5 Features Of A Winning Monetization Strategy

Small Fish Big Money readers come to the blog to learn about a variety of topics, one of the most popular topics is blog monetization. It is important for me to ensure you feel that you are in a learning environment and that I am teaching you something new all the time, I strive to make my blog posts as creative and content filled as possible to ensure you have a great time here. Blog monetization is a topic which has really been misunderstood, flipped upside down, mangled, torn and put back together; this of course is a simple metaphor for me to say that people don’t understand the concept of effective blog monetization. What are five tips which will strike a winning blog monetization strategy, below I outline 5 key points about blog monetization and the impact it has on readers and yourself.

1. Respect Your Readers And They Will Respect You, Less Ads - More Content

Ever since October 2007, I’ve experimented a lot with varying forms of advertising, sometimes I was cutting it close, I felt that my blog was over monetized. I then coined the term chronic over-monetization, I still continue to use this term to refer to blogs that actually suffer from it. (I’ve been to a few shockers!)

Blogs that suffer from chronic over monetization are blogs that I click out of and never go back to again. Earning respect from your readers is important, and you can’t do it if your site is a repository for all the brands known to man. Blog monetization does not work that way, nor will it ever work that way and nor will you ever be making more than $1000 a month if you continue to think that placing ads all over your blog will make you rich.w

2. Money Must Never Take First Priority When Blogging

In the blogosphere, we all learn valuable life lessons, I learnt very early on that blog monetization should be one very small part of your blog. A blog is a place to deliver high quality content, on a frequent basis. If you are wanting some income on the side, by all means, place a few ads here and there, but don’t blog for bucks.

Blogging for bucks makes people severely burnt out and subsequently depressed when they fail to see commissions emerge. Why would you want to be worrying about money when you have thousands, if not millions of people who you can communicate with and interact with online, and you might even get to see them one day. Blog for freedom of expression, not money.

3. Find Ads Or Offers That Will Interest Your Audience - Contextual

If you do make the decision that you want to make a few bucks on the side, I suggest that you find ads that relate directly to your blog topics and your niche. Do not, under any circumstances, get ads for flowers and chocolate on valentine’s day if you are a blog about psychology and medicine. It is illogical and senseless, yet many people practice this non contextual ad placement daily!

That is precisely why we never hear about them or any significant profits they make. If you have a blog about kids and teens, find ads that will invigorate them to click and find out more. These may be ads for clothing, jewelery, toys etc…You will get more revenue out of a carefully placed ad block than out of five ad blocks placed in awkward places that not only distract visitors, but also drive them away.

4. Strive For Minimal Ads That Are Contextual, Aim For Maximal Revenue

By placing a minimal amount of ads on your site, you will be advantaging yourself and your visitors. Firstly, visitors will be less likely to leave, because they can enjoy a blog post without experiencing an epileptic fit. Secondly, you can know that more readers are looking at your ads as a result of there being less of them around to look at. Lastly, you can know that ads are more likely to be interacted with because they are contextual, and are therefore likely to bring in more revenue in the long and short term.

5. Don’t Compromise Your Content At Any Given Time

Your content is why people come to your blog…most of the time. Maybe they come to your blog because they like the general feel of it, but most of the time, they are interested in what you have to say about your particular field of endeavor or ‘niche’ to put it quaintly. Your blog might just be a personal blog, but they might enjoy following your events because they want to get to know you more.

Despite any of the above, compromising your content refers to actions which involve placing more than one ad block in the actual text of a blog post - and trust me, people have a tendency to take part in this ridiculous act of ad spamming. Don’t disrespect your readers, you want them to be able to read a blog post at their own luxury, they should not be having to battle with 300×250 ad blocks and 468×60 banners, let alone the Kontera ads which are popping up incessantly.

Build A Loyal, Caring, Generous And Contributory Community
One day, I actually want to meet a lot of the people I’ve interacted with online. It does not matter where they are, it does not matter how old they are. I’ve built a community here at SmallFishBigMoney which I care about and follow very closely. I’ve met people from all four corners of the globe, and I value the friendships I have made and built upon during my time online. This is one of the biggest reasons why you should stop worrying about blog monetization and making money online and just have fun!

Meet new people, connect with them on various social media sites and support them in what they are trying to do, if you agree with it of course. If you do succeed to make money online, you will have met people online whom you can share your newfound wealth with…Think about it, what good is it to be wealthy if you don’t have anyone to share it with? Don’t treat your visitors as a traffic statistic, value them and make an effort to find out more about them. Respond to their comments, help them out when they need it, and put blog monetization further down on the priority list.

Posted on April 15, 2008
Filed Under Monetization Strategies |

Tags: blog-monetization, brands, burnout, commission, community, contextual, kontera, make money online, maximal-revenue, monetization, smallfishbigmoney, stress

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