Advertising on your web site

How to Get Less Poor Slowly

The first way to start earning money on your web site (after you build up traffic, of course, is to place advertising on your site. Large internet publishers, particularly if they are a part of large paper publishers, have advertising sales staff who work with customers to design and place ads on the site. However, this is not an option for the small web publisher (yes, you are a publisher now) due to the high cost. There are, however, two options for the small publisher: affiliate advertising (ads for Amazon books and other products where you get a commission for each sale), and a program run by Google (the search engine) called Adsense. You can use both.

Affiliate Advertising

Many internet retailers sell not only from their site but from "affiliates", other sites that carry ads for the retailer or for a particular product. A click on the ad will direct the reader to the retailer's site (but carrying a code to identify the affiliate). If the reader then buys a product through the site the affiliate will earn a commission (typically 5% to 20%) of the sale. Retailers selling through affiliates include Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and many others.

You can often join the affiliate program through a link on the particular retailer's site. However, an easier way is through affiliate networks, including Commission Junction (CJ) and Be-Free. Most retailers are available through either network. When you join the network you will provide information about the site. Then you can view a list of retailers and choose which to join. The network site will provide information about the payment terms for each advertiser. The advertiser will usually pay only on sales; some, however, will pay for leads (when a prospective customer fills out a form to request information). I do not know of any retailer that will pay for clicks.

Adsense

Most Google sells ads on their search engine site through their Adwords program. Advertisers design a "creative", a text only ad that appears in a box on the right hand side of the screen. They bid on keywords. When a user of Google enters a keyword for a search, they see the search results (not affected by advertising payment) in the main part of the screen and the ads from the highest bidders for that keyword on the right hand side. This program, called Adwords, attracts more ads than can be shown on the search engine. Google will then, through a program called Adsense, place the ads on other web sites, based on a match  between the advertisers' keyword selection and bids and an evaluation of the subject of the web site that carries the ad.

To apply and get accepted by Adsense your site must meet basic criteria of quality and subject matter.

Back to "How to Get Less Poor Slowly"->>