Believe it or not, you can make money blogging. I know, it’s shocking to most people when they find out my blog is more like a part-time job than just a hobby (although I like to think it combines the best of both worlds).
Since I wrote about why I decided to start making money, I thought I would share with my fellow bloggers out there how I’m making money including what has and has not worked for me. There has been a whole lot of trial and error here!
Of course every blog/blogger is unique so what has worked for me may not work for you and visa versa. I just thought I should create a helpful resource to refer back to when I’m asked about how I make money blogging.
[This is only one small facet of making money blogging, so there will be more posts to come if you guys are interested including affiliate sites, sponsored content, and all of the details like SEO, Google stats and content creation!]
How I Make Money Blogging with Ads
This section refers to how I make money blogging using the ads you see on the sidebar, above my header and in the footer—basically, everything not within the content section of the blog that’s not an affiliate ad.
I want to start out by defining a couple of phrases when looking for ad agencies.
RPM or CPM (rate/count per mille or thousand views): basically shows how good the ads are at making you money based on the number of eyeballs that view your content. You want the number to be higher to get the best bang for your buck (err..for your ad space).
Above the fold: Ads that are seen right when you open the page (generally within the top 1000 pixels of the page) because advertisers think this is the most profitable space. Some advertisers require “above the fold placement.”
Fill rate: the percentage of time ads are shown in that space. A low fill rate would result in a blank ad space unless you’ve set it up to fill with a different ad during that time.
Payment threshold: some ad agencies will only pay when you’ve reached a certain amount. Higher payment thresholds mean that you may never get paid if you don’t meet that requirement and decide to stop using those ads which is obviously a bummer.
Here are some ad networks I have worked with:
1. Google Ads. This where I would recommend you start. There are no requirements for signing up and you can put up to three ads on your site wherever you wish. I started out with Google Ads a couple of years ago and I originally thought that was all I would use because it was so flexible.
Payment: There is a payment threshold of $100 and you can get paid via check or direct deposit into your bank account.
RPM: $1-$2 (in my experience over 2+ years)
Pros: No requirements for using and you can put them anywhere on your blog. High fill rate.
Cons: Payment threshold of $100. You may have to stick with them awhile to get your payment if your site traffic is low. (total transparency: it took me a year to get my first check.)
2. Glam Ads. This is an ad agency you have to apply for and get approved to show the ads on your site. I honestly have no idea what the requirements are because it doesn’t say on the site. I applied for this agency a couple of years ago and was rejected, then applied a year later and was approved. My traffic was a little higher and I had also switched to WordPress instead of Blogger but again, I have no idea if those things mattered because there is nothing on the site that shows a required amount of traffic or blog host. There are many more options for making money using Glam Ads including sponsored posts.
Payment: There is about a 3 month delay for payments (which sounds nuts until you think about how many advertisers have to pay Glam first before Glam can pay its bloggers) but there is no threshhold. I think my first payment was around $20. You can get paid via check or PayPal.
RPM: $1-$2 (in my experience )
Pros: Higher revenue, wide variety of ad types, opportunities for sponsored content. No payment threshold. Very high fill-rate with an option to place different ads into the space when Glam cannot find ads to fill. I’m always a fan of being able to use PayPal so I don’t have to give out my bank account info.
Cons: You must apply and have all ads “above the fold.” Ads slow the site wayyyy down especially if you’re using larger ads.
3. Legit (by Sovrn). This one I go back and forth on. The CPM is super low (often below 50 cents), but I keep putting it back on my blog because something is better than nothing? It also gives me some cool stats on my readers so that’s always interesting. The fill rate is also super low meaning half of the time there isn’t even an ad in the space. So again..mixed feelings on this one.
Payment: $25 payment threshold paid to PayPal or via ACH.
Pros: Easy to sign up and place ads anywhere. Being able to use PayPal is also a plus.
Cons: Low fill rate and low CPM.
4. Swoop. I haven’t made a dime off of this one but I keep putting it back on my blog because I know so many bloggers have success with it. The thing about this ad is that it will show up in your content (I think usually revolving around recipes? correct me if I’m wrong) and you don’t get paid at all unless someone clicks on it. The site is also not user-friendly at all..to the point of being frustrated and coming back about 3 times trying to figure everything out.
