I hope you’ve been publishing articles to your blog this week. You have right? How many? 1? 3? 5? Remember in the beginning the more you can publish the better. The more you publish to your blog the more you let the search engine spiders know you are going to be a consistent and frequent source of information on your topic. If you show them that, they will come by more often. The more often they come by the faster your posts get indexed ~ the more traffic you get. So post, post, post!!!
I have debated about talking about how to monetize your blogs because people get so wrapped up in the making money part they forget you can’t make any money until you have people visiting your blog ~ and you can’t get any visitors until you are writing and promoting your blog.
However, I know you’re going to do it anyway so maybe it’s best to have a discussion about it so our blogs don’t start looking like big old billboards on the side of the highway. Those big old billboards are ugly and people really only look at them for a second as they’re whizzing by at 80 miles an hour ~ much the same with blogs.
So how to you monetize blog posts then?
1. In content links get clicked MORE than banner ads.
Ex. I fell in love with this free ebook about using LOA and parenting. I put this big old banner on my site. (The theme I use gives space for this big banner and I wanted to see how it would look but that’s an excuse really lol). Anyway, I put the banner up ~ you can see it on my Everyday Life and Balance site.
So the banner was up for a few days ~ it’s a really nice banner, offers something for free etc. No clicks.
I wrote this post a few days later and low and behold ~ clicks. Plenty of clicks. 
It just proved to me again, that people need more information, more incentive, more reason to click through than a banner provides. I’ll be taking the banner down.
2. Make sure whatever you’re using to monetize is EXACTLY matched to what you’re talking about.
If you’re talking about growing tomatoes and your ad shows people how to grow Zinnias ~ you’re not going to make sales. Even if your product told people how to grow potatoes ~ you’re probably not going to see the conversion you’re looking for. The people on that post are looking for how to grow tomatoes ~ you have to give them THAT!!
3. Remember, you’re going to have LOTS of posts on this blog.
This means you’re going to have plenty of opportunities to monetize. You don’t need to put every product related to your topic on every page.
4. Make sure product placement flows with the conversation.
For example, yesterday I did the zoo games to play post I used as an example in the title keywords post earlier this week. I talked about our trip to the zoo, zoo games, offered free resources to download/print zoo bingo ~ and even showed a video of us feeding the Lemurs. None of that is making me money. I like to monetize my posts so it dawned on me Hanna got this awesome Animal Encyclopedia for Valentine’s Day. It fit perfectly with the topic of the post. At the bottom of the post I talked about taking the learning back home from the zoo, and this book is an excellent resource for learning at home ~ put up a picture with an amazon link. Done. Post Monetized.
You don’t have to shoot for making a million dollars off every post. You want to give yourself the opportunity to make money on MOST posts ~ (it doesn’t have to be every single one ~ some posts just don’t lend themselves well to monetization ~ and that is OK) . You will have many many posts, as they get ranked and you start getting traffic to many of your posts daily you’ll find you start making a little money from many of them which really adds up.
How to monetize FREE.
This one can be tough. There is lots of free stuff out there and people love free, hell, I love free. When you offer a lot of freebies on your site you need to find a way to solve another problem those people have that you can monetize. You’ll have to get creative.
Here’s my favorite example.
Free recipes. I’m the queen of free recipes I tell you. I love to cook and as much as I love buying cookbooks I love printing free recipes from the internet.
Here’s my problem.
I’m a sloppy cook, and every time I cook from a printed recipe the recipe gets smeared. Sometimes to the point that I can no longer use it again. I also have no filing system for these printed recipes. They get shoved in a drawer or on a bookshelf near the cookbooks ~ yeah, I can never find them again. Luckily I bookmark them all or save them on cooking sites so I can go back and reprint.
Anyway… late last year I found this site called Tastebook. It’s a site that allows you to pull all your favorite FREE recipes from online recipe places/add your own recipes etc to your account. You then create a cookbook of your favorite recipes. They print out a real book and send it to you. The books are really cool because you buy points and you can use points to have more recipes printed and sent to you. The binding of the books open and you can add the recipes to the books. Fantastic.
