Chapter 20

Making Mad Mad Money

In This Chapter

Checking out the advertising options

Blogging for money

Putting products on your blog with affiliate programs and gifts

Looking for a blog sponsor

Advertising on your blog has never been easier. Many different advertising systems offer bloggers a free way to place ads on their blogs, and businesses have picked up on the fact that blog advertising can really work. Putting an ad or two on your blog can help you easily earn a little money doing something you enjoy. Many bloggers turn a pretty penny, and some even earn a living from advertising.

Ever since websites came into existence, you could find online advertisements. From the first web banners of the early Internet to today's contextual advertising systems, ads have run the gamut from wildly successful to a waste of precious bandwidth.

In some cases, the effectiveness of ads has more to do with the readers than anything else. Some types of blogs attract readers likely to look at and click through ads, whereas other blogs’ readers seem to not see the ads at all. In fact, some blog readers may find the existence of ads on a blog downright offensive!

Finding Out How Advertising Works

Banner ads (rectangular ads usually placed along the top or bottom of a site) used to dominate ad slots on the web but became less important because people often just tuned them out. Then, pop-up, animated, and blinking advertisements generated a few clicks and ultimately managed to generate a massive backlash. Many of these moving, beeping, and blinking ads just irritated users instead of successfully advertising a product or service.

 Some blog monetization has nothing to do with traditional website advertising. Read on to learn more.

Today's contextual advertising tools are actually intelligent; ads are matched by subject to the words and phrases that you use on your blog. Generally, this approach gives you ads that better suit your readers’ interests, making those readers more likely to click the ads.

First, decide whether your blog is meant for an advertising campaign. Many blogs can benefit greatly from advertisements. However, you should think about a few things before diving in:

• Does your blog have a design that's ready for ads?
• Does your blog software support the advertising system you choose?
• Will advertising earn you any money?
• Will your audience put up with ads?

Answering these questions isn't easy; in fact, you might find it impossible unless you jump in. Try using some advertising and observe the results.

Planning for advertising

You can use several kinds of advertising methods to turn a blog into a place where you can make a tidy profit. The last few years have seen an explosion of companies that want a piece of the action in the blogosphere, and these companies have come up with creative ways to make ads easy to use, simple to implement, and appealing to your readers.

If you're a new blogger or just new to advertising programs, you can easily latch onto the first advertising system that you find and commit to using it. Although this system may serve your needs well, you might want to take a look at some of the different ad systems available and find out about how advertising tends to work in the blogosphere before you start using ads.

 While you do your research, keep in mind that if you decide to make that leap into monetizing your blog, you should choose software that allows you to control your advertising so that it doesn't overwhelm the blog audience that you worked so hard to build.

A multitude of advertising companies offers bloggers simple solutions to monetize websites. Most of these programs work in similar ways but have unique delivery methods. Many bloggers also choose to work with a specific ad network, which serves ads directly to their bloggers’ sites. As a blogger, choosing an advertising program that works for your audience can make the difference between an increase in readers and turning off your existing traffic.

Looking at the formats

You can deliver ads to a blog audience in four different ways. Additional methods are available, but most don't work very well in a blog. The most popular advertisement formats for blogs are

• Text-based ads: These ads are text-only and feature a link or links to the advertiser's website or service. Each ad is very plain, and most advertising systems limit your ability to customize their look and feel.
• Graphical banner and button ads: Banner and button ads can be static or animated images. These ads usually have preset sizes, but you can customize them to fit your blog design.
• RSS ads: RSS ads can include text or images, and they're linked to the advertiser's website straight from your RSS feed. If you want to find out more about RSS, see Chapter 16.
• Pop-up ads: Pop-ups tend to be everyone's least favorite type of ad, but oddly enough, pop-up ads that open in a new window are still quite successful at getting people to click an advertiser's website. The readers might be fairly irritated by the time they get to the site, but they do click.

 The Interactive Advertising Bureau makes recommendations each year about ad sizes and standards. You might find the recommendations useful in planning for ads. Visit http://www.iab.net/guidelines/508676/508767/displayguidelines to see the options.

Most ad programs today — with the exception of sponsorships — use contextual advertising, which coordinates ad display with related editorial content. So, a blog post about skiing might include ads for ski shops and resorts. A blogger who posts about blogging, for example, ends up with ads for blog software and tools.

Contextual ad systems search your blog for keywords that match products the advertisers have in their inventory. These ads then appear beside the topic keywords and, in theory, apply in the context of the web page on which they appear.