Payment: $50 payment threshold paid via ACH or PayPal
Pros: Easy to sign up and place code on your page. Paypal is always a plus (if you ever get paid).
Cons: Only clicks will result in income. Site is not user-friendly at all.
5. Infolinks. Depending on how you use them, infolinks can be one of the most annoying ads. These are the links that show up in the content linked to words in your post that people probably accidentally click on to make you money. I used them linked in my text for awhile and made decent money, but they were just annoying. I switched to just having a string of related words linked below my posts which resulted in zero dollars so I just stopped using them altogether. I also found out that the Google gods looks down on these types of links so for SEO purposes, it’s probably best not to use them…but again, I made decent money when they were linked in the text.
Payment: $50 or $100 payment threshold depending on payment option and there are a wide variety of options
CPM: not shown (fishy..?)
Pros: Very high fill rate (100%), wide variety of payment options
Cons: Annoying in text, bad for SEO, high payment threshold
[Tweet “5 different ads to consider using to make money blogging. #blogging101”]
There are plenty more ad agencies, but these are the only ones I’ve tried out.
More Tips To Make Money Blogging with Ads
Ads are great for making relatively hassle-free money and the more traffic you have, the higher your income will be, but there are more things to consider before choosing an ad agency:
1. Page speed. Any ad I’ve ever added to my blog has slowed down the page load time significantly.
2. Aesthetics/functionality. Let’s face it—ads don’t exactly bring glamour to your page. That being said, I don’t think most people mind them as long as they don’t get in the way. Pop-ups can bring more profit, but are kind of annoying. The same goes for other ad options such as those that “re-skin” or show an ad in the entire space around your blog (covering up the background area). The videos that play sound automatically drive me bonkers so I try to make sure none of my ads do that, but again, those tend to make more money or have a higher CPM/RPM.
3. Ad content. What is being shown on your ads? Some agencies let you pick and choose content, but if you are seeing images or ads that bother you, it might not be worth it to have on your site.
[Tweet “Make money on your blog with ads! #blogging101”]
Man, who knew I could write so much about ads, right? I suppose when you’re obsessing over them a couple of times a month for over a year..you tend to learn a lot!
I’m not gonna lie..sometimes it’s tricky to find that right balance of making money blogging so you can do more of what you love and not annoying your readers (or yourself!), but I think it’s worth it to try!
You might also enjoy:
Why Would You Try to Make Money Blogging?
You vs You: Keeping Blogging Statistics in Perspective
Social Media Tips + Tricks I Learned from Minnesota Bloggers
3 Ways to Optimize Your Blog Today
Recipe Plugin + Recipe Organization
What are your thoughts on ads? (as a blogger and/or reader)
Do you have any other ad agencies I should check out and review? I’ve been thinking about doing individual sidebar ads for other bloggers or small business owners..has anyone had experience with that?
Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments or shoot me an e-mail! 🙂
PS I’m all about Pinterest this year, so I would LOVE IT if you could pin one (or two!) of these images!
Pin with me!
Linking up to:
(All of the lovely link-ups I participate in here.)
Melissa @ Freeing Imperfections
I’m so glad I found this post! I just put ads via Sovrn on my blog about 2 weeks ago. I thought their set up was extremely sketchy. I had some random girl email me asking if I wanted to try and I figured, hey why not. I finally got ads up and then was like, wait… Where do I log in to see my account, etc? I never did ANY set up myself. She gave me all the info via email for the ad links. I thought it was weird that I wasn’t just directed to the website to see for myself if I wanted to set them up.
I noticed that with these ads my flash/shockwave crashes ALL. THE. TIME now when I’m at home in Google Chrome and it never used to before. So I’m totally thinking it’s the ads. I do think the ads are decent though and the size is not ridiculous or super blaring/in your face.
Thanks for all the info on this. It’s definitely quite mystifying to most bloggers!