So this has become my go to monetization for free recipes. I know I can’t be the only sloppy/unorganized cook out there. So I mention the problem I have with printed recipes ~ and I mention the solution that’s worked for me. People resonate with the problem, click and sometimes buy. YAY. I’ve monetized free.
What do you have that’s free? Does it have an inherent problem associated with it? Can you solve the problem? Does the solution have an affiliate program? If it does, then you’re in luck. If you’ve used this solution personally ~ even better.
Let’s review how to monetize blog posts now:
1. Links in content convert better than banner ads (no matter how cool/easy the ad is)
2. Your product has to match your content and the person’s problem exactly.
3. Don’t go for a million bucks in every post.
4. Make your monetization part of the conversation.
5. Monetize free by finding the problem with the free and solving it.
I hope that helps you get some ideas about how to monetize your posts. Remember, the more cluttered your sidebars/headers with ads the more distracted people will be from your content AND
CONTENT MAKES MONEY!!
Here’s a couple examples of some of my favorite sites that do a great job of monetizing.
As you make your way around the internet today take a moment to take notice of how the sites you visit are monetizing. See if they’ve got banners everywhere, or if they are monetizing posts. Think about how you feel when you land there. Look at YOUR buying habits online. Do you buy from banner ads? Do you buy from posts? Remember, what you do is likely what many other people do… so keep it in mind.
YES, I love banner ads. They are so pretty and easy to stick in there. However, when I think about the last time I clicked and bought from a banner ad… well… I can’t even think of one time. I buy from people. People I trust who tell me about the product and get me excited that it’s just what I want/need.
Here is an excellent example of this. I must admit I love to read, love to read to Hanna, but I’m a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to books. However… when I read this post about One Odd Old Owl I HAD to get it. I trust the source, and well hell… it just sounds like an awesome book! It was more than I usually spend on books BUT IT DIDN’T MATTER ~ I was too amped up about reading the book to worry so much about the price. ** Did you read that? Maybe go back and read it again. It’s important. Her content got me so excited about owning THAT book it didn’t matter it cost more than I usually pay for books.
Banner ads, no matter how well written, just don’t do that. 
How about you? When was the last time you bought from a banner ad? Is that reflected on how much you use them on your site?
*sigh* this post has given me insight that I really don’t want, but will act on anyway. Thanks for letting me talk this out with you guys. I look forward to hearing your comments and thoughts.
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The more valuable the posts are, the easier to build credibility. Once credibility is established, one will not have a difficult time generating money from their posts.
This is so great.
Thank you for the marketing tips.
I know this will help.
I appreciate your thought of posting this kind of article.
I hope to read more of your articles.
Just wanted to say a big thank you as I have just made 14 sales in one day, although they did not buy the products I was selling they bought other products, but I am still very happy. Thanks Jackie
Nice posts. Very informative. I would like to make my new website a business niche in no time soon. The tips here would surely make it happen. Thanks.
Oh sorry… Okay, that would be great. Thanks!
.-= Wendy´s last blog ..Where to Find Anti-Fatigue Mats =-.
.-= Jackie´s last blog ..Recycle Your Pop Boxes ~ In the Garden! =-.
Hi Jackie,
First I have to tell you that I always love reading your blogs and newsletters and appreciate all of your hard work! Your information is invaluable and I love learning from you!
Still being a new blogger, I’m still learning and I have one question; How did you get the Amazon gallery of images at your blog …veggiegardener.com/best-organic-fertilizers-for-vegetable-garden, under your title “I Highly Recommend These Items For Great Organic Gardening!”? Is that a WP widget or did you get it from Amazon Associates?
Thanks,
Wendy
.-= Wendy´s last blog ..Where to Find Anti-Fatigue Mats =-.
Can you give us some numbers? What is your conversion rate on Amazon, for that animal encyclopedia book, for example?
