ADDING ADS TO YOUR BLOG
The most obvious and common way to make money from a blog is to sell ads on it. This becomes practical, however, only if you are already attracting a substantial number of visitors to your blog. Advertisers aren’t going to pay to place ads on a blog that has only 200 visitors a month. One that has 4000 visitors per month as a chance of gaining some ad revenue. The most common ad sources include the following:
. Adsense : This service from Google allows you to choose advertisers whose products and services are related to your own content.
. BlogAds : This service does the “matchmaking”, pairing up bloggers with advertisers and taking a fee for its work.
. Affiliate ads : As an affiliate, you advertise someone else’s products. You sign up for a program such as the popular affiliate program run by Amazon.com.
Suppose you review a book on your blog and include a link to the book’s description in the Amazon.com market place. If someone clicks your ad to Amazon
and then buys the book, you get paid an affiliate fee.
ASKING FOR DONATIONS
You can simply ask people to donate to your blog. Add a PayPal button to your site. Visitors can then click the button and add money directly into your PayPal account. Follow these steps to add such a button:
1. Go to the Buttons for Donations page on the PayPal web site (www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donate_intro_outside).
2. Click the Create Your Button Now link. A page entitled Create a PayPal Payment button appears with a form to fill out.
3. Fill out the form describing your business and the purpose of the donations. Be sure to log in so that your payments can be directed to your PayPal
account. Then click the Create Button button at the bottom of the form.
A page appears with code that describes your button.
4. Copy the code and past it into the body of the web page where you want the button to appear.
That’s all you need to do. If you don’t sell merchandise, donations can be a good way of keeping your effort going.
CALCULATING ONLINE MARKETING RESULTS
If you publish content on your blog for marketing purposes, such as an e-book, a press release, an announcement, a presentation, and so on. You can determine how frequently that content was accessed and when it was accessed using your web analytics tool. This allows you to determine how well your promotional efforts are working to drive targeted traffic to those specific pages or content on your blog and use those results to tweak your current or future campaigns.
UNDERSTANDING BLOG MERCHANDISING
Most online merchandising programs provide two options for selling merchandise on your blog:
. Create your own designs : You can create your own digital images and upload them to the merchandising program site. Once uploaded, you can
sell merchandise such as mugs, blogs and so on with your image printed on those products.
. Use established designs : Many merchandising programs offer a variety of art and images that you can choose from to print and merchandise items. This is
a great option if you aren’t able to create your own digital art.
You can design and promote the products you want to sell on your blog. All sales, shipping, and so on are managed by the merchandising program. Because products are printed on demand (when a person orders the item), you don’t have to worry about paying for inventory, shipping costs, and the like. Usually, you’re given the option to set your own prices, thereby establishing your own profit margin.
Some merchandising programs provide free and paid options. Typically, if you pay a fee, you can create custom stores. If you want to create and sell different types of merchandise to different audiences, then having the ability to create multiple stores is important. The guidelines and capabilities of programs differ, so be sure to research your options and choose the best one for you, your audience, and your blogging goals.
BENEFITING FROM MERCHANDISING
Similarly, make sure the links and ads that lead your blog’s visitors to your merchandise are placed strategically. Example, don’t hide links to your merchandise in your blog’s footer or subpages. Instead, include ads in your blog’s sidebar, between posts, or in links within your posts. Make sure it’s easy for your audience to find your merchandise. If that merchandise is directly related to your blog’s topic, which is of interest to them, you stand a greater chance of actually selling it.
REVIEWING CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE YOU JUMP IN
At first glance, it might seem like there are no negatives to participating in product advertising programs and selling merchandise through your blog. However, there are some pitfalls that you need to be aware of and analyze before you get started:
. Quality : Before you advertise your merchandise on your blog, purchase a few items from the program site to ensure the quality is acceptable. The last
thing you want to do is offer T-shirts that shrink after one washing or bags that aren’t strong enough to carry more than a single book.
. Return policy and process : Make sure that any product advertising or merchandise program you join has a clear and easy-to-follow return process. If
people purchase products through your blog and they’re dissatisfied, you want to be certain they have an easy way to return the items and get their money back.
. Costs : Make sure that the cost of the item + shipping + you’re up-charge does not make the merchandise you sell through your blog too expensive
(an up – charge is the monetary amount you add to the product cost and keep as your earnings). No one will buy your products if they’re priced too high.
You need to know what the final cost of any item you sell, because it’s usually up to you to add an additional rand amount to that cost, which you keep as your profit.
. Relevancy and uniqueness : The merchandise you sell through your blog should be relevant to your blog’s topic in order to leverage the real – time interest
of your blog visitors. At the same time, your merchandise should be unique and representative of your blog.
. Copyrights and trademarks : Follow the rules.
TAKING A LOOK AT MERCHANDISING SITES
Following are highlights of some of the most popular merchandising sites.
CafePress (www.cafepress.com)
Café Press is one of the most popular online merchandising sites for bloggers to monetize their blogs. You can upload your own designs to print on products through CafePress such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, mugs, posters, and more, or you can sell merchandise with designs offered by CafePress on them. When you sign up with CafePress, you get your own CafePress store-front, which you can link to from your blog, so your blog visitors can view and purchase your items.
CafePress handles all the logistics of the merchandising program. Purchased products are produced on demand and shipped directly from CafePress to the customer. All you have to do is set up your store and promote it, and CafePress takes care of the rest – including returns and customer service. CafePress also handles all payments. Because you determine how much you want to mark – up on items to be, you control your potential revenue stream.
CafePress allows you to set up as many basic stores as you want for free, and each store can include up to 80 items. For a small monthly fee, you can set up a premium shop where you can offer an unlimited number of products and customize as you wish.
Zazzle (www.zazzle.com)
Zazzle is an online merchandising program that is free to join. You can set up your own store and sell as many products as you want. Your products can come from the Zazzle marketplace of designs and items provided by Zazzle or created by other Zazzle members. You can also upload your own designs and sell them on products or add your designs to the Zazzle market place for other members to sell.
You set your pricing for both your own sales and sales of your designs and items through the Zazzle marketplace. You can also earn volume discounts based on the monetary amount of products you sell each month.
Through Zazzle, you can sell individual items through a link to your custom Zazzle store. The choice is yours. Zazzle handles all customer service, production, shipping, payments, and so on. You also get access to a variety of reports to track your progress.
Printfection (www.printfection.com)
Is an online merchandising program that you can join for free, upload your designs, and then sell products with those designs printed on them either individually through your blog, in your own Printfection store and even integrate it directly into your blog, so it looks like it’s part of your blog rather than a separate Printfection site. Also, you can open multiple stores through a single account.
