once so today I'm sharing with you the platforms I am currently testing to see how they work and if they're a viable way to make money off my blog.
First is Pheedo, this is an ad platform just for your feed. You can link it right up to your feedburner feed and the ads can be optimized in a myriad of ways. Their tracking statistics are also made available to you, the user, giving you insight to your feeds and how they are used by your readers.
The second is Chitika Premium Ads. What I like about this ad model is that you can set it so that the ads are ONLY viewed by those who come to your blog via a keyword search. So not only are your regular visitors not met with the ads when they come to read your blog, but the ads are targeted for the keywords that the visitor used to search, and therefore are relevant. Of course, you can set the ad units so that any visitor that lands on your blog sees them, but I like the former option.
The third is OIO Publisher. This advertising platform does cost money upfront but it allows you to sell advertising for your blog directly and you'll never have to pay a percentage of revenue. Within two days of integrating OIO Publisher into my blog, the platform paid for itself four times over.
The fourth is Social Spark/Izea. Paid review posts are becoming a hot way for those with some established traffic to pick up some extra bucks. The opportunities vary by your blog's topic and how much traffic you receive but it's a good way to build some steady blogging income. Some will make a lot of money, some might make a few bucks...but they're network is growing and their transparency and disclosure practices make them a leader in this method of blog monetization. Their code of ethics includes 100% Transparency, 100% Real Opinions, and 100% Search Engine Friendly, Social Spark covering all the bases. Plus, there's a whole section on causes that members join together to support. I've just signed up but definitely think this is a promising way to monetize your blog and will look forward to sharing experiences as time goes on.
And finally, we've all heard the buzz about MoFuse for making your blog mobile phone friendly. Well now you can make your blog mobile friendly AND monetize it. Using FeedM8 to do both is super easy and takes minutes to do. Plus you can offer your readers text message updates for when you post to your blog. How cool is that? In fact if you want to get a text message anytime I have a new post, sign up here, your mobile provider's standard text messaging rates apply.
What monetization methods have worked for you?
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Reader Comments (11)
Great info - thanks so much!
Shaunas last blog post..http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/nfIO/~3/475051777/i-have-this-ideaand-i-need-your-input.html" rel="nofollow">I have this idea....and I need your input
I appreciate this info Jessica. It's nice to have these all spelled out for me, as I've heard about some of them. Thanks again!
carole@hippostoess last blog post..http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Hippostoes/~3/469306992/support-these-mompreneurs.html" rel="nofollow">Support these Mompreneurs!!!!
Jessica,
On the subject of paid reviews such as Social Spark, Pay Per Post, Paid Reviews and the like. If you value such things as Rank or are interested in some of the bigger ad networks DON'T DO IT.
The larger ad networks will NEVER look at you and your rank will sink like lead, you'll spend more than a year trying to get it back.
Traffic is everything if you want to make money with your blog, but over monetizing can be detrimental. Sometimes it looks like sheer desperation. Patience is indeed a virtue when it comes to making money online. I've worked with many bloggers/website owners who had the same problem. Some times its just best to pull back a bit. Just my professional opinion for what its worth.
Deb@Bird On A Wires last blog post..http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lagniappemarketing/EAZZ/~3/476368908/" rel="nofollow">The BIG Give Day 9
@Deb I appreciate your comment and while I know that is true about Pay Per Post, which is why I don't do that, Social Spark has a code of ethics that precludes that. I've talked to several people that have used Social Spark successfully without detrimental consequences to their rank or ad network.
It's definitely something I have put serious thought in to and the reason behind talking to those I speak with on a regular basis to get feedback.
@amyz5 I've got more ads than I usually would on my site right now because of the holidays...I do agree it's a bit much and with my blog redesign it is my hope that not only will the ad presentation be more aesthetically pleasing but that the entire blog itself will as well. Thank you for your candid feedback, I know I can always count on that from you and am grateful to have you as a reader for that reason.
Jessica Smiths last blog post..http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/JessicaKnows/~3/472632744/" rel="nofollow">Santa’s Promised Me a Blog Makeover!
Thanks for the tips here. I am moving into this area myself, I just joined social spark last week and I'm trying to figure it out.
Jen
Jennifer Smiths last blog post..http://eco-officegals.com/2008/12/04/mommy-go-green-blog-tour-green-irene/" rel="nofollow">Mommy Go Green Blog Tour: Green Irene
Jessica,
You can monetize your mobile site with MoFuse.
I'll second David's comment and let you know MoFuse has recently launched a Select CPM Ad Network for mobile blogs. We are getting a very healthy CPM rate for mobile blogs that have an audience - which means over 1000 unique viewers per month on the mobile site.
Nice tips Friend..! i'll try it,
Hi Jessica!
I'm glad to hear of your interest in SocialSpark and all the great information that you've posted here. We're always trying to improve and stay ahead of the curve and are currently in the midst of a very successful campaign with KMart.
Should you or your readers have any questions for us or concerns about the service, please be sure to open a ticket to Customer Love or send a Tweet or DM to izealove.
All the Best,
Carri Bright
Communications
IZEA Customer Love
Carris last blog post..http://blog.izea.com/2008/12/socialspark-going-down-for-a-minute.html" rel="nofollow">SocialSpark going down for a minute...
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