101 Ways to Monetize Your Blog

[vandelay]

I posted a resource that I think may be helpful for a lot of bloggers. 101 Ways to Monetize Your Website or Blog is a list of resources and advertising programs, with brief descriptions of each. I'd love to hear some feedback on some of the programs on the list, or recommendations for future additions.

[Bloggeries]

Hi Vandelay,

Great list!

Recently I"ve been looking into affiliate marketing more and more for some of the categories on my directory. I really liked the Affiliates section onyour site.

Out of curiosity: Has anyone had any success with any of the affiliate programs below? I"ve signed up for A Top Performing CPA Affiliate Network however all of their payments are one time introduction fees type deal. No real percentage and residuals which is what the secret is. Earn today and have it pay you tomorrow

Commission Junction – One of the leaders. Manages affiliate programs for all kinds of products.
Click Bank – All downloadable affiliate products.
LinkShare - Claims to be the largest pay-for-performance affiliate marketing network.
Azoogle Ads - Also claims to be the largest performance-based online advertising network.
Amazon - One of the oldest and most successful affiliate programs.
Context Links for Amazon’s Affiliate Program - Auto creates affiliate links to Amazon’s products.

Thanks for creating and sharing such a great resource Vandelay!

Rob

Originally Posted by vandelay

I posted a resource that I think may be helpful for a lot of bloggers. 101 Ways to Monetize Your Website or Blog is a list of resources and advertising programs, with brief descriptions of each. I'd love to hear some feedback on some of the programs on the list, or recommendations for future additions.

[jshaffstall]

For ClickBank products, link cloaking is a must. Too many people have their own ClickBank ID, and are willing to substitute it instead of yours if it's easy enough (e.g. you expose the hoplink to them so they can copy and paste it).

Another network you might look into is ShareASale.com. They work much like Commission Junction, just with different merchants.

Jay

[vandelay]

I've made some money with Commission Junction and Click Bank. Nothing too significant, but I haven't made affiliate marketing a priority either. I'm not sure how many options there are for residuals in either of those programs though. Commission Junction has several web hosting programs, but most if not all are one-time payment, which i think is kind of weird. You would think with a service like that with monthly fees the payment would be a small, residual amount.

[vandelay]

Jay,
Thanks for mentioning Shareasale, I had never seen that one before.

[jshaffstall]

Originally Posted by vandelay

Jay,
Thanks for mentioning Shareasale, I had never seen that one before.

You're welcome! I ran across it a few years ago when I was looking for an affiliate program for a specific web hosting company, and they were using Shareasale.

Originally Posted by vandelay

Commission Junction has several web hosting programs, but most if not all are one-time payment, which i think is kind of weird.

Most of the web hosting plans I've seen that offer residual commissions for affiliates are overpriced (e.g. $20 a month or more). GDI is an exception at $10 a month, but I guess when you get down to the $5 a month level there's not much left to offer residuals on.

But I've often had that same thought, that affiliates should get a continuing commission if the customers stay with the web host.

Jay

[vandelay]

It seems like a few years ago the hosting affiliate programs were offering residuals and now most have switched to one-time payment. I'm an affiliate of Host Gator. Their basic service is $10/month and the one time payment is $100. I know residuals are great, but I think I'll take $100 now over $2 or $3 every month.

[jshaffstall]

That explains why most people who push web hosting are pushing Host Gator these days! I'd noticed the trend, and kept meaning to look into it. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

Jay

[scottfow]

This is one very helpful thread. Hope you'll have more of this.

[evelester]

I have had luck with CJ and Link Share, but success can only be in how you use it- if you just throw up banners, you wont get alot of sales, but intregrating them into a review post, thats where the money is!