Printfection handles all of the technical aspects of the site as well as production, shipping, returns, customer service, and payments.
Although Printfection offers a smaller selection of products that some other online merchandising programs, it’s still a popular option for bloggers.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT FEED ADS ARE
Feed advertising enables bloggers to insert ads within their blog’s feeds. Example: An advertisement could appear in between posts within a blog’s feed, as viewed in a person’s feed reader.
Most feed advertising programs allow you to choose the type of ads you want to display in your blog’s feed, including text or image ads. You may also be able to customize the colors of the ads displayed in your feed and choose the position where ads are placed, such as above or below each post in your feed.
Feed advertising programs usually use the pay-per-click payment method, so you earn money every time a person clicks an ad displayed in your blog’s feed.
BENEFITING FROM FEED ADS
Many bloggers view their blog feeds as a lost monetization opportunity because people who subscribe to blogs and read them via email or a feed reader often don’t click through and visit the blog where the post was published. This is particularly true for bloggers who syndicate full-text fees of their blog posts, because subscribers can read the entire content of those posts through their feed reader or via email (depending on their chosen subscription method).
The reason is simple. If people aren’t clicking through to your blog, they don’t see the ads and other monetization tactics on your blog at all, which means you lose the chance to generate ad revenue from them. Inserting ads in your blog’s feed helps offset that lost opportunity.
You can’t benefit from feed ads if no one is clicking them. In order to maximize your earnings from feed ads, you need to monitor them to ensure they’re relevant to the content of your blog. If they’re not relevant, then your blog subscribers are unlikely to be interested in them and less likely to click them. It’s up to you to analyze the relevancy of ads displayed in your feed and ensure the program is meeting your needs and goals.
FINDING POPULAR FEED AD OPTIONS
There are two feed advertising options that most bloggers test on their blogs first – Google AdSense for feeds (formerly Feedburner ads) and Pheedo. Both of these programs partner with well-known advertisers, provide excellent customization and reporting, and pay on time and accurately.
Google AdSense for Feeds (www.google.com/adsense)
Google AdSense is the most popular feed advertising option for bloggers for a few reasons:
. Ease of integration : Because many bloggers try Google AdSense for contextual advertising on their blogs, it’s very easy to try Google AdSense for feeds.
The blogger’s account is already set up! Also, because Google owns feedburner (www.feedburner.com), one of the easiest ways to create and manage
your blog’s feed and subscribers, it’s simple to link your feed with your AdSense ad units. Furthermore, Google also owns Blogger, so it’s even easier for
Blogger users to integrate Google AdSense for feeds into their blog.
. Customization : Google AdSense for feeds is easy to customize in terms of picking the location where you want your geed ads to appear, colors, the type
of ads you want to publish in your feed, and more.
. Tracking : Google AdSense for feeds can track ad performance easily through the Google AdSense dashboard.
. Trust : Google is a well-known brand that people know and trust working with, particularly because most bloggers already have established relationships
with Google.
. No barriers to entry : Anyone can sign up to participate in Google AdSense for free and publish ads in their blog’s feed.
To set up Google AdSense ads for your blog’s feed, follow these steps:
1. Log in to your Google AdSense account at: http://adsense.google.com and select the AdSense Setup link in the top navigation bar. This step opens
the AdSense Setup page.
2. Click the AdSense for feeds link. The AdSense for Feeds Create Ad Unit page opens.
3. In the Ad Type drop-down list, select the type of ads you want to display in your blog’s feed. You can choose to publish text ads, image ads, or both.
4. In the Frequency drop-down list, select how often you want ads to appear in your blog’s feed. You can choose to have ads appear after every post in
your feed, after every second post, after every third post, or after every fourth post.
5. In the Posts Length drop-down list, select your parameters for how long a post must be in order for an ad to publish with it. You can choose to have ads
display with posts of any length, longer than 50 words, longer than 100 words, longer than 250 words, longer than 500 words.
6. In the Position drop-down list, select where you want ads to appear in relation to your posts within your blog’s feed. You can choose to have ads appear
above or below your posts within your blog’s feed.
7. In the Colors section, select the Radio button that reflects how you want colors to be chosen for your feed ads. You can choose to have colors automatically
set or you can choose them yourself.
8. In the Custom Channels section, you can create a specific channel for your ad unit. With Google AdSense, custom channels help you track your ad unit
performance and make it easier for advertisers to target and place ads on your blog.
9. In the feeds section, you can select the feed where you want the ads from the ad unit you’re creating to appear and then click the Add link to add them
to the ad unit. If you have not already added your blog’s feed to your Google AdSense account, you can do that from this section of the form, too.
10. Click the Save button. This step saves your ad unit so ads can begin appearing within your blog’s feed.
Pheedo (www.pheedo.com)
Pheedo offers blog feed advertising from a variety of well-known companies, including ESPN,Ford, and more Pheedo ads can be placed above, below, beside, or within your feed posts, or they can be displayed as standalone items.
Pheedo offers your feed to advertisers who review your blog’s traffic, post frequency, and other criteria to determine how much they’re willing to pay to reach your feed readers. Therefore, popular, highly trafficked, and frequently updated blogs stand to earn far more money from Pheedo ads than lesser trafficked blogs can.
You can apply to be a Pheedo ad publisher the Pheedo web site. If your application is approved a representative from Pheedo contact you to help you get started. Follow these steps to become a Pheedo ad publisher.
1. Visit http://pheedo.com/site/pub_get_started.php to complete the publisher application. Complete the application as thoroughly and honestly as you can.
2. Enter your contact information in the first section of the application. Make sure that you enter the primary web site URL for your blog, not your blog’s
feed address in the website field.
3. Enter your free information in the second section of the application. In this section, enter the URL for your blog’s feed as well as a count of all the feeds
you ultimately want to include Pheedo ads in (if you have more than one feed you want to monetize). Additionally, use the drop down list to select a category
for your blog’s feed and enter the number of subscribers and views your feed has in the fields provided.
4. Enter the requested information in the last section of the application. This section of the form is called the Red Tape section because it’s where you
provide information about who referred you to Pheedo, agree to the Pheedo terms and conditions, and enter any additional information or comments
that you want to include in your application.
5. Click the Submit your Application button. Your application is automatically sent to Pheedo. You will be contacted if your application is approved.
CHOOSING TO SELL DIRECT ADS
You certainly have nothing to lose by offering ad space for direct sale on your blog. Create a post or page that provides the details about your ad space opportunities. Be sure to include your email address or contact form so interested advertisers can contact you for more information. The worst case scenario is that no one contacts you.
