Can I make any money with this?
March 2, 2009 12:59 PM Subscribe
What are some simple ways to publish a blog and keep a good portion of the ad revenue it generates?
I would hate to have to re-learn HTML, but places I've found to publish (Myspace, WordPress, etc) seem to keep most if not all of the revenue. Is there any middle ground?
I would hate to have to re-learn HTML, but places I've found to publish (Myspace, WordPress, etc) seem to keep most if not all of the revenue. Is there any middle ground?
Host your own WordPress installation? That would require buying space and probably a domain name, and then setting up Google ads or whatever on your own. Honestly, unless your blog attracts a lot of attention or is on a topic that attracts advertisers, you might not break even. Hosting isn't that expensive, but I don't think most bloggers make much money off of ads.
posted by MadamM at 1:12 PM on March 2, 2009
posted by MadamM at 1:12 PM on March 2, 2009
Whether or not you can make money off your blog depends on your content, of course, but... the reason other sites are taking much of the revenue is because the blog is on their server or utilizing their resources.
Hosting your own site basically means spending $10 a month for the webspace plus $8 a year for the domain name. Many hosts will pay the $8 a year for the domain name in exchange for you buying a year of hosting in advance.
So - buy your own webspace and set the blog up yourself. You can almost certainly use either Wordpress or Movable Type, among others. I'm a Movable Type fan, personally. It has templates just as Wordpress does, but it's html based rather than PHP, which, for me, means I can easily create my own custom site design. Then again, you don't have to. You can opt to go with a template instead. Many people do.
posted by 2oh1 at 1:15 PM on March 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Hosting your own site basically means spending $10 a month for the webspace plus $8 a year for the domain name. Many hosts will pay the $8 a year for the domain name in exchange for you buying a year of hosting in advance.
So - buy your own webspace and set the blog up yourself. You can almost certainly use either Wordpress or Movable Type, among others. I'm a Movable Type fan, personally. It has templates just as Wordpress does, but it's html based rather than PHP, which, for me, means I can easily create my own custom site design. Then again, you don't have to. You can opt to go with a template instead. Many people do.
posted by 2oh1 at 1:15 PM on March 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
You may find someone who offers free blog hosting while also promising you some slice of any ad revenue, but I doubt that slice is going to be very big (blogger.com might be an exception). That means you'll need to be willing to pay something up front for hosting.
It looks like TypePad lets you carry advertising on their basic $4.95/month plan, though you'll have to pay $8.95 if you want a custom domain name that you can take with you to another host. At the other end of the scale, you can pay Wordpress.com something like $300-500 month for their pro blog hosting which allows you to handle ads yourself and keep all the revenue. Plus you can reasonably expect that you won't have to worry about dealing with surges in traffic.
Somewhere in between is getting an inexpensive web hosting account for $10-20/month or so, installing your own copy of Wordpress from Wordpress.org, or Movable Type, and going from there. There are also a lot of web hosts that offer "one click" installs of Wordpress as part of their basic hosting packages, and I think there are volunteers who will help you install wordpress yourself (really though, it's pretty easy).
You may have to do a little tweaking of the templates to slip in the ad code, but that's pretty easy. Actually, if you self-host your Wordpress blog you'll be able to put the ad code in a "widget" in your sidebar, and I think there are plugins that make it unnecessary to touch the page templates to do other ad placements.
posted by Good Brain at 1:21 PM on March 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
It looks like TypePad lets you carry advertising on their basic $4.95/month plan, though you'll have to pay $8.95 if you want a custom domain name that you can take with you to another host. At the other end of the scale, you can pay Wordpress.com something like $300-500 month for their pro blog hosting which allows you to handle ads yourself and keep all the revenue. Plus you can reasonably expect that you won't have to worry about dealing with surges in traffic.
Somewhere in between is getting an inexpensive web hosting account for $10-20/month or so, installing your own copy of Wordpress from Wordpress.org, or Movable Type, and going from there. There are also a lot of web hosts that offer "one click" installs of Wordpress as part of their basic hosting packages, and I think there are volunteers who will help you install wordpress yourself (really though, it's pretty easy).
You may have to do a little tweaking of the templates to slip in the ad code, but that's pretty easy. Actually, if you self-host your Wordpress blog you'll be able to put the ad code in a "widget" in your sidebar, and I think there are plugins that make it unnecessary to touch the page templates to do other ad placements.
posted by Good Brain at 1:21 PM on March 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Typepad.
Matt Haughey comments about Typepad.
kottke.org comments about Typepad.
You listed free providers. Generally, if the provider is free, then they are going to get some/all of the ad revenue. Gotta pay the bills. If you want to keep your ad revenue, you have to pay someone to host. There are a ton of different providers, but Typepad has been recommended by many for the less-technical user. IMHO the plans are pretty fairly priced last time I checked.
I don't use Typepad (I have no blog!), so I don't have personal experience. I just read a lot.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 1:26 PM on March 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Matt Haughey comments about Typepad.
kottke.org comments about Typepad.
You listed free providers. Generally, if the provider is free, then they are going to get some/all of the ad revenue. Gotta pay the bills. If you want to keep your ad revenue, you have to pay someone to host. There are a ton of different providers, but Typepad has been recommended by many for the less-technical user. IMHO the plans are pretty fairly priced last time I checked.
I don't use Typepad (I have no blog!), so I don't have personal experience. I just read a lot.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 1:26 PM on March 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
I have my blog on Blogger, which is free. They don't get any revenue from the BlogHer or Project Wonderful ads that I run.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:26 PM on March 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:26 PM on March 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Wordpress the software and wordpress the website are different. With the software, you're using / publishing your own blog. Any ads you put up there are yours to deal with (i.e. google adsense, for example, which you can sign up for for free)...
I do hosting for stuff like this, PM me if you're interested. You can also always go with one of the big companies out there like MediaTemple, GoDaddy, etc... they have their upsides and downsides...
posted by twiggy at 1:09 PM on March 2, 2009 [1 favorite]