SEO Keyword Article Writing & Article Marketing @ Writingfourmylife.com

The last couple weeks have been pretty heavy on the monetary aspect of blogging and writing for me so I figure, what better topic for a post? As well as the ComLuv contest which has consumed a good deal of my time and now suggests giving valuable free advertising to its sponsors in exchange for contest points, I have received a few questions regarding monetizing a blog and how to go about doing it. I empathize with those who are somewhat reluctant or intimidated by the prospect of actually using their blog to create income. It can seem at first glance like a daunting task, as if there is some secret or special method to doing it successfully. The truth is a whole lot different, and I think that after you read what I’m about to show you in the next couple days you’ll not only no longer be hesitant, but eager to give it a shot.

The most fundamental fact first

One of the most important things you must have before you even begin to entertain monetizing your blog is traffic. No matter if it is Adsense or ClickBank, if you don’t have a decent volume of traffic, your sales if any are going to be dismal. Part of the reason for needing traffic is of course just plain exposure for the products you’ll be promoting. Programs like Adsense work best when there is a high volume of visitors to present the ads to, and it is the click through rates that are going to matter most.

Some people will tell you to go ahead and get some affiliate ads posted to your site before you even get it launched, which is fine really. I’ve done it myself. Just don’t expect to see much happen with them if anything. The rationale behind putting up ads from the start is that visitors may be put off by your suddenly adding advertisements to your blog when before it was free of them. The refutation to this rationale is this; if you have good content and you are providing a valued resource to your visitors, they aren’t going to care very much if you include some ads later. As long as your ads are placed with some common sense and don’t conflict with your content, visitors will likely not care that you now have some ads. How many good sites have you avoided because they have ads? Exactly.

My opinion on the matter is that your time is better spent working on your content and building your audience before spending any time on setting up for advertisements. That way, when you do monetize your site, you’ll be better able to test and evaluate whatever advertising strategy you decide to use because you’ll have an audience response to use when gauging results.

What really makes traffic so important 

The other reason traffic is so vital is the most important part of the picture. While you can sign up for an affiliate program like ClickBank  and make a little money with little effort, to get the really good money that comes from true sponsors you need to have a good amount of traffic in order to prove to them that your promotion is worth paying for. For small blogs and niche’s you should expect to have approximately 300-500 visits a day before anyone is going to be willing to pay you real money to promote their products. The more traffic you have, the more interested advertisers will be in securing your services.

Think of it this way. How much people charge for advertising on their site is highly variable and dependent upon their traffic volume. There really are no set rates. If you have quality traffic and over 3-5,000 visits a month, averages could be $25.00 for a simple text link in a post or carried in a sidebar for a month, or $150.00- $500.00 for a 450 word post promoting a product. A small 200×200 button in your sidebar could fetch $100.00 per month, while a large banner ad at the top of your site could fetch $300.00 a month, while an all out permalinked promotion complete with endorsement and reviews could net you as high as $2,000 if you have some really good traffic. The key is having the traffic that makes asking these prices credible.

There is no easy money, just smart money

 Kind of drives home just why so many people seem completely obsessed with getting anybody and everybody to visit their site doesn’t it? So before you decide to begin seriously monetizing your blog, first take the time to get it well ranked and pulling in steady traffic. This takes time and is probably not what most folks want to hear, but it goes back to the very basics of being successful no matter what you are doing. The only way you’ll enjoy lasting success is by putting in the effort.

This subject deserves a great deal more than just one post so I am going to break it up into a few installments. Next post, I will be explaining a little bit about approaching potential advertisers and how to go about promoting them. Till then I invite your comments. I’m always interested in hearing how other folks go about putting their content to work.