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
Weird! I’ve not yet put ads on my site from any e-mail proposals..I’m so untrusting haha. I saw another blogger used legit ads and looked them up myself! If the ads are causing that much trouble I would definitely check out another option!! Hope the post helps!
Kaylin @ Enticing Healthy Eating
This was very helpful and insightful, Amanda! Thank you so much for summing these up. I plan on monetizing my blog once moving to self-hosting in the future. 🙂
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
Good! I really hope it helps! Hoping to save some bloggers a little hassle! 🙂
Cassie
I’m having really great luck with Amazon CPM ads (like $3 consistent CPMs), GourmetAds, and Yellow Hammer Media. Also, I love, love, love The Blogger Network! They’ve totally changed my life.
And I actually have really great luck with Lijit/Souvrn. You can set you CPM floor with them (mine is at a $1), and I only have about 35% fill rate, but it’s not too shabby. Then I back it up with Adsense or Amazon CPMs.
Sam @ PancakeWarriors
Thanks for the additional sites!
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
I will have to check all of this out!! I think I applied to the Blogger Network (?) and I know the Gourmet Ads is a little out of range with pageview requirements, but I will definitely look into the Amazon ones! $3 CPM sounds amazing!
I didn’t see how to use other ads to backfill for legit…do you remember how you did that? And do you think all of those ads together slow down your site a lot? I decided to eliminate some because it was slowing the blog down too much.. #bloggerprobs
Cassie
On Souvrn/Lijit, go to “Ad Tags” then click on the name of the ad space, then put the backfill code in the “Passback Tag” section. Easy peasy!
And, as far as slowing down page load time, oh heck yes. The Blogger Network on their own goes through 8-12 different ad networks in their ad stack—and it takes forever. It’s annoying, but it’s just the way it is with ad networks. Thankfully, the ads tend to load after all the content, so I don’t think it impacts readers much. I just make sure the rest of my site is a speedy as possible to (try) to make up for it.
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
Thank you THANK YOU for all of your input! These couple of comments alone add a lot to the value of the blog post! 🙂 Now if there was only a magical way of making money AND having a speedy blog sans annoying ads….
Lauren @ The Bikini Experiment
Thanks so much for this summary! I am new to having ads on my blog and there are so many little details to learn. Very helpful post.
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
I really hope it helps, Lauren! 🙂
lindsay
it can be so confusing, yes? this is so helpful! you are the best! thanks amanda
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
Seriously! It’s nuts!
YOU are the best! <3 and you are so welcome!
Meghan@CleanEatsFastFeets
I have not dipped my toe into the ad world yet, although I have looked into it. For me, I’d really want to control the content of the ads by displaying only things I really love and support, and I figured the amount of money I was looking at wasn’t worth the hassle. Plus, I’m not a huge fan of seeing them all over people’s pages, especially when videos/music starts playing without my having done anything other than go to a blog.
That being said, I do see the benefit of them for a blogger, and I can understand why people would use them. Very informative post. Thanks for sharing. I think it will be a successful series as this is something many bloggers want to know about.
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
It’s definitely a challenge to balance all the aspects of ads and making money on the blog at all! Google ads do allow you to forbid certain ads..which is good because I was getting some for freaking tobacco!
Thank you for your kind words, lady! Maybe someday you will quit your job and be a full-time blogger/author/word entertainer. 🙂 <3
Char Eats Greens
Great post!! I really need to look into my ads and start making sure I’musing the right ones in the right places! So much to learn about blogging when you really think about it. Seriously!
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
Gosh I’m learning more about blogging every day! And I’ve been at this a few years!! Hope this helps! 🙂
Sarah Pie
Interesting stuff here! I’m totally with you that the sound ads drive me nuts (I tend to open a lot of tabs and jump around and then I’m always looking for the tab that’s making noise). Ads aren’t something that I have seriously looked into yet but this is a great guide for people who are getting started.
Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
Oooh I figured out how you can tell which tab it is! At least in Chrome..at the top of the tab there will be a little speaker type icon! Seriously let me know if my blog ever does that because it annoys me to no end!
You should add (no pun intended..ha!) some! Make a little money on your lovely bloggy! 🙂