Gone are the days of making easy money on the Internet. A few years ago, anyone could create a website and easily make $100-$500 per month
with minimal effort.
in the past, there were many banner advertising companies that would
pay you for every click received from your website with conversion
rates from 1 cent to $2.00! Unfortunately, Fraud and deception put
an end to the majority of these programs :(
Now, the
most popular structure for website advertisement is quickly becoming the
CPA or Cost per action program (AKA Affiliates Programs). Simply
stated, Pay per sale, signup, etc. Let's face it, most users want
something for FREE. If an Internet user is shopping for something,
they are more than likely going to visit the manufacturer's home page and
make their purchase there. Think about it. If you want to
order a Christmas fruitcake, how likely is it that you will follow a link
from a website to make that purchase? Let's face it, unless your
site is predominately focused on Christmas, the chances of actually making
that sale are slim. Likewise, if your website's focus is the sale of
YOUR product, you don't want to drive traffic away from your site to make
a sale, you'd rather keep that sale and get the full commission rather
than a percentage!
While some sites
actually DO make money from the CPA structure, many others don't. If
your website has a specific focus, ie: holidays (advertise gift items),
education (advertise books), home decorating (advertise furniture
covers, home products), etc, this model may work best for you!
Built
on the same CPA structure, are ad campaigns which offer Free Sweepstakes
sign ups, Free DVDs, Newsletters and more. These are very easy to
convert to cash because the user gets the FREE stuff and all the have to
enter is their contact information. Many people will enter their
email address and a few lines of personal information if there's a chance
they'll get something for nothing! Some of these sites will even
provide you with FREE Content for your website! Free games (usually the
games open a new window with your advertisement displayed), or ready to
send news letters (ready made links to free catalogs, daily news letters,
etc), Up-to-the-minute news feeds are just a few examples. You
simply copy the pre-made code and paste it into your website or email
list. These are great ideas to add interest to your site and pick up
a bit of money every month for very little effort! They also keep
users returning again and again!
The CPM networks
are increasing in popularity, but require high traffic websites to
actually see revenue. CPM stands for Cost Per Thousand
(M=1,000). For every 1000 ads you display on your website, you are
paid $.30 - $3.00. These programs work VERY well for high traffic
websites, as they do not require any user interaction other than loading
the ad on the page! You may be asking yourself
"Why?". Well, it's for "branding" purposes. When
a surfer sees an ad a couple thousand times it becomes "normal"
to them. For instance, Amazon is not a store you'll see in your
local shopping mall. However, when a user is shopping for books or
music on the Internet, they will likely visit the Amazon site because it
is "familiar" to them from the massive advertising
campaigns. It's a win/win situation for everyone. You are paid
for "branding" and the advertiser, in time, gets the sale.
There are still a few advertising agencies
that work on the CPC (or Cost per Click) format. They usually have
VERY POOR conversion rates (very few clicks from users) and it has been
our experience that the advertising companies offering these have very
strict rules regarding "actual clicks". Beware of any
agency offering you cash for clicks, they usually don't pay.
Additionally, there are companies that will
allow you to offer YOUR content for sale on their websites! Graphics
artists do especially well with these programs! You simply upload
your content to their server and set the price you'd like to receive when
an item is sold. When an order is placed, they do all the print work
and you receive whatever profit you decide on! The items sold range
from posters to t-shirts, mouse pads, clicks, even flying disks! Another
attractive feature about these programs, you can sell your items on a
"free website" (like geocities or angelfire), your own
domain (www.yoursite.com) or via email (you don't have to have a website
at all!) All your pages may reside on their server and you are able
to customize the pages in any way you desire! Very easy indeed!
Advertising Media Types
The most common format is the 468x60 banner, this is a 468 by 60 pixels sized
banner on a website, which requires the user to click on the banner to visit the advertising company. Other size adverts are
becoming more common such as 120x60, 120x600, 125x125 which allow you to
place the advertising in a more "design friendly" or less
conspicuous area on your website and receive credit.
Text based links can be placed in your
emails or in text based documents on your website. Text links are a
very nice way of providing advertising content into your pages without the
increasing the time it takes a page to load on your site.
Another method of advertising are using pop-up/pop-unders, where by an advertisement is forced upon you, in a separate window.
The pop-up/pop-unders can be session based (once per website visit), on
page load, on page exit, or even on a timer! Most Pop-up and Pop
Under ads use the CPM model and convert at a higher rate than standard banners (up to $6 CPM),!
Keep in mind, pop-ups/pop-unders get very annoying and people are learning to close them down quickly.
468x60,
Pop Under (once every 12 hrs),
120x600 Skyscraper,
InVue Ads
Average Revenue:
$3.00
per 1000 ads displayed.
Additional Comments:
Clearly the best option for HIGH
Traffic Websites.
Prompt Payments - US mail or via Paypal.
Perfect for high traffic sites as you are paid for
every 1000 views, as well as clicks.
Pop under and InVue ads are displayed very 12
hours, so your users don't get annoyed with multiple popups getting
in the way of your content.
Skyscraper ads and standard 468x60 ads must be
placed within 500 pixels of top of page
Excellent opportunity for websites
with REAL CONTENT.
Customized banner ads to match the colors of your website.
Ads are relevant to the content of your page, more incentive for
clicks.
Drawbacks - Clicking ads opens advertised site in same window,
causing your visitor to leave your site.
No website required.
You choose the price.
Special Incentives! Free Shipping, Stuffed Animals, designed to Boost Sales!
Sell as many or as few items as you want!
Public and PRIVATE stores.
Buy from yourself at COST.
Prompt Payment, Real time Stats!
It's up to
you! Choose from ready made banners and search boxes or
create your own links to our gear.
Average Revenue:
20% commission
on each sale
Additional Comments:
No preset traffic requirements
Earn 20% on each sale, for up to 30 days after link is clicked
Over 11 Million (YES MILLION) items to choose from!
While there are many, many advertising companies
out there and many many different ways to earn money through your website, these
are the ones we have found to be most effective. The most important
lessons we have learned are:
You're not going to get rich from legitimate
advertising programs.
Target your advertising content to your users
and you'll have decent results.
Spam sucks and can get you banned from the
legitimate advertising companies quickly.
Anything that sounds too good to be true,
probably IS too good to be true.
Good luck and God
bless!
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