WFMW: Monetize Your Blog with an Affiliate Network

I’ve been devoting my WFMW posts to blogging tips that work for me. If you missed the rest, just click here and scroll down to see them.

At the beginning of June, I asked you to consider monetizing your blog. It’s not for everyone! For one thing, it gives you more to do besides writing/posting, and when you’re home with small children, sticking to a schedule is very challenging. Depending on the way you monetize, you may also be promising others a post by a deadline or have other duties to fulfill. That can be difficult as well. One good way to get started without obligations is Tip #6: Join an Affiliate Network.

An affiliate network does the work for you–they find the advertisers, create the banners/graphics, and set the rates. Your job is to decide where and how to place the ads on your blog; the amount of time you devote to promoting the ads affects your earnings. I use three main networks: Escalate Media, Logical Media and MySavings Media*. They all have a similar interface that’s easy to use; you log in to your account and see what Offers are available, then choose the size banner/ad/text you’d like to use. Just cut & paste it into your blog’s sidebar or add it to a post. Here are some tips I’ve learned over the past few years:

• Affiliate networks have LOTS of offers, but they’re not all a good match for your blog. I avoid anything that looks “spammy” and I focus on big brands I’ve heard of (Betty Crocker, JCPenney, Pampers, etc.). If it looks interesting to me, I check it out before sharing it with my readers.
• Sticking a banner or ad in the sidebar doesn’t pay very well, no matter how much traffic you have. Writing a post around it (like this Vistaprint label deal) is a better way to “convert” (make a sale), and I try to add extra value by sharing how I’ve used it personally or with Vistaprint, give suggestions on what to order.
• Sending more traffic to those posts from Facebook and Twitter can increase your conversion rate, and therefore your earnings. When I take more time promoting an Offer, the more I earn (funny how that works!). With an affiliate network, you don’t have to promote if you don’t have time; there’s no negative effect other than low earnings.

I’ve found affiliate networks to be an easy way to monetize my blog. Give it a try!

For more Works for Me Wednesday posts, head over to We Are That Family.

*Disclosure: These are affiliate links, meaning that I’ll earn a small percentage when you sign up with one of these networks. If you do sign up, feel free to email me with any questions you have–I’d love to help you earn income with your blog!