SELECTING TYPES OF ADS TO SELL
When you sell ad space on your blog, you decide what types of ads you’re willing to accept and publish. However, you also need to have the technical ability to insert the ads on your blog. Example: selling text link ads is easy – just insert the text link.
Similarly, it’s not difficult to place an image ad in your blog’s sidebar, particularly if your blogging application allows you to paste HTML code into a widget or gadget easily. On the other hand, inserting ads into your blog’s header or between posts is a bit more challenging for beginner bloggers. With that in mind, your technical abilities could dictate the types of ads space you can sell on your blog.
When you sell your own ad space, you can accept or decline any ad space inquiry that you receive, giving you the ultimate control of the ads that appear on your blog and the web sites those ads lead your audience to. Most bloggers like having this level of control, and it’s one more benefit of selling ad space directly.
You can sell ad space in a variety of forms on your blog, including image, text, video, sponsored reviews, paid posts, and more.
RESEARCHING SIMILAR BLOGS IN SIZE AND TOPIC
To find out where your rates should be set, you can inquire about purchasing ad space on blogs that are similar to yours – if the rates are not already published on the blog. Alternatively, you can visit a site such as BuySellAds.com (http://buysellads.com) and search for publishers to find out the rates they’re charging as well as their traffic levels.
DEVELOPING A RATE SHEET
When you have an idea of what you want to charge for your ad space, you should create a rate sheet that not only provides your ad space rates but also helps to sell your blog to advertisers. You can either publish your rate sheet information on your blog or email it in response to inquiries. Having a rate sheet prepared saves you time later because you won’t have to retype the same information again and again each time you get an inquiry.
Be sure to update your rate sheet as your blog traffic and audience change.
Your rate sheet should include the following information:
. Description of your blog : Try to sell the value of your blog by making it sound appealing.
. Demographic profile of your blog’s audience : Tell advertisers who will see their ad when it appears on your blog. Include any statistics you have about gender,
age, location, and so on. You could get this information by publishing a poll on your blog using www.polldaddy.com,
www.surveygizmo.com, www.surveymonkey.com, or other web sites that allows you to create free polls, which you can easily insert into a blog post
by simply copying and pasting some HTML code.
. Traffic statistics and rankings : Provide your blog’s Google page rank, Alexa rank, Technorati ranks, monthly page views, monthly unique visitors, and so on
to show advertisers the kind of reach that advertising on your blog can give them.
. Awards and recognition : List any awards or special recognition that your blog has earned, which could add value to your site and make it more appealing
to advertisers.
. Other enhanced value : List any accomplishments, syndication agreements, and so on that gives your blog added exposure.
. Ad specifications : Provide descriptions of the types of ads you accept and technical specifications for those ads such as size, format, and so on.
. Restrictions : If you have any restrictions related to the types of ads you’re willing to publish on your blog such as no links to pornographic sites, text links
must use the NoFollow HTML tag, and so on, be sure to define them.
. Pricing and payment terms : Provide prices as well as payment guidelines. Example: When payments must be made and how they can be made eg. PayPal.
. Custom advertising opportunities : If you’re open to discussing customized advertising on your blog, make sure you mention it on your rate sheet.
. Your contact information : Make it easy for interested advertisers to contact you to set up their advertising with you or get more information.
ACCEPTING PAYMENTS
Make sure your payment requirements and terms are spelled out clearly in your rate sheet, and obtain the advertisers agreement to your terms in writing via email or a signed contract.
Make sure you provide details in writing about how and when advertisers must pay you. Example: you can require that payments be made up front before you place the advertiser’s ad on your blog. If an advertiser doesn’t agree with those terms, you can certainly refuse to publish the ad. The most important thing is to ensure you’re protected.
Also, make it easy for advertisers to pay you. Sign up for a PayPal account at www.paypal.com, so you can accept bank account transfers and credit card payments. Of course, you must place the ad in a timely manner and for the time period that you and the advertiser agree upon.
PROMOTING AD SPACE FOR SALE ON YOUR BLOG
Make sure you take the time to learn about your audience. Use a sites such as PollDaddy (www.polldaddy.com) or Survey Gizmo (www.surveygizmo.com) to create and publish demographic polls on your blog. Ask your blog audience where they’re from, how old they are, and so on to help you find out more about them.
USING SURVEYS TO LEARN ABOUT YOUR BLOG’S AUDIENCE
Fortunately, there are a number of web sites that allow bloggers to create surveys (or polls) for free. PollDaddy (www.polldaddy.com), Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) and Survey Gizmo (www.surveygizmo.com) are three popular options. Depending on your survey needs, you can create single-question a multiple-question surveys to find out more about your blog’s audience. Try to create multiple-choice answers, so it’s easy to tabulate your survey results.
USING A THIRD PARTY TO FACILITATE THE AD SALES PROCESS
Sites such as BuySellAds.com allow bloggers to post their available ad space. Typically, you can set your own rates, and advertisers search these sites to find niche blogs and web sites that offer great rates for exposure to targeted audiences. It’s far easier for an advertiser to search through a site that lists a wide variety of ad space opportunities than it is to find and visit the same number of individual blogs and web site to find or inquire about purchasing ad space on those sites.
These third-party sites typically handle the technology and payment process for both the advertisers and the ad publishers. In exchange, the third-party site takes a percentage of the fees charged to the advertiser by the publisher.
You need to consider whether the benefits of getting wider exposure for your available ad space are worthwhile given the loss in revenue taken by the third-party site. Only you can determine through testing whether the amount of ad space sold through a third party is more that you can sell on your own
and makes up for the loss in revenue of course, you can always increase your advertising rate to make up for the lost revenue.
There are a number of sites that offer ways for bloggers to sell ad space.
BuySellAds.com (www.buysellads.com)
Its open to nearly any online publisher with ad space to sell. You simply register for free, provide the requested information about your blog, including your ad sizes and fees, and BuySellAds.com takes care of the rest. Your blog’s traffic rankings are added to your listing automatically, so you don’t have to worry about keeping that information updated.
BuySellAds.com provides you with a snippet of HTML code that you add to your blog where you want your ads to appear. That code automatically generates the ads that advertisers purchase on your blog and removes them when they expire. You don’t have to do anything other than accept ads as they come to you. In fact, you can even set up your account to automatically approve all ads purchased on your blog, so you don’t have to do anything after your account is set up.
Blogads (www.blogads.com)
Blogads connects many well-known advertisers, such as PETA and Budget Rental cars, with online publishers that are offering ad space for sale. If your blog is consistently updated and gets over 1,000 page views per day, then you can apply to offer your ad space through Blogads.com.
