1. Standard Banner Ads

Banner ads are my favorite way to make money via blogs and can provide a large steady stream of income for you. Once you start getting 1-2k + visitors a day you find it easier to attract sponsors. As your blog grows in traffic you can start increasing your advertising rates. I recommend not locking up sponsors for more then 3 months when you start, because of you grow fast you won’t be able to raise prices on sponsors who are already locked in.

It is important to use standard size banners on your site or you will make advertising on your site a hassle for sponsors, which can be enough to see sponsors pass by. You also need to make it clear you are accepting sponsors, what your traffic is and what your rates are per month.

When it comes to actually getting sponsors, many blog owners just sit around for months hoping sponsors find their site to advertise on. Many will, but you can make a lot more money if you are aggressive about filling your banner spots and contacting potential sponsors directly!

2. Text Links

Selling text links that are “follow links”, meaning they help sites rank better in the search engines is against Google terms of service, but many blog owners still resort to this as a way to make money online. I personally do not like to sell text links, but many blog owners do so quietly. You could add “nofollow” tags to the links, which tells search engines not to count the link, but you need to make this clear to sponsors, because many are seeking the potential ranking benefit and do not just want traffic. If you are going to make your links “nofollow” you should place the links in a high visibility zone so that sponsors actually get a decent amount of traffic.

3. Product Reviews

Product reviews have been gaining in popularity, due to the fact that its an easy way to tap into a large reader base of a blog. Not only can sponsors get “follow” links to their site which relates to #2 in our list, but the post will be seen by a majority of the active blog readers, which makes it superb for brand awareness.

I would recommend being careful what products you review and make sure the terms are clear of what the sponsor will be getting. You need to keep the review relevant and useful otherwise you could alienate readers. Making money is great, but making compromises to the quality of your site could hurt you badly in the long run.

4. Create a Job Board

Job boards have been catching on in many niches recently, because it not only creates more return visitors, but it can be an incredible way to monetize a blog. Job boards work best on larger blogs, but even small blogs could find some businesses posting for new recruits. If you do set up a job board and its active and receiving targeted traffic you should consider contacting websites that have posted on other boards to get things going.

You should prominently showcase your job board with a link in your blog’s main navigation section and also mention and link to it whenever you can. It might even be worth creating a marketing campaign just to promote your new job board. JobberBase is a great free open source job board software solution.

5. Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are one of the most popular ways people make money blogging. Some bloggers go all out and link to any products they can using affiliate links, and some promote a select few products heavily. The choice is your, but keep it relevant to your blog, promote honestly and don’t over promote products on your site or it could damage the quality of your site. Common places to find affiliate programs areAffiliate Scout, Commission Junction or just doing a simple Google search for a product or service names and “affiliate program” at the end of the search phrase. Such as “stock photo affiliate program”.

6. Promote Your Own Product or Service

Creating your own product such as an eBook can take a lot of time, energy and money, but there is nothing better than promoting something you have full control of. I especially like eBooks, because you can write them yourself, delivery is automatic and high-quality eBooks can sell for a lot of money. They are also easy to promote on a blog, especially if you are a leader in your niche and have a large following of rss and email subscribers!

Similar to selling a product you can promote your services on your blog as well. If you run a design blog you could offer design services and use the blog to drive traffic to your portfolio site. Blogging is a great way to gain exposure, but be sure you let readers know your services are available by linking to your main website in a prominent location such as your navigation bar or about page.

7. Google AdSense

Just because AdSense is last on the list, does not mean its the worst by any means. AdSense is a powerhouse in the blogging community and is a top contender when it comes to making money with blogs. You get paid every time some one clicks your ad so if they are placed in great locations and blended well you could make some steady money. Working with ads takes some practice, but if you can get the hang of it, you could be on the road to AdSense riches soon!

Hope you enjoyed this post on ways to make money blogging!

Related Posts

• All The Traffic You Can Handle As A Newbie
• 250 Ways to Generate Website Traffic
• 5 Steps to Ranking #1 on Twitter for a Keyword
• Another 10%+ Traffic To Your Sight For No Cost
• The Next Google – Are You Ready?
• Writing 1 Article & submitting to 1000’s of Article Directories DOES NOT Work!