Contextual ads about blog polling tools appear on the left side of the Smiley Cat Web Design blog, as shown in Figure 20-1.

Assessing business models

Money can flow from the advertiser to the blogger in different ways. Always read the terms of service for an ad program because each advertising company has a different idea about how to compensate bloggers. The usual business models for online ads are

• Cost per impression: In this model, advertisers pay for the number of times a computer loads a page that displays the ad. The advertiser might prefer that a reader click its ad, but it recognizes that simply appearing on a blog that users access also has value.
• Cost per click or pay per click: The blogger makes money only when a reader clicks an ad and goes to the advertiser's website. This type of ad is very common in contextual ad programs, as well as on search engines in the sponsored results section.
• Cost per action: The advertiser pays only when the reader actually takes action after he or she views and clicks the ad on the blog. This required action can include anything from signing up to receive more information to actually purchasing a product.
• Sponsorships: When an advertiser wants to be actively associated with the content of your blog, it might offer to sponsor the blog or some part of the blog. A sponsorship usually includes premium advertisements and exclusive ad placement, and the blogger sometimes even thanks the sponsor in the editorial content of the site. See “Seeking Sponsorships,” later in this chapter.

 A lot of bloggers have had the same great idea about the ads on their blogs: “I'll just click these myself and send my cost-per-click rates through the roof! I'll make millions!” Unfortunately, the advertising companies have figured out this little scheme, and they refer to it as click fraud. Advertisers spend good money to have their ads displayed, and companies that run advertisement programs go out of their way to make sure that clicks on those ads are legitimate clicks. Make sure that you understand what happens if you click ads on your own blog before you do it: Some programs penalize or even ban bloggers who engage in click fraud.

Getting Advertising Going

Most bloggers choose to incorporate advertising programs by signing up with a company that serves as a middleman between the blogger and the advertiser. This company typically negotiates rates with the advertiser, tracks ad performance, and pays the blogger for advertising placement.

Although you can cut out the middleman and sell your own ad space, many bloggers find that they don't really want to spend their time dealing with the negotiation, tracking, and technical overhead.

But even the most time-pressed blogger can likely find the strength to listen when an advertiser contacts that blogger directly and offers to sponsor the blog. These arrangements are typically more lucrative for the blogger (and the advertiser, presumably), and the two parties negotiate this relationship on a case-by-case basis, depending on the audience, product, blog traffic, and other factors.

After you decide on formats, placement, and business models, it's time to put ads on your blog. The good — and bad — news is that you have dozens of options to choose from. In the following sections, I show you a few well-regarded advertising programs to consider.

Google AdSense

www.google.com/adsense

AdSense is Google's contextual advertising program, and it's really the biggest player in the contextual advertising arena. When you sign up for Google AdSense, you choose what kinds of ads you want on your blog, from text to images to videos. You can see examples of the Google AdSense formats in Figure 20-2.

Advertisers pay Google money when your blog visitors click the advertisements displayed beside your content, and you receive a portion of those payments. Successful bloggers who have a lot of traffic can earn a living from Google AdSense, but income varies greatly, depending on the size of your audience and how well your blog topics match the advertisers who contract with Google.

MediaWhiz SEO

www.text-link-ads.com

Based in New York, Text Link Ads is one of the most popular and recognizable advertising systems used by bloggers. Designed with blogs in mind, these ads are a slightly different option than contextual advertising programs that try to relate ads specifically to your content. Instead, you get only simple links that you preapprove, which are related but much lower-key in look and feel than contextual ads.

You can display Text Link Ads on the same page with Google AdSense, Yahoo! Publisher Network, and other contextually served ads.

SiteScout

www.sitescout.com

SiteScout is an advertising marketplace similar to the others mentioned in the preceding sections. Bloggers can choose between text, banner ads, full-page interstitials (splash pages containing a full-page advertisement), inline ads, and image ads. Interstitials are high-paying ads that take over the entire browser window when a user clicks to move from one page of your website to another; they usually feature a Skip This Ad link or button.

Putting Ads on Your Blog

To get these ads onto your website, the programs you sign up for usually provide you with a bit of code that you insert into your website templates. Some programs have step-by-step instructions for popular blog software packages, but be aware that you might also need to consult your blog software documentation for help with putting your ads where you want them.

First, decide just where you want the ads on your page. The best thing to do when you're thinking about introducing ads into your blog design is to make sure the ads aren't overpowering.