The Blogads.com program is difficult to get into and is not always actively accepting new publishers, but if your blog is popular, it’s worth applying.
Blogads.com offers several ad sizes. You can set your own pricing for your ad space, and you always have the opportunity to accept or reject any advertiser’s ad. Because all ad space sold through Blogads.com is sold at a flat fee for ads to be displayed for a specific amount of time, you always know how much you’ll make. Blogads.com takes a percentage of that fee to cover their expenses for managing the technology, payment processing, and so on.
Performancingads (www.performancingads.com)
Through PerformancingAds, you can list your blog, and advertisers can publish 125 x 125 pixel ads on your blog. If your site gets 250000 page views per month, you can work with PerformancingAds to sell ad space on your blog directly through the PerformancingAds Premium program.
Through the basic PerformancingAds program, you can register for an account and provide information about your blog, which is then added to the categorized marketplace of publishers. PerformancingAds takes care of the technology and payment processing. All you have to do is insert the provided code into your blog, and the rest is done for you.
ASKING FOR DONATIONS
You can make it easy for your readers to donate to your blog by signing up for a PayPal account at www.paypal.com and adding a donation button to your blog, which automates the process by electronically transferring money from the donor’s account to yours.
Get creative with your donation requests. Add a link at the end of your posts that says “Like my blog? Buy me a cup of coffee”. It’s just another way to ask for your loyal readers to support your blog and help you cover hosting costs, your time investment, design costs, and so on, which can add up quickly as your blog grows.
USING LICENSED OR AD-SUPPORTED SYNDICATION
You can syndicate your blog content and make money. Using a company such as Newstex (www.newstex.com) you can license your content for syndication to distributors (such as LexisNexis), who, in turn, provide that content to end-user customers – such as business people, academics, legal professionals, and more – who use it to do their jobs. Alternatively, you can syndicate your blog content through an ad-supported syndication company, such as BlogBurst, and potentially earn revenues.
BLOG ADVERTISING
REVIEWING TYPES OF ADS
There are a number of different types of ads that you can publish on your blog as well as other online monetization efforts. The three most common advertising models are:
. Pay-per-click (PPC) : Advertisers pay the blogger each time a person clicks on the advertiser’s ad.
. Pay-per-impression (PPM) : Advertisers pay the blogger each time the ad appears on the blog’s page (that is, each time a person loads the page in their browser.
. Pay-per-action (PPA) : The advertiser pays the blogger each time someone clicks the ad and performs an action such as making a purchase of filling out
a contact form.
These advertising models are broken down further into the types of ads that bloggers can publish on their blogs. Following are the most common:
. Contextual ads : These ads are delivered based on the content on the page where the ad is displayed. The intention is to march ads with relevant
content in order to maximize click-throughs.
. Text link ads : Text link ads are hyperlinked text (usually using specific keywords) within a blog post, list, sidebar, and so on that links to the advertiser’s
chosen page.
. Image ads : Banner, button, skyscraper, leader board, and any other picture ads qualify as image ads (also called display ads).
. Video ads : Ads that are displayed within online videos (preroll, postroll, overlay, and soon) are becoming more and more popular.
. Affiliate ads : Affiliate advertising gives you the opportunity to place ads for specific products, companies, and so on and get paid a predetermined percentage
or rate when someone performs an action related to the ad.
. Review posts : Although review posts on a blog might not be traditional advertising, in the online world it’s important to mention them her as a
monetization opportunity. You can write reviews that are sponsored by a company, person, entity, and so on and receive payment for it.
There are a variety of specific types of image ads that bloggers can publish to make money, including:
. Banner ads : Display (image) ads that appear on a web site and link directly to the advertiser’s landing page are called banner ads.
. Button ads : Button ads are the most popular form of display advertising on blogs because they fit well in a blog’s sidebar and don’t talk up a lot of real
estate space. Button ads are 125 pixels wide by 125 pixels high and are commonly placed in groups of two, four, six or eight.
. Skyscraper ads : Ads that are tall and narrow are called skyscraper ads. The most common sizes are 120 pixels wide by 600 pixels high or 160 pixels wide
by 600 pixels high. Skyscraper ads fit well in a blog’s sidebar.
. Leaderboard ads : Ads that are short and wide are called leaderboard ads. The most common size is 728 pixels wide by 90 pixels high. Leaderboard ads fit
well above or below a blog’s header.
. Transitional ads : Ads that appear as a web page before, in between, or after a visitor arrives at the web page he is trying to get to. Transitional ads are
often referred to as interstitial, introstitial, orexterstitial, depending on where they appear within a web site.
. Floating ads : Floating ads appear to float or move across a web page in front of the actual page content.
. Pop-up, pop-over, pop-under ads : Ads that appear in a window in front of or behind the window a visitor is viewing are called pop-up, pop-over, or pop-under ads.
. Peel-back ads : Peel-back ads appear behind a web page and look like a corner of the page is lifted up to expose the ad beneath it. Like the corner of a page
of a book is being peeled back to expose the page behind it). When the visitor clicks the corner, the web page appears to peel back, and the ad beneath it
is fully displayed.
. Expandable ads : Expandable ads are typically image ads that enlarge when a visitor’s mouse pointer hovers over them or when the visitor clicks them.
For each advertising opportunity you pursue, check the payment method, payout threshold, support provided, whether or not you’re allowed to publish other ads on your site, placement requirements, and so on. Also, make sure you can cancel at anytime.
TIPS FOR ADVERTISING SUCCESS
Check out the following tips to boost your advertising success:
. Stay focused : Both your blog content and ads should be highly focused and appeal to your blog’s audience in order to drive any interest to them from advertisers.
. Test : Placement, type, size, and so on are all critical components to the success of the advertising you place on your blog. Take the time to test different
ways of displaying the ads on your blog as well as the types of ads you publish in order to find the best mix for your blog.
. Diversify : Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Instead, publish a variety of ad models and types to not only make your blog visually appealing and allow each
ad to stand out, but also to continually test performance of different opportunities.
. Monitor your blog ads : No matter what advertisements you decide to publish on your always make certain that the ads that actually appear on your blog
match what you expected from the advertiser and are appropriate for your blog. It’s not uncommon for irrelevant or offensive ads to sneak onto your
blog through large advertising networks. Monitor your blog ads to ensure they don’t negatively affect the experience visitors have on your blog.
. Focus on growth : Always write great content, work on boosting incoming links, build your community, and grow your audience. Without those things, you’ll
have a hard time finding advertisers who are interested in placing ads (at least ones that pay well) on your blog.
