Monetize WordPress Blog for Better CTR

by Chetan Sharma on October 9, 2009

Clickbank

As the king of digital products (mainly ebooks), Clickbank offers thousands of products that can quickly and easily be promoted at your blog just as easily as Adsense ads. Simply copy/paste some code into your blog and that’s it.

You can find products that are targeted and relevant to your blog’s niche, and the best part is the payout for these products. It’s not uncommon to earn 75% of the sale or more for referring the customer from your site. So for instance, if you decide to promote a weight loss ebook with a sale price of $49, you would be paid nearly $37 per sale if the payout for that particular product is 75%.

As you can see, Clickbank can be much more lucrative than Adsense, but it’s best to test both to see which one works better for your particular blog.

Commission Junction and Linkshare

Two of the best affiliate marketing options are Commission Junction and Linkshare . They both carry a healthy dose of big companies looking for affiliates to sell their products and services. Some of these companies include: Walmart, Weight Watchers, HP, Apple, Verizon, PetSmart, Macys, Symantec and the list goes on.

I would recommend signing up for both Commission Junction and Linkshare affiliate programs if you would like to test out this monetization strategy. Payouts for this type of marketing can be extremely lucrative, but it takes a lot of testing to find the right products, banners/text ads, ad locations, etc, before you begin to see any type of major revenue from these sources.

The advantage of this type of monetization strategy is that some of the biggest and most recognizable companies in the world are members of these affiliate marketing programs, so the visitors to your site will see your blog as being more reputable and respected since you’re promoting recognizable products. Believe me, this does help increase sales and conversions.

Amazon Associates and ebay Partner Network (EPN)

Amazon and eBay are two of the web’s biggest marketplaces, so promoting items from either of these sources is a great way to generate revenue at your blog. Not only is there a seemingly endless number of different products to promote using either program, but both programs offer a ton of banners, widgets, and dynamic links, and they’re all customizable. You can even set up an Amazon aStore that fits within the theme of your blog in less than an hour and have it stocked with products from Amazon.

If there is a down side to either program it’s that EPN is pretty selective about who gets accepted into their program, but that’s actually a good thing. If your blog does get accepted, you know you have a quality blog that the people at eBay see as a premium site.

Other Monetization Options Worth Trying

Kontera – In-text advertising that works well on some sites but not on others. It’s worth a try.

PicMedia – In-picture advertising that places a discreet ad within the images of your site, but the company is still relatively new; thus the amount of relevant advertising to your site may be limited.

Offervault – This site doesn’t actually pay you, but they provide you with a database of the top affiliate and CPA offers available in one place. They have a great search function that can help you quickly and easily find relevant products/offers to promote from various CPA networks. This is a great resource for people looking to monetize through CPA offers.