 Don't damage your reputation or credibility by overloading the site with ads or by associating ads too closely with your blog posts and content. Aside from pop-up ads, nothing is more annoying than having a blog design that's created around ads rather than a blog that's designed to include ads.

At the same time, you need to place ads in spots where readers can see them. Bloggers have discovered a few truths about ads, although your results might differ:

• Ads at the top and bottom of each page do poorly. Readers often ignore and rarely view advertisements along the top or the bottom of a blog because the site content usually appears in the middle of the screen. While users scroll their windows to view site content, they may never see these top and bottom advertisements at all.
• Ads in the sidebars perform well but might interfere with navigation. The left side of the website is a traditional place for ads. However, it's also a prime place for navigation tools, and your website design might require that you locate such tools higher than the ads you want people to view. As for the right side, not only are navigation tools sometimes placed here, but the bulk of blog content tends be aligned to the left side of the screen. Some users might cover the right side with other windows and therefore miss these right-side advertisements entirely.
• Ads within the content itself get clicked. Some blogs have their ads placed within their content, so visitors don't miss the ads. But you need to be careful when you use advertising within your content. Remember that you want to make the content king, not the ad.

 Try out ads in different places on your blog and see how your audience reacts, as well as how your earnings do. You might need to try several different locations before you find one that balances your readers’ needs with your advertisers’.

Putting Ads in Your RSS Feeds

Active bloggers debate about whether RSS feeds should contain ads. Traditionally, bloggers have used RSS as a way to share information, and only later did it become a place to put advertisements. You might want to consider using RSS ads because many of your blog readers might use RSS readers to consume the content of your blog.

RSS ads are simply banner or text advertisements that appear below or above the content displayed in your RSS reading program. The ads are usually smaller than typical banner ads on the average website because they're meant to fit within the RSS feed.

Feedblitz

www.feedblitz.com

FeedBlitz rose in popularity in the blogging community when the demise of Google Reader sent bloggers scurrying away from Google's RSS service, FeedBurner. Like FeedBurner, FeedBlitz allows bloggers to publish their blog content in RSS form that can be read on a reader or via e-mail.

Getting Paid to Post

As alluded to earlier, monetizing your blog doesn't have to mean filling up your text or even your sidebar with ads. Many blogs make the majority of their blog-related money through sponsored post campaigns. For many bloggers, sponsored post campaigns means receiving money to post content related to a company or a product. Some bloggers also post product reviews and consider the product they've received to be compensation. Blogging for money can also lead you down the path of the professional blogger, where you write posts for other blogs.

Placing products on your blog

Some bloggers fear that the influence of advertisers and content sponsors might take over the traditionally independent voice of the blogosphere. When advertisers offer money or goods to bloggers to share information about their products and services in a blog, it might not result in an honest review of the business. So, if you're paid to post information about someone else, make sure that you retain your right to post your own, honest opinion.

 If you post sponsored content or reviews of products sent to you for free, you are required by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to disclose that at the beginning of your blog post. Learn more at www.ftc.gov.

Many bloggers hear from PR firms and companies daily with requests for sponsored content placement and product reviews. However, a variety of companies also connect bloggers and brands.

The companies in the following list all offer in-network bloggers the opportunity to participate in everything from sponsored content to product reviews to even spokesperson campaigns. In fact, many bloggers have used their sites as a launching point to build a related career — such as spokesperson work or paid speaker — and the blog networks below are often instrumental in making that happen:

• MomSelect (www.momselect.com)
• TapInfluence (www.tapinfluence.com)
• Global Influence Network (www.globalinfluencenetwork.com)
• One2One Network (www.one2onenetwork.com)
• The Motherhood (www.themotherhood.com)
• Clever Girls Collective (www.clevergirlscollective.com)

 Many advertising networks such as Federated Media and BlogHer also place sponsored content campaigns on blogs within their network, combining two revenue streams for bloggers within their networks.

Blogging professionally

You can offer your blogging services to those who might want them by making a small business for yourself as a professional blogger. Believe me, companies are often looking for competent writers whom they can hire to contribute content to their blogs. To offer your service, check the blogger-wanted ads on job boards and see whether you're interested in writing about any topic. Also, be sure to post about your availability on your own blog's sidebar and in your blog itself.

A site where you can start your search for blogging jobs is Jobs.Progblogger (http://jobs.problogger.net). This popular website provides help to bloggers so that they can monetize their websites. The job board is highly active, and blogger jobs often appear here.

