Advertising has to probably be one of the most common ways to make money from a blog. Though there are several ways that you can potentially profit from advertising in general, I will highlight a few of the ways that advertising on a blog can work out in your favor.  

Ad Networks

One of the most popular methods is signing up for ad networks, these services usually give to some form of code to put on your website to serve ads to your viewers and generally pay you based on some combination of views and click through.  The most popular ad network is Google’s Adsense. You can see an example of Adsense to the left. This is one of the easiest to get started with, but it may not be the best paying. Give it a shot. Many people make a great living on AdSense alone, but it does take a good amount of traffic to really start earning.

Some Other Ad Networks include:

• Media.net
• AdBlade
• Bidvertiser

Sponsored Content

Another advertising option is Sponsored content. Sponsored content on a blog is when a company pays you to write content based on their product. You place this content on your blog or social media accounts, or Both!  Typically, brands will contact you when you become a known influencer in your niche. Although you can always seek out potential sponsors and introduce yourself. Be sure to let them know what sort of traffic and subscriptions you currently have and the trend for growth. They like seeing these numbers.

Directories

Creating job boards or business directories and charging a fee based on the posts that businesses make is another form of advertising on a blog. You can charge a subscription or charge per post. Either way, they are advertising to your customers.  

Some examples include:

• Angies List
• YP.com
• Yelp
• Linkedin
• Manta

Newsletter

If you have a blog, you likely already have a newsletter as well. Have you considered advertising to those readers? Many of the mentioned methods here also work on newsletters but read your terms thoroughly. Some advertisers forbid sending their ads via email.  There are many ways to do a newsletter. You can simply add them to your address book and send out a regular email or you can sign up for a service that takes care of many of the processes for you. 

Some options include:

• Mailchimp – Free for small lists, paid options as you grow
• Constant Contact – Best for Serious Bloggers that want to build an email list.
• Aweber – Another excellent option

Text Links

Many bloggers have a love/hate relationship with text links. Strategic text links can prove a great revenue generation tool and be very helpful to readers, too many, however, can be annoying and force readers away from your blog to never return. You can use any number of services for text links. There are plugins that will automatically convert text into links that you earn from. 

Some examples include:

• Amazon Associates
• Adsense
• LinkWorth
• Amobee

Vlog/Podcast Ads

Video and podcast advertising works much like sponsored posts. As a blogger or podcaster, you can speak about a particular product or service or simply give a “shout out” for a brand to your viewers. This type of advertising essentially makes you an influencer.  Like sponsored posts, you may either need to research and contact potential brands or wait until they contact you. Make sure to have analytical information ready. 

Giveaways

One odd way of advertising a product is to do a contest or giveaway. Yes, you might be giving away that new product, but for everyone who didn’t get one, they may just go and buy it.  Finding giveaway products works the same as sponsored posts. many brands will give you their product to place in a giveaway to stoke up interest in their product line. Reach out to potential partners on a regular basis!

That concludes this short list of ways you can monetize your blog with advertising. Stay tuned for detailed posts on the individual methods outlined here and possibly a few more!