. Track results : Pay close attention to the performance of the ads on your blog so you can make changes as necessary. If an ad isn’t driving revenue, replace
it. That’s valuable advertising space on your blog. Don’t give it away for free, and don’t let it go to waste. Some advertising programs, such as affiliate networks
or sponsored review networks, provide tracking reports to ad publishers, so it’s easy to analyze how ads are performing on your blog. If tracking is vitally
important to you, make sure the program you choose has such a feature.
It’s also important to understand that different advertising opportunities have different technical requirements in terms of how you integrate the ads into your blog, how long the ads take to load on your blog, and so on. Some of these requirements could negatively affect your blog.
Example, if an ad causes your blog to load extremely slowly, then that ad is negatively affecting the user experience on your blog. The last thing you want is for someone to click away from your blog because an ad is causing it to load in a browser too slowly. Be sure to read and understand the technical requirements of placing ads on your blog supplied by the advertiser to ensure you can handle them and are comfortable with them.
PUBLISHING CONTEXTUAL ADS
Contextual ads are one of the most popular types of online advertising, and many bloggers publish them on their blogs in an effort to derive an income. These ads come in a variety of formats and offer several payment models for bloggers to choose from, making them flexible and easy to implement on your blog.
UNDERSTANDING CONTEXTUAL ADS
Contextual ads are text, image, or video ads that are displayed to your blog visitors based on the content on the page where the ads appear. Because these ads are contextually relevant to your blog’s content, visitors are expected to be more likely to be interested in them and click them compared to that they would be completely irrelevant ads.
Contextual ads typically use the pay-per-click payment model, but pay-per-impression and pay-per-action contextual ads exist as well.
EXPOSING THE NEGATIVES TO PUBLISHING CONTEXTUAL ADS
Another negative to contextual advertising is the earning potential. You need three things to earn money from contextual advertising:
. An audience : Without traffic to your blog, you won’t make any money because there are not enough people to click the ads on your blog.
. A good contextual advertising program : As mentioned earlier, if the contextual ads that appear on your blog are irrelevant, then your earning potential goes down.
. Focused content – a lot of it : The more targeted content you write for the keywords you choose to focus on, the more opportunities there are for
relevant ads to display on your blog to an interested audience.
FINDING POPULAR CONTEXTUAL AD PROGRAMS
Google AdSense (www.adasense.google.com)
Is the most popular contextual advertising program. It’s easy to add Google AdSense ads to your blog, and ads come in a variety of formats. Payments are reliable, and it’s rare to see an ad space left open on your blog for long.
With such a big program and the mammoth Google algorithm behind it, Google AdSense is certainly the simplest program to implement. That’s why most bloggers experiment with it before they try another ad program. Unfortunately, that also means your earning potential from Google AdSense might be more limited because there are so many blogs and web sites competing for available ads, and the relevancy of ads served can sometimes be questionable.
Additionally, it’s not uncommon for spam ads to be served through Google AdSense. It’s up to you to monitor the ads served on your blog to ensure they’re appropriate and modify your account settings or notify Google when problems arise.
Google AdSense offers a variety of ad sizes for you to choose from and display on your blog, making it extremely versatile. There are text ads, image ads, video ads, and even ads that can be served within your blog’s RSS feed.
After you sign up for a Google account and configure your AdSense settings, you can select an ad unit, copy the provided HTML code, and paste it on your blog where you want ads to appear (often in the sidebar, header, or between posts), within a couple of days, ads start appearing on your blog. You can log into your Google AdSense account at any time to track your earnings and modify your ad settings. It’s entirely up to you to manage your Google AdSense account. You earn money when visitors to your blog click a Google AdSense ad displayed on your blog.
Kontera (www.kontera.com)
Kontera is a contextual advertising program that allows you to publish text link ads related to your blog’s content and earn money each time a visitor to your blog clicks one of those ads.
When a visitor hovers his mouse over the text link on your blog, a small pop-up opens displaying an overview of the ad. When the visitor clicks the text link, he’s taken to the advertiser’s web page.
Kontera is extremely easy to implement, and it’s free to sign up for an account, create an ad unit, and start earning money from your blog each time a visitor clicks one of the Kontera ads displayed on your blog.
Some people associate in-text link ads with a drop in Google page rank, which could negatively affect your blog’s traffic over time.
That’s because Google considers text link ads to be spam. Therefore, proceed with caution. Many bloggers successfully use Kontera to monetize their blogs, but there’s a risk associated with it.
Clicksor (www.clicksor.com)
Clicksor is a smaller contextual advertising program that’s free for you to use on your blog. Just sign up for an account, create your ad unit from the many choices available, and you can start earning money each time a visitor clicks one of the Clicksor ads served on your blog.
Clicksor offers ad units in a variety of formats including inline text ads and image ads.
Clicksor delivers added value by allowing you to set up some targeting parameters for ads served on your site rather than relying on context alone. Example, you can include geographic parameters for the ads served on your blog. Clicksor uses those parameters in conjunction with its relevancy algorithm to display the best ads possible, which can help maximize click throughs and boost your earnings.
Vibrant (www.vibrantmedia.com)
Vibrant Media offers a variety of contextual advertising options to make money from their blogs. Unfortunately, the Vibrant Media program has high requirements in terms of the number of page views your blog needs to generate each month in order to sign up for the program, but it’s definitely worth putting the program on your radar screen as your blog grows.
Vibrant offers text-based ads that open when a visitor to your blog hovers his mouse over the hyperlinked text, revealing a small pop-up ad. When he clicks the ad, he’s taken to the advertiser’s site.
Pulse 360 (www.pulse360.com)
Pulse 360 offers pay-per-click contextual ad formats. Pulse 360 differentiates itself by selling the sites where ads are placed rather than just selling keywords. That means the ads that appear on your blog through Pulse 360 should be highly relevant and from well-established advertisers who are looking to communicate with very specific types of audiences. Pulse 360 boasts a network of well-known publishers, and to join the program, you have to call the company directly. It might not be easy to get accepted, but if you can, pulse 360 ads can perform very well.
Chitika (http://chitika.com)
Chitika premium ads are served based on the keywords entered in popular search engines such as Google. When a person enters a keyword phrase into their preferred search engine and clicks your blog link from the list of search results, Chitika automatically displays an ad based on that keyword phrase on your blog. Ads are only shown to search traffic visitors, not to visitors who come to your blog directly or through a link from another site. Chitika premium ads include pictures and descriptions and come in a wide variety of sizes.