 When you begin blogging professionally, you need to keep track of any progress you make. Typically, this tracking includes either the number of posts that you create or the number of site visitors over a period of time. You can organize this information in various ways, but the tracking needs to prove that some interaction occurred between you and your readers.

Tying in Affiliate Marketing

If you ever blogged about a product that you really like and just knew that you were helping the company that makes the product make a sale, you can now make some money from that sale with affiliate marketing.

Popular retailers have set up affiliate marketing programs, most notably Amazon.com. You sign up with an affiliate program, and when you blog about one of its products, you include a piece of identifying information that the company gives you. You earn cash when readers of your blog click the product and buy it.

If you find yourself blogging about items that others might buy as a result of your recommendation, check to see whether the company that makes the product has an affiliate program, and sign yourself up.

In short order, your blog can contain links to books, DVDs, or other products that provide you with a commission on each product bought through a link from your website.

Amazon Associates Program

https://affiliate-program.amazon.com

Amazon is the most recognized affiliate program available, and it's arguably one that you likely benefit from using because many bloggers mention books and DVDs that they've enjoyed.

Amazon Associates works by letting you create specially formatted links that you can use on your blog to drive traffic to the Amazon website. Anything that a visitor who clicks your link purchases earns you a percentage of the sale as a referral fee.

LinkShare

http://www.linkshare.com/advertisers/publishers/

LinkShare is another affiliate program that calls itself a pay-per-action marketing network. You can place both text and graphical ads on your blog and make money from any sales that come from readers’ purchases.

Seeking Sponsorships

You can get sponsorships in two ways: by receiving requests from companies and by seeking them out yourself. Such sponsorship can mean one of two things:

• Sponsors might pay you to put their ads on your website.
• Sponsors might simply provide you with free goods or services in return for advertising on your website.

 You need to think carefully about whether to take on a sponsor because you might not want to agree to the requirements, such as the following:

• Prominent placement or exclusivity: A sponsor is different from the usual ad on your website because sponsors like a prominent placement on your blog — possibly including the exclusive right to advertise on your blog.
• Acknowledgment: A sponsor might ask you to use the phrase “This blog sponsored by . . . ” or some variation of it to let your readers know that a specific company is funding your blog. You may also want to thank your sponsor occasionally to generate extra goodwill.
• Time commitment: Sponsorships often run for a set length of time, usually much longer than a standard ad runs. Sponsorships of several months to a year aren't unheard of.

Getting sponsors interested in your blog is probably the hardest advertising strategy, though it's also the most lucrative. To find a sponsor, you need to “sell” your blog, from the design to the content. Make the sponsor want to post its advertisements on your site — not someone else's. When you're seeking sponsors, keep your blog dynamic, on topic, and well written.

One of the best things sponsors do for your blog is legitimize your work. Many bloggers might be viewed by the public as “just another blogger” within the static of the Internet. But, if you have sponsors that believe in what you're doing, you can attract other professional relationships, such as speaking engagements or press interviews. If you're regarded as an authority, you can build a stronger brand.

Negotiating a sponsorship experience

Sponsors can be demanding advertisers, and they can restrict how you develop your monetization plan by changing the way you advertise on your site. Some sponsors demand exclusivity — which means that they're the only business of that type that advertises on your site, forcing you to turn away other potential sponsors. Others might demand that you always write about their products or services in a positive way. Dealing with sponsors can be a true balancing act. But the rewards can be worth the work.

Here's my recipe for a successful sponsor/blogger relationship:

• Be clear on your topic. Know who you are and what you're writing about. If you have a blog that isn't clear about its subject, when you're seeking sponsorship, potential sponsors may be unable to understand why they are a good match for your blog. Sponsors want a very clear idea about the content you're creating and what you can do for them.

  Keeping your blog on topic is especially important when sponsors are actively using their brand identities on your site. Make sure that they're aware of everything you might write about so that they don't have any surprises or objections to editorial content.

• Be clear about what you're promising. Be sure that both you and your sponsor understand exactly what influence and control — if any — the partnership offers the advertiser. Thoroughly outline how you'll handle both content and advertising placement of the sponsor; the advertiser should be upfront about its expectations of you.
• Know your audience. Educate yourself on your audience if you're seeking paying sponsors for your blog. With increased sponsorship, you absolutely must address the question of who your audience is. You need to document the activity in your community, track your comments, and analyze the information from your web statistics. (Check Chapter 19 for information on web statistics and traffic software.)

