Reader Question: How Can I Better Monetize my Established Blog?

Posted by Jonathan

March 26, 2009

This is the first post in an ongoing series of reader questions. I’m more than happy to answer reader questions (well, attempt to as least). So feel free to contact me and I’ll be happy to try and help!

This week’s question comes from Clive who runs an established blog called Fan Cinema Today.

Clive’s Question:

I’ve run a niche blog, fancinematoday.com, for two years now, posting daily for the last year, but I only got serious about taking it to the next step about 2 months ago, when I took it to a self-hosted format. I’ve been working it pretty hard and have gotten to about 10,000 visitors a month according to WordPress’ own stats plugin (but far more, more according to CyStats, a WordPress analytics solution not mentioned in your write-up today). I *think* I’m making progress, but for all I know, this is miniscule even for a niche blog.

My question, then, is how much traffic do I need before I can go after advertising? Google AdSense isn’t working for me at all–in two months, I’ve earned a whopping $1.06–so I need to find something else. What are some other advertising outfits besides Google? How did you get the banner ads on your site?

Insight on any of these would be a huge help.
Thanks,
Clive

Clive asked some great questions and below is my response:

Hi Clive:

Thanks for writing! That’s a fantastic question! You’ve got fantastic traffic numbers so there is no reason why your blog couldn’t earn more. Here’s what I’d suggest after taking a look at your site.

1. Better Google Ads Placement

Your Google ads aren’t earning because they are in a bad spot. Your ad blocks need to be where people’s eyeballs are, and that not at the bottom of the right sidebar. First, I would recommend putting a 468×60 half-banner at the bottom of every post. Next I would put a 120×600 skyscraper ad unit in the left sidebar, at the top above everything else. And then, on your longer posts I would put a 468×60 half-banner in the middle of longer posts (keep the code handy in a text file or something or use Easy Adsenser). That will help improve your ad conversions.

2. Affiliate Marketing

There’s a lot of money in affiliate marketing. Join a network like Commission Junction (http://www.cj.com) where you’ll get paid a commission when someone clicks an ad and makes a purchase. With your traffic numbers, there’s no reason why this couldn’t pay. Joining is easy and all you need to do is find advertisers related to your niche. Linkshare.com is also a good affiliate program.

3. Direct Sales

This is a harder approach, but contact potential advertisers directly and pitch your site and readers. 10,000 Visitors a month may not impress them, but what are your actual pageviews? If they are far larger, those are the number advertisers are interested in. Look who is showing up in the Adsense ads and approach them directly.

4. Empty Ad Slots

Put up some 125×125 ads slots that say ‘advertise here’ and have them link to a contact form. You’d be surprised who will contact you. Also, it’s a great idea to set up an Advertising page where you summarize the size, it’s audience, traffic and back it up with hard stats. Potential advertiser’s will love that.

5. Bartering

The banner ad on my site, Anglotopia.net was acquired from a bartering arrangement with the advertiser. It’s worked out well. I got something I couldn’t justify paying for and he got great exposure.

Right now, you’re best bet is to maximize Google Adsense. Once your traffic grows even more, you’ll earn more.

What do you guys think? How can Clive better monetize his established blog?

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Comments

Comment by beamer on March 28, 2009 @ 8:02 pm

Thanks for the good advice, Jonathan. I’m going to go check my adsense placements! And I never thought about putting one in the middle of a longish post. Good idea!