This is still a very new blog, I’m not writing for sales at this point, but for good content for the long term. This post was used as an example of one possible way to monetize. If numbers are really important to you, you probably won’t be too happy here. I’m not a blogger who records every number and statistic. I’m much more about being consistent and providing good content because I know it works in the long run. I will not be able to tell you if you change your heading color to blue it will raise your conversion 13.4%. Sorry.
Jackie – Contextual links within posts are always considered best. I assume here you’re referring to sidebar banners; how do you feel about in-post targeted banners though?
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Holy Power Outage Batman, Not Again! Yep, Another Two Days Shot to Hell… =-.
Make sure you have your time zone set correctly. I had some issues recently and my time zone was set to Pacific ~ although when I went to change it ~ it was set for the correct time zone. So I’m sure it was a glitch in the system.
.-= Jackie´s last blog ..Start Your Own Food Revolution =-.
Hi, Jackie
I’m going to go back to a previous post and ask if you’ve ever had any trouble with scheduling with Su.pr. Today I scheduled 2 posts to go out at 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm. They both went out at about 8:30 pm!
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..Summer Skin Care: Start Now! =-.
Hi Jon,
It is tough to get every link on your page to be cloaked. I don’t personally worry about amazon ads and widgets. In other banner ads I will use my subdomain redirect for the product in the code instead of the plain affiliate link, but I don’t worry about widgets and amazon links.
.-= Jackie´s last blog ..Start Your Own Food Revolution =-.
Hi Jackie I have a question about banner ads. All the info I have read says that all affiliate links should be cloaked, but I have not yet been able to figure out how to links in banner ads, especially from Amazon. What do you think?
.-= Jon´s last undefined ..Response cached until Sun 28 @ 17:12 GMT (Refreshes in 23.95 Hours) =-.
Excellent post Jackie. This makes me lead more towards simply adding links within my text sparingly to products that relate to the content I provide. It is always good to have a banner or 2. What site doesn’t? But, I will be looking to monetize within the content… I always buy from content too – not banners!
.-= Todd´s last blog ..5 More Ways Sugar Causes Acne =-.
Great Jackie, I was thinking of this today and thought I probably had it all wrong and I do. Thanks
Hi Jackie
I remember a few weeks ago after asking your advice about a post, you told me to let go of the banner in the middle of the post and rather concentrate on the text link by writing a little more about the product…
I realise the value of text links but was wondering how effective it is once the post disappears from the “front page” and is moved to the archives? Would it be OK to also add an image link somewhere in the post to capture new visitors’ attention if they actually click through to older posts on my site? Maybe like a “lead” to read the whole post and then again click on the text link to find out more about the actual product?
I was also wondering if I cannot use a widget in the sidebar and display an image for a “recommended product of the week” – that targets a specific product in a related post even if I do like 5 posts a week? Maybe it is possible to find a really good product with a higher selling point and good reviews (sorry, I am not really up to date with all these sales terms and talk…) while the other text links in the posts go to lower priced products?
Thank you also for explaining how to monetize free offers – more great advice from you!
.-= Elsie@birthday party ideas for kids´s last blog ..A Cool Kid Like Me =-.
I’m not saying you can’t use any of those things. I’m saying be aware ~ test, test, test and in the end do what feels right and seems to work for your site.
If you are building links to each of your posts (which you are if you are using blog commenting with commentluv blogs) each of your posts will get ranked in Google and people will go directly to the specific post about what they are looking for. So they will go right to the content they want and the in content link will still work.
I still make sales daily from posts that are buried in the archives, but they get great google traffic for very targeted keywords. So the banner ad doesn’t matter the content does.
Hey Mike,
glad you found the tips helpful. Remember, not everyone likes it when you put links in your comments. Especially when they are running keywordluv and commentluv on their blogs and already giving you 2 links per comment.
Many times you’ll find comments that include links are automatically deleted or go directly to the moderation file. Just FYI.
Great post, very informative. I don’t have a blog up and going yet, but I hope I can use some the tips on your blog for my squidoo lenses about how to assemble a computer, or my best brand PC Hardware lens.