   Create a report of your statistics to prove to any sponsors that you have the numbers you claim. Don't use any guesswork when creating this report. Your sponsors want to see solid numbers and data to back up your claims. Sponsorship arrangements often require you to create statistics reports. The simple fact is that if you want to make money, you have to gather data.

  You can collect data from your audience in the form of contests, polls, and other interactive experiences. Ask your audience members who they are — and if you approach it in a professional manner, they might be happy to reveal a little bit about themselves.

• Banner placement and visual cues. If you've been placing advertising on your blog for awhile, you already have a good idea where ads appear to good effect on your site, and you probably also know what types of ads work best. So, you can demonstrate the benefits of placement and ad types to any potential sponsors.

  However, if you've never had ads on your site when you first seek a sponsor, be prepared to offer ideas and suggestions for adequately highlighting the sponsor's ads and branding. You can even provide a design mock-up or some kind of visual representation. Or you might even consider creating a demo website that actually shows the ads in the positions and formats that you think can work.

• Limit other monetization methods. Some bloggers find that if they use other advertising systems at the same time as a sponsor, it dilutes the effectiveness of the sponsorships. Many sponsors ask to be the exclusive advertiser on your site or that you limit what other kinds of advertising and advertisers you use while they sponsor you. This request isn't unreasonable, especially if you have a lucrative sponsorship agreement that compensates you for the loss of those ad spots.

Setting boundaries

Jumping to the professional level in the blogging world poses a few potential pitfalls and requires ongoing reinvention on your part. Set up and keep to a few simple rules about what your professional limits and intentions are, and don't be afraid to write those rules down in a document that you share with sponsors and your readers.

Also, be ready to say no. Some sponsors might want more than you're willing to give. Yes, you may be able to earn some money from your blog, but don't forget the reason you're blogging in the first place. Your blog is your territory, not your sponsor's. You're renting the sponsor space on your site, giving it access to your audience. You aren't signing up for someone to tell you what to do. You already have parents for that!

 Don't jump at every offer that comes in the door. You may find this advice difficult to follow when you're seeking your first sponsor, but you need to maintain a high level of professionalism — not just for yourself but also for your audience. In the same way that you protect your audience from nasty comments and spam, you need to be sure that you give them an appropriate experience with your sponsors and advertisers. Protect the integrity of your blog and avoid sponsors that demand more time, editorial control, or space on your blog than you're willing to give.

Accepting Gifts, Not Obligations

Many companies offer news media access to products and services to generate press attention, and increasingly, bloggers are being offered the same goodies. After all, some blog topics are so specific that companies absolutely know that the blog's readers will be interested in their products. For example, a blogger who writes about cell phones might be targeted by a mobile phone company and offered a free product or money in exchange for some kind of online review or feedback.

This kind of exchange can be a tricky situation because some bloggers regard the gift as some kind of bribe or obligation to write something positive about the product in question.

In fact, that perception isn't correct. I know bloggers who accept products for review on the condition that they say what they really think about it, and most companies are perfectly satisfied with this kind of arrangement. In addition, most bloggers who do these kinds of reviews are very upfront with their readers about how they obtained the product in question and what agreement they have with the company that provided it.

If you're getting these offers, you can probably benefit from establishing such a policy. Most bloggers don't want to be seen as taking bribes or favors from companies that just want the bloggers to say nice things about them. Your policy needs to lay out how you plan to deal with such situations.

Here are three things to consider when you start to get product-review offers:

• Be clear about what you'll do with the product. Tell the product maker that you won't write a positive review if the product doesn't deserve it. Make sure that you're very specific about what you'll provide in return for the gift (if anything).
• Be prepared to return gifts. A lot of bloggers, especially the incredibly geeky ones, would love to receive a gift from a company that has the latest and hottest product. However, if the company has unreasonable demands or demands that don't match the blogger's vision, the blogger might choose to simply return the gift.
• Donate what you receive. You can avoid an ugly scene with your audience or any sponsors of your blog by taking the gifts you receive, writing your review, and then giving the items away. You can send them to your favorite charity or hold a contest for your audience. Donating your freebies generates all kinds of goodwill from your community while avoiding any accusations of bias.

Keep to the core of what makes your blog great. If you get an offer for a free product, think about it first — don't accept it right away. You can even go to your community members and see what they think if you require advice. Whether you accept ads or sponsorships, and how you implement them, really depends on you. And remember, if you've received payment or a product, you are legally required to disclose that information in each post.