Chitika premium ads follow the pay-per-click payment model, so you make money, when a person clicks the ads on your blog. The ads tend to work best on sites that receive a significant amount of search traffic each month and use highly targeted keywords.
UNDERSTANDING TEXT LINK ADS
Text link ads may or may not be contextually based, and they can appear inline (within the body copy of your posts) or as standalone links. Payment models also differ with the most common being the pay-per-click method.
When you join a text link advertising program, you submit specific pages of your blog into the network’s inventory. Advertisers look for inventory pages that are likely to attract visitors who will be interested in their products. When they find pages they want to advertise on, they purchase text link ad space on those pages and an ad from that advertiser appears in that space. You earn money each time someone clicks the text link ad published on your blog.
KNOWING THE POSITIVES OF TEXT LINK ADS
Text link ads have some great things going for them. They’re fairly unobtrusive to the user experience on your blog, and they take up little space (or no additional space in the case of inline text ads). For bloggers who want to make as much money as possible from the limited space on their blogs, text link ads are very attractive.
At the same time, text link ads tend to convert better in terms of generating click-throughs than other types of ads, particularly inline text ads, because readers assume the text link will take them to more useful information.
One of the biggest positives of text link ads is the simplicity of integrating them into your blog. Most text link ad programs make it extremely easy to sell space on your blog to eager advertisers.
UNCOVERING THE NEGATIVES OF TEXT LINK ADS
Although some text link ad networks claim to have procedures in place to protect advertisers and publishers, unless the link uses the NoFollow HTML tag, which means Google will not include the link in its ranking process, there’s no way to be sure publishing text link ads on your blog is safe.
A NoFollow HTML tag can be added to any link to make that link invisible to Google when it counts incoming links to a site for ranking purposes.
FINDING POPULAR TEXT LINK AD PROGRAMS
Several of the most popular text link advertising programs:
TextLinkBrokers (www.textlinkbrokers.com)
TextLinkBrokers has been around for several years and is very well known. The company claims to have safeguards in place to protect your Google page rank if you publish text link ads on your blog, but be sure to check the current information on the company’s web site before you join. These programs tend to change frequently, and it’s up to you to stay up-to-date.
To join TextLinkBrokers, simply sign up for an account and provide the requested information about your blog. If you’re blog is accepted into the program, a rate is assigned to links sold on your blog, and your blog is added to the current inventory list on the TextLinkBrokers web site. Advertisers search the inventory and purchase ad space on sites that meet their requirements. When space is purchased on your blog, the advertiser’s ad is displayed on your blog.
TextLinkBrokers offers monthly rented links, contextual links, hosted pages of links, and more to bloggers. You can pick and choose the opportunities you want to participate in, and you can approve or deny all text link ad requests that you receive.
TextLinkAds (www.text-link-ads.com)
Text link ads is a popular text link advertising broker that allows you to publish text link ads on your blog.
You can sign up to participate in the Text Link Ads network for free. If your blog is accepted into the program, a price is set by Text Link Ads for space sold on your blog, and advertisers can purchase that space from the Text Link Ads inventory. You have the opportunity to approve or deny any ad before it’s published on your blog.
LinkWorth (www.linkworth.com)
LinkWorth offers a wide variety of text ad formats including standalone, inline, and contextual text ads. LinkWorth publishers (called partners) can configure their accounts to use the NoFollow HTML tag with all text link ads, thereby avoiding any problems with a drop in Google page rank.
LinkAdage (www.linkadage.com)
LinkAdage is a smaller text link advertising program that is free to join. You set the price you want to charge for ads placed on your blog, and when an advertiser purchases that space, the ad is served on your blog using the special code provided by LinkAdage. You can also customize the design of the text link ads displayed on your site and filter the types of ads displayed on your blog by category.
LinkAdage enables you to sell text links on your blog in several different ways with the broker method.
Text link ads might seem like easy money, but they can do more harm than good. Do your research first.
UNDERSTANDING IMPRESSION-BASED ADS
Impression-based ads are popular with bloggers because no action is necessary for you to make money. In other words, each time the ad is displayed on your blog (meaning each time someone loads a page on your blog where the ad appears), you earn money regardless of whether visitors click the ad or notice it at all.
In simplest terms, you’re paid based on the number of times an ad is shown on your blog.
UNDERSTANDING AFFILIATE ADVERTISING
Affiliate Advertisers pay bloggers to promote their products and services on their blogs. In return, the advertiser pays the blogger whenever a visitor to that blog performs some type of action such as clicking the affiliate link and making a purchase.
Both large and small companies use affiliate advertising to promote their products and services. Some manage their affiliate advertising programs internally, and others go through a third-party affiliate directory, which handles all the technology and behind-the-scenes maintenance of each advertiser’s program.
Affiliate advertising comes in many forms. You can publish text, image, or video ads that link to the advertiser’s web site, or you can link to that site directly within the content of a blog post. Anytime you link to the advertiser’s site, you just include your unique affiliate identification link, so the person’s actions can be tracked. That’s how you get paid. Without your special affiliate link, there’s no way for you to get paid.
MAKING AFFILIATE ADVERTISING WORK ON YOUR BLOG
Following are a number of tips to help you make your affiliate advertising efforts a success:
. Program trustworthiness : Make sure you choose an affiliate advertiser or affiliate advertising manager that is reputable, meaning it tracks results accurately,
pays decent commissions, and pays on time.
. Advertiser reputation : Only choose affiliate advertisers whose products and brands match your audience’s expectations for your blog. If you wouldn’t
be comfortable buying from the company you’re advertising, then don’t publish those ads on your blog.
. Commissions : The types of commission structures offered by affiliate advertisers runs the gamut. Make sure you stand to make an adequate amount of
money on any affiliate program you join. A good guideline is to look for commission rates above 20%.
. Product and service pricing : If the products or services you’re selling on your blog through affiliate advertising are priced very low, then you need to generate
a lot of clicks and actions in order to make more than pennies on your effort. Consider how well an affiliate ad can monetize a space on your blog given the
product and service pricing and commission rate to ensure it’s worth your while.
. Tracking mechanism and accuracy : The best affiliate advertising programs offer tracking tools so you can analyze your blog’s performance and modify
your participation as necessary to maximize your earning potential. Furthermore, the affiliate advertising program you choose should be capable of accurately
tracking the performance of your affiliate ads and links, so you’re certain you’re paid correctly.
. Support and help : Make sure the affiliate program you join offers help when you need it. Online support, email support, or telephone support is adequate
– as long as you have some way to contact a human being to work through any problems you encounter related to ads displaying correctly, payments, and so on.
