I would venture to say that one of the leading reasons people start blogging, is the perceived potential to make money. In my first year of blogging, I have learned more about monetizing a Web site than I can possibly fit into a single post, so I will just hit the highlights for you!

Before I entered the world of blogging, none of the websites I designed for clients or myself had been monetized in any way (and none of them were blogs). I was aware of direct advertising as a means of getting a return on your investment, but I really hadn’t clued in to much else. One of my clients had started including affiliate links in her web updates and then she wanted some Adsense blocks added. I had never done any of this before so I had her tell me what she knew and I set about doing my own research to get more information.

The big names in the internet marketing world lead you to believe that all you have to do to start making money from your web site is to slap a few Adsense ads up there, buy their book or e-book, sign up for their affiliate program and “poof” - you will be an Internet Marketing Millionaire overnight. Guess what? That’s not quite how it works.

In my experience, monetizing your web site takes:

• Research
• Trial and error
• Traffic
• and Patience

Every web site is different and there are many different ways you can monetize a site. Certain methods work better than others based on your content, your audience, your traffic level, and your end goals.

Adsense and other contextual ad programs

Where it works: Niche sites tailored to a specific audience. Health, celebrity, consumer product, and extremely specialized niches work best. The less “tech-savvy” the audience, the better the click through rate is going to be (in my experience). Also, the higher your traffic rate, obviously the better you are going to do.

How to maximize your earnings: Use a mix of link ad and ad blocks and blend them into your design as much as possible. Try out a variety of placements using channels. If using on a general topic blog, place on single pages only for more relevant ads.

Affiliate Programs

Where it works: There are affiliate programs for just about everything from specific products to e-courses and absolutely everything in between. Affiliate links work best when presented as recommendations or reviews. Landing pages or pre-sale techniques really help. Affiliate links, if done right, work well even with a the traditional non-clicking audience.

How to maximize your earnings: Do your research. Find affiliate programs for products your audience already uses or would use - especially with a good recommendation from you. Use a pre-sale technique such as a well written landing page for better conversion rates.

Direct Ad Sales

Where it works: Selling text link ads or banner ads have the highest pay potential once your site gets fairly mature and starts getting consistent traffic flows. Having a defined niche/audience helps dramatically. Also, strong content and good SEO techniques make your site more attractive to potential advertisers.

How to maximize your earnings: Have a page about advertising on your site, or at a minimum, have solid statistics on your traffic, click through rates, and your demographics on hand. Be willing to share this information with potential advertisers. You can use brokerage services as well, but keep in mind that they will take a cut of your earnings. However, this may be the easiest way to break into the direct ad arena.

Paid Blogging

Where it works: You can do paid posting through a brokerage service or you can get paid to write regularly for a network. Most of the time the brokerages that offer pay per post (or review) opportunities require your site meet some basic requirements, but beyond that, you can choose which paid opportunities you wish to write on. Writing for a network requires application for the position, but can be a great way to earn money from blogging - especially when you consider what your current blog makes.

How to maximize your earnings: Look for pay per post opportunities that you enjoy, offer some value to your readers, and ones that pay fairly well. When getting paid to blog for a network (or similar), look for a network with a solid reputation, fair pay and bonus opportunities for increasing site traffic.

The Final Word

There are plenty of people making a really good living using a combination of web monetization methods, however I doubt any of them got there overnight and without making plenty of mistakes along the way. And for the record, I didn’t make very much money my first month of monetizing my sites - or my second - or my third. Around the 4th month, things started picking up. After a year of monetizing my sites, I have gotten to the point where I can consider MYSELF as a client - allowing me to stop doing some of the client work I no longer enjoy. I know there is still ALOT more I have to learn about making money on the Internet, but we’ll revisit my progress in another 6 months.

I would LOVE to get your insights on web site monetization. What has worked for you? Am I painting a realistic or accurate picture or have I had a totally different experience than yours?

A lot of my time recently has been spent reviewing and advising clients on e-newsletters. While many businesses are not quite ready to embrace blogging as a marketing and communication tool, e-newsletters are becoming a common part of a company’s complete marketing and communication package.