Anyway thanks for the free tips and I’ll be bookmarking your blog.
Mike -
.-= Mike Hutcheson´s last blog ..Computer Assembly – How To Build Your Own Computer =-.
Jackie,
I especially loved your views on monetizing free, that’s a great way to approach the subject. I liked seeing your natural conversation in a niche other than IM. I guessed I never noticed here because I do “feel” like you are speaking to me.
Do you ever write articles on how to easily add ecommerce to a blog, don’t necessarily want a huge store, just add a few drop ship products to help monetize….I just can’t seem to figure out the cheapest, fastest and easiest solution.
.-= Ally@OpenCoffeeShop´s last blog ..Coffee Drink Recipes =-.
Hey Ally,
Your site looks great!! I love your freebie. There are tons of things you can use as affiliate products ~ including those syrups etc. Have you looked at some of the bigger affiliate networks like shareasale/commissionjunction/linkshare? You may find some excellent options there.
I’d suggest ~ while book reviews are great you may have better luck adding books into a conversation about recipes, using syrups etc instead of just reviewing the book. Maybe a blog post with some information on a topic and then mention for even MORE info or more detailed info this book is a great resource. Worth testing.
As far as drop ship ~ I don’t write about it because I’ve never done it and have no idea how.
Sorry.
Absolutely Jackie,
Better content is always ideal, but sometimes we just get too busy (or is it lazy, lol) to do something the best way….I will put it on my to do list to do a nice piece about making your own coffee drinks and syrups and THEN promote the book.
I have so many ideas that my fingers just cannot type fast enough and I am trying to work on my perfectionism which is something I REALLY have to work on (envision me at my computer, saying “my sites are good enough, my sites are good enough”)….this site is going out the door today to be promoted and it is still missing an article I intended to have done…
Thank you for checking it out but really, you have never attempted to do any ecommerce of your own…I was going to try paypal but I hear such bad things about them….while I can do amazon and cj etc and do mostly, I can make 50% on some things and still never have to touch the shipping etc with drop shipping.
.-= Ally@OpenCoffeeShop´s last blog ..Coffee Drink Recipes =-.
I guess it depends on your definition of e-commerce. I sell something every single day online.:)
Touche Jackie….sorry don’t think my last post came out right…we ALL are in the business of ecommerce….and I bet you sell more than a few things online everyday, lol….just trying to figure out how to get that buy now button on my sites easily…if you come across something that looks promising give me a hollar.
I appreciate your blog and all the great information you share with everyone!
.-= Ally@opencoffeeshop´s last blog ..Coffee Drink Recipes =-.
I’m not sure exactly what kind of store you’re looking for, but I like to use the ones you can make at shareasale. If you can find a good coffee related company there you can easily create a store to add to your site. Here’s a small store I created for one specific product. I did it in a post, but you can add the store anywhere that works for your site. I’ve also used smaller product images using the store feature there on some of the other posts as well.
Specialty gift Baskets
.-= Jackie´s last blog ..Start Your Own Food Revolution =-.
Loved your site Ally. The theme and colors are perfect. It put me in mind of a coffee shop. Hope I can pick a theme that corresponds so well with my subject.
Thanks Val…so far I have only used free themes on my sites…sometimes they work, sometimes you get disappointed because the perfect theme doesn’t work (messed up style sheet etc)…I have a great one stop shop theme site that I usually get all my themes from…if you want I can give it to you…with that said I have some sites in limbo because I have some issues and won’t give up the theme….one of them is first page ranking with a buying keyword…so just don’t do that!
I can just see Jackie shaking her head now
.-= Ally@opencoffeeshop´s last blog ..Coffee Drink Recipes =-.
Ally – I’d be happy to chat the basics of drop-shipping with you if you wish. Shoot me an email anytime. My email address is on my contact page.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Holy Power Outage Batman, Not Again! Yep, Another Two Days Shot to Hell… =-.