After you choose your affiliate program, there are additional steps you can take to boost the earnings potential of your affiliate ads and links. Following are some tips to help you:
. Placement : Where you place your affiliate ads and links on your blog can have a significant impact on conversions. Example, an affiliate link place within
your blog’s footer is unlikely to generate as many clicks and actions as an affiliate link at the top of your blog’s sidebar could. Place your affiliate ads and
links where your blog readers are likely to see them, such as within your blog posts, between posts, in your blog’s sidebar, in your blog’s header, in your
blogs navigation bar and so on.
. Promotion : You can drive traffic to your affiliate links and ads with promotion. Example:include them on your Twitter and Facebook profiles and updates,
include them at the bottom of your email signature, and anywhere else you can think of.
. Timeliness : Don’t select an affiliate ad and then abandon it. Update your affiliate links and ads so they always lead to products and services that your
audience is likely to be interested in at that moment in time. Stale ads don’t drive as much attention and traffic as timely, updated ads do. Rotate your
ads for maximum awareness and interest.
. Tracking : Don’t just rely on the advertiser to provide you with tracking reports. Instead, set up your own tracking mechanisms to enhance the
advertiser’s reports by using your web analytics tool.
FINDING POPULAR AFFILIATE ADVERTISING PROGRAMS
Read all the terms and conditions related to any affiliate program you’re considering joining before you commit. Example, the last thing you want is to join a program only to find out later that the program is exclusive, meaning you aren’t allowed to display any other form of affiliate advertising on your blog. Also, make sure you can drop out of the program at any time if it’s not meeting your needs.
DIRECT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
Direct affiliate programs are created and managed directly by the advertiser. You sign up to participate in the affiliate program on the advertiser’s web site, you access reports and tracking through the advertiser, and the advertiser pays you directly. Following are a few popular direct affiliate programs for bloggers.
Amazon Associates (http://affiliate-program.amazon.com)
The affiliate program from Amazon.com is called Amazon Associates. Nearly any online publisher can join Amazon Associates for free and immediately begin publishing affiliate links and ads to any product listed on the Amazon web site, including books, music, clothing, electronics, and more. Because Amazon sells such a wide variety of products, it’s easy for bloggers to find some products that would be useful to their readers.
The Amazon Associates program offers flexibility in terms of both the earnings model and payments. Additionally, Amazon offers a wide variety of ad formats to choose from. You can choose from image ads, interactive ads, video ads, link ads, and more. You can also publish multiple Amazon affiliate ads on your blog.
To become an Amazon Associate, simply visit the Amazon Associates web site and click the Join Now button. Provide the information requested in the application form, and you’re given access to Associates Central, where you can configure your ads and start making money.
It’s very easy to add Amazon Associates affiliate links and ads to your blog. The Associates Central site walks you through the process to configure any ad for your blog. After you configure your ad, you’re given a bit of HTML code, which you can copy and paste on your blog where you want the ad to appear.
As an Amazon Associates affiliate, you can either self-select the products you want to link to form your blog or use one of the automated features to link to current popular products, wish lists, and more. You can even set up your own Amazon store front, fill it with products your audience is likely to be interested in, and link to it from your blog. If you prefer, you can embed your Amazon store into your blog, so it looks like it’s actually part of your blog.
The options for making money with Amazon Associates on your blog are numerous, and because so many people know the Amazon brand and trust shopping with Amazon, your earnings potential goes up.
eBay Partner Network (http://www.ebaypartnernetwork.com/files/hub/en-us/index.html)
With the eBay Partner Network, you can earn money by linking to products for sale or up for auction on eBay.com. The eBay affiliate program uses what it calls a Quality Click Pricing (QPC) model, which fuses the pay-per-action payment model with the pay-per-click (PPC) model. In other words, as an eBay affiliate, you make money on an earn-per-click basis depending on the quality of the traffic (in terms of short-term sales and long-term value) that your blog sends to eBay via your link.
Although you can drive traffic to eBay through your affiliate ads and links and motivate people to make purchases boosting your short-term quality rating, it’s difficult to control future purchases and activities (that is, your long-term quality rating). You need to test this program extensively to determine whether it’s appropriate for your blog, your audience, and your goals.
You can include eBay ads on your blog through image ads, banners, text links, or within your blog’s feed.
AllPoster.com (http://affiliates.allposters.com/affiliates.net)
If you write a blog that can be directly related to art, posters, and so on, then AllPosters.com offers an affiliate program that might work well for you and your audience. Example: entertainment bloggers can link to posters of popular celebrities or movies. Similarly, art bloggers could link to artist prints. There are many opportunities to monetize a blog if the blog’s audience is interested in products available through AllPosters.com.
The standard commission rate for AllPosters.com affiliates is 20%, making it a competitive program. As an AllPosters.com affiliate, you can display image, banner, flash, and other types of ads on your blog. You can even create an AllPosters.com store, complete with search functionality.
THIRD-PARTY-MANAGED AFFILIATE PROGRAMS
Third-party-managed affiliate programs are run by companies that handle all of the technical and payment aspects of an advertiser’s affiliate program. Bloggers can join a number of advertiser’s affiliate programs through the third-party manager’s web site. Reports, payments, and so on are accessed through the third-party manager rather than through the advertiser directly.
LinkShare (www.linkshare.com)
LinkShare is a popular third-party affiliate program that allows you to create affiliate links for a wide variety of LinkShare partner advertisers. In fact, many of the companies that advertise through the LinkShare affiliate program are well-known.
Many of your blog’s readers are likely to feel more comfortable clicking links and buying from companies and brands they recognize and trust, which could boost your earnings as a LinkShare affiliate versus other programs.
Unlike other affiliate directory programs that require publishers to have highly trafficked blogs in order to become an affiliate, LinkShare is open to small blogs, too. The site provides an extensive help section, and it’s easy to register and start displaying a variety of affiliate ads on your blog.
Not all advertisers in the LinkShare affiliate program pay the same. Be sure to check the requirements and payment method for each advertiser to ensure the terms match your goals.
Commission Junction (www.cj.com)
Commission Junction is a popular third-party affiliate advertising program, particularly for established and well-trafficked blogs. To become a Commission Junction affiliate, your application goes through a multi step approval process. After your blog is approved, you can apply to join specific Commission Junction Advertiser partners’ affiliate programs. Different advertisers use different payment models within the Commission Junction affiliate program.
Commission Junction advertisers are typically well-known companies and brands, which your blog’s readers are likely to feel comfortable clicking on and buying from. Of course, that trust helps boost your conversions and earnings.