Here are seven common mistakes businesses make when starting an e-newsletter:

1. Failure to get permission. I am really hoping that this one should go without saying these days, but you cannot add people to your mailing list without getting their permission first. Building a list may be a challenge at first, but using ethical methods will always produce better results. You can add people who you have established as contacts (via some previous communication) as long as you provide them with a clear means to opt-out of future mailings.

2. Using your regular email client. Raise your hand if you have ever sent or received an email where a large number of recipient email addresses were in the To or CC fields? I see a lot of hands!! Apart from the fact that it is bad manners to broadcast your contact list to the world, you have absolutely no reliable way of tracking your newsletter campaign’s effectiveness if you send it out via Outlook.

Email marketing services such as Constant Contact, 1ShoppingCart and Aweber, give you tools to track your campaign’s effectiveness. You can see how many people received it, opened it, when and what they clicked on, and you have the ability to manage opt-in, opt-out, and bounces. One client we converted to Constant Contact (from Outlook broadcast) in August of last year is still singing its praises four campaigns later. (Shoestring Smarts has a good article on the major email marketing service providers)

3. Lack of focus. Before you send out your first e-newsletter, you need to have a plan. What is the primary purpose behind the e-newsletter? Are you aiming to inform, sell, drive traffic to your site, or a combination of the three? Set up a rough editorial calendar so that each issue has a primary message and each article or excerpt works to reinforce your focus and/or brand.

4. Lengthy copy. With a printed newsletter it is much easier to define copy length - columns, text boxes, and pages help draw the boundaries for us, but electronic media boundaries are not as defined. A web page could keep going as long as we can keep scrolling.

• Craft your headlines carefully and break your copy up into quick reading blocks.
• Include just the “teaser” paragraph in the e-newsletter - bring the reader back to your web site for the complete article. (Bonus - you get more information about what your readers are interested in using this method)
• Use subheads and bullets to increase readability
• Don’t forget to add an image or two

5. Image blunders. When you send out an e-newsletter, the images need to reside somewhere on the web in order for your readers to actually be able to see them. E-newsletter newbies often make the mistake of linking to images off their desktops or copying and pasting them into the body of the newsletter. You must either load the images onto your web server or if you use an email marketing service you can upload the images to that server. The URL of the image must be the full URL, not just the image name.

Another common image blunder is using image files that are too large. An image on the web looks no better at 300 dpi than it does at 72 dpi. The only difference is in the file size. Optimize your images for size and your readers will thank you.

One more tip - be sure you give your readers a link to view the newsletter on the web or better yet, a text only version which can be helpful for those getting their email on a mobile device.

6. One hit wonders. In addition to having a focus, you need to have an idea as to how often you will be sending your e-newsletter out. You need to allow sufficient time between issues for you to gather/write quality information, but you need to be sure you don’t wait so long between issues that your readers forget about you. Don’t forget to let your readers know how often they should expect to hear from you.

7. No call to action. This has got to be the absolute, number one pitfall I have seen businesses stumble on. Don’t just leave your readers with a pretty email message - offer a coupon, deal or other compelling reason to visit your website, purchase your product, hire your company, or simply pick up the phone.

By avoiding these pitfalls, an e-newsletter can become an ideal customer relations and sales tool.

I’d love to get your feedback on this topic! What makes or breaks an e-newsletter in your opinion?

The more blogs I read, the more great information I find! And this week, there have been some posts that are just too good not to share with you!

How To Get More Text Link Sales by John Chow

16 Must Read Articles to Get the Most out of Your Blog by the Wrong Advices

8 Ways to Turn Negative Feedback into an Opportunity by Wendy at eMoms At Home

Best Ever Explanation of RSS - thanks to Dawud and David for sharing this excellent video

Need a Website or Redesign? Here is our process. by Prime Marketing Blog - while this is their process, it is similar to mine, and anyone who is considering a new site or redesign should really have a sense of what goes into the whole thing!

And another tool for helping you maximize your web site’s performance - Small Buisness Hub’s Website Grader - thanks to Deziner Folio for the tip!