Monetize WordPress Blog for Better CTR

by Chetan Sharma on October 9, 2009

Monetizing a blog effectively involves more than just plopping some ad code into your WordPress blog and waiting for clicks. Unfortunately, many beginning WordPress bloggers fail to monetize their blog correctly and don’t ever see any real revenue. If you receive any amount of traffic to your blog, it is capable of making money. The keys to getting the most from each and every visitor that visits your site are to optimize your ad placements, choose the correct ad network(s) and/or products to promote and continue to provide useful content to your readers.

It’s relatively common for beginning WordPress bloggers to go overboard when they first start monetizing their site. Let me assure you, though, that placing ads in every nook and cranny of your blog will not yield good results. In fact, in many cases it could ruin the credibility of your blog altogether.

Sometimes less is more when it comes to monetizing a blog. Visitors do not come to your site to see ads plastered all over the page; they come to view the content of your blog. So first things first – the content of your site must take priority over any sort of monetization strategy.

Many expert bloggers that I’ve learned from over the years would agree that you should focus solely on building up your blog and gaining credibility in your chosen niche before actually putting a single ad on your blog. There’s not necessarily a length of time that should pass by before monetizing a new blog, but there should be plenty of content published on the site before you begin monetizing.

The reason for this is simple. Most ad networks won’t accept you into their program without first having a quality blog to show them. Not only that, but new blogs typically have very minimal traffic, so there’s really no point in placing ads in front of virtually nobody.

This guide will discuss how to find the right ad network, CPA (cost per action) offer, or affiliate products to promote at your blog. Each blog niche is a bit different in how it should be monetized. We’ll also discuss optimum ad placement locations, or “hot spots,” on a web page. These are spots that tend to have the highest CTR (click through rates).

I’ll also throw in plenty of tips and tricks that I’ve learned through my experiences as a blogger. I should also note that while many of these monetization strategies can be utilized by static websites, this information is aimed at optimizing blogs – specifically WordPress blogs.

There are many options available to those looking to monetize their blog, including various ad networks, CPA offers, digital products (i.e., Clickbank), text link advertising, in-picture advertising and more. I’ll briefly touch on some of the ways that I’ve monetized my blogs now and in the past.

Google Adsense

As the biggest ad network around, Google Adsense is a quick and easy way to add relevant ads to your blog. Google offers a variety of ad formats, including text links, image banners, search boxes and RSS feed advertising.

The greatest advantage that Adsense has over other ad networks is its sheer size and number of advertisers within its network. Google is able to provide extremely relevant ads that fit well with your content, and it is all done automatically so you – as the publisher – don’t have to change the ad code or update the listings ever.

Adsense – as most of you know – pays out per click, and that can sometimes be very lucrative. There are publishers making hundreds of dollars per day with Adsense, and there are basically two keys to achieving these income levels:

1.You site’s keyword(s) must be a high-paying niche.
2.You must have a lot of traffic coming to your site.

There are several keyword tools out there that you can use to research high-paying niches in the CPC world, including the Google Keyword Tool and Spyfu – both are free to use. Typically, the niches that pay high in the CPC game are ones related to mortgages, credit cards, loans, travel, debt consolidation, insurance and others.