E-Junkie (www.e-junkie.com)
E-Junkie is a popular third-party affiliate program manager for entrepreneurs as well as small and mid-size businesses. Any advertiser can join and implement a robust affiliate program quickly and easily through e-junkie. You can join an affiliate program listed through E-Junkie and make money based on the individual advertiser’s terms. All payment, tracking, and so on are done through the E-Junkie web site.
ShareAsale (www.shareasale.com)
ShareAsale is a smaller third- party affiliate manager that is popular among entrepreneurs and small business owners. You can join ShareASale and search for and apply to join affiliate programs that you think would work well on your blog. ShareASale provides all the technical information you need as well as payments and reporting.
AFFILIATE DIRECTORIES
Affiliate directories are web sites that list a wide variety of direct affiliate programs. These directories list submissions from companies and individuals and may include reviews and other useful information added by site users. Rather than joining the program through the affiliate directory web site, links are provided to visit each advertiser’s site and join each program directly. Tracking, payment, and so on is handled by the advertiser or a third-party manager depending on the specific advertiser’s program. Following are overviews of some comprehensive affiliate directories.
Associate Programs (www.associateprograms.com)
Associate Programs offers a directory that includes a variety of affiliate programs for bloggers to join. Both large and small companies affiliate opportunities are listed through Associate Programs, including some well-known brands such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
When you visit the Associate Programs web site, you can search the site to find affiliate programs by category. When you find a program that suits your needs and matches your reader’s interests, you can follow the provided link to apply to join that program. Example: If you write a blog about wine, you can search Associate Programs to find affiliate programs related to wine.
Affiliates Directory.com (http://affiliatesdirectory.com)
AffiliatesDirectory.com offers a useful directory of affiliate programs complete with reviews, ratings, and more. Links are provided to each program where you can get more information directly from the advertiser and apply to join a specific program directly through the advertiser or third-party manager’s web site.
Both large and small companies list their affiliate programs on AffiliatesDirectory.com, including well-known brands such as Travelocity and Blockbuster.
UNDERSTANDING WHY BLOGGERS LIKE SPONSORED REVIEWS AND PAID POSTS
Bloggers like sponsored reviews because they are usually easy money. In just a few steps, you can earn anywhere from several dollars to hundreds of dollars depending on the amount of traffic your blog gets and the specific opportunity.
EXPOSING POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS OF SPONSORED REVIEWS AND PAID POSTS
Sponsored reviews and paid posts are easy money for bloggers and cheap advertising for companies, but there are serious negatives to publishing them on your blog. Be sure you understand the requirements of any sponsored review a paid post opportunity before you commit to publishing the associated post. Some drawbacks of sponsored reviews and paid posts are:
. Loss of search traffic : Publishing sponsored reviews and paid posts can hurt your blog’s search rankings, which leads to lower search
traffic (or no search traffic at all).
. Legal trouble : There are legal requirements mandated by the Federal Trade Commission related to publishing sponsored reviews and paid posts that most
bloggers are not aware of.
. Audience confusion or rejection : Sponsored reviews and paid posts can hurt the user experience on your blog if readers see them as little more than
clutter that adds no value to the blog at all.
PUBLISHING SPONSORED REVIEWS AND PAID POSTS SAFELY
The following sections provide the most important steps to take in order to publish sponsored reviews and paid posts safely to protect yourself and your blog.
PROVIDE FULL DISCLOSURE
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enacted regulations in December 2009 that require bloggers to disclose any “material connection” between themselves and an advertiser that provides money, free products, free services or other compensation in exchange for writing and publishing a post for the advertiser. The FTC regulations also require bloggers to provide accurate reviews about how the product or service would work for an average user. Noncompliance with the regulations can lead to fines and penalties.
Be sure to check the FTC web site, at www.ftc.gov, for the most recent regulations and updated “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”, from the code of Federal Regulations (16 CFR Part 255).
STAY RELEVANT AND USEFUL
Only publish sponsored reviews and paid posts that are relevant to your blog’s topic and that your audience is likely to find interesting, meaningful, and useful. In other words, make sure your paid posts and sponsored reviews enhance your blog’s content rather than detracting from it.
FINDING POPULAR SPONSORED REVIEW AND PAID POST PROGRAMS
Following are a number of popular sponsored review and paid post programs that you can join for free so that you can start earning money from your blog by doing what you already do – writing posts.
Social Spark (http://socialspark.com)
SocialSpark is owned by Izea and offers a legitimate and fairly safe way for bloggers to make money through sponsored reviews and paid posts. That’s because all links published in Social Spark paid posts must include the NoFollow HTML tag. This protects the advertiser and publisher from potential Google penalties. Furthermore, Social Spark mandates that all sponsored reviews and paid posts published through the program must be honest and provide full disclosure as part of the program’s Code of Ethics. Therefore, posts that you publish through the Social Spark program comply with FTC regulations.
Both large and small companies publish opportunities on Social Spark, which are listed on the Social Spark web site, so you can search through and apply for ones that you’re interested in.
PayPerPost (http://payperpost.com)
PayPerPost version 4.0 automatically matches bloggers to opportunities submitted by advertisers. In simplest terms, you can join PayPerPost and provide details about your blog, the minimum payment amounts you’re willing to accept, and so on. Advertisers submit opportunities, and PayPerPost returns a list of potential bloggers to the advertisers that are deemed to be appropriate matches for the opportunity. The advertiser then selects the blogger he wants to work with. The blogger is notified about the opportunity and can accept or decline the offer. After an offer is accepted, the blogger must follow the opportunity instructions in order to get paid.
PayPerPost expects full disclosure from publishers as part of version 4.0. This is different from the disclosure requirements mandated in earlier versions of the PayPerPost program.
Sponsored Reviews (www.sponsoredreviews.com)
It provides two ways for bloggers to find opportunities. First, you can search for and apply for opportunities, and second, advertisers can search for bloggers and bring opportunities to you. You can negotiate directly with advertisers on rates and terms. Sponsored reviews simply requires that you publish accurate reviews.
ReviewMe (www.reviewme.com)
Is an easy sponsored – review and paid – posting program to join. Simply provide your blog information, and your blog is added to the directory for advertisers to search. If an advertiser finds your blog and thinks it’s a good match for an opportunity to accept or reject the offer.
PayU2Blog (www.payu2blog.com)
It’s a smaller sponsored review and paid posting program that matches advertisers with participating bloggers. If your blog is accepted into the PayU2Blog program, you will begin receiving opportunities that are matched to your blog, which you can approve or deny. PayU2Blog expects bloggers to publish accurate information and reviews.