Step 1: Get Website, Step 2: ???, Step 3: Profit
March 15, 2013 7:12 AM Subscribe
Suppose that I have a website that has frequent traffic. This traffic is consistant and predictable. How do I begin monetizing it by selling ad space? Where would I get in touch with these mythical people who would pay to have their ads displayed on my website? Is it customary to get paid per click or per view? Are there different rates depending on the readership?
Educate me, Metafilter!
Also consider whether a sponsorship model might make sense; hobby websites, for example, often use this approach and tie the sponsorships into giveaways, special discounts, etc. It's even fairly common for them to show their rates somewhere on the site. What do your competitors do to monetize their sites?
posted by carmicha at 7:53 AM on March 15, 2013
posted by carmicha at 7:53 AM on March 15, 2013
Best answer: Ha, yes, start with Adsense.
Then look at affiliate money options. This depends a lot upon what sort of stuff your website discusses. (Pets? Food? Technology? You're in luck!)
Depending on size, you can move into ad networks. Generally ad networks don't look at sites with fewer than 500,000 monthly uniques, but there's exceptions for influence. And then there are entities that service smaller sites, such as BlogAds and The Deck.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 8:11 AM on March 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Then look at affiliate money options. This depends a lot upon what sort of stuff your website discusses. (Pets? Food? Technology? You're in luck!)
Depending on size, you can move into ad networks. Generally ad networks don't look at sites with fewer than 500,000 monthly uniques, but there's exceptions for influence. And then there are entities that service smaller sites, such as BlogAds and The Deck.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 8:11 AM on March 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
AdSense is an easy way to get started, but the vast, vast majority of users don't even make enough to cover hosting. Affiliate sales have been performing better in the last year, but it depends on your niche.
The company I work for publishes a lot of information on this, memail me if you're interested and I can send you the links.
posted by third word on a random page at 6:51 AM on March 16, 2013
The company I work for publishes a lot of information on this, memail me if you're interested and I can send you the links.
posted by third word on a random page at 6:51 AM on March 16, 2013
wolfdreams01: " How do I begin monetizing it by selling ad space? Where would I get in touch with these mythical people who would pay to have their ads displayed on my website?
Adsense and Amazon are the two common ways to get started. It's easy to get started, and they are highly automated markets. Google will do the heavy lifting of finding people who pay to display ads. They take quite a cut, but it's better than nothing while you develop your own ad sales pipeline.
Is it customary to get paid per click or per view? Are there different rates depending on the readership?"
In 2013, it's mostly a pay per click model, though Google does have some advertisers paying per view. Adsense doesn't pay based on size of viewership, but it does attempt to match advertisers with keywords, and places the most profitable ads for a given page based by keyword. Amazon more directly rewards referrals per month based on the amount purchased. If you drive a lot of purchases, your rates go up that month.
posted by pwnguin at 4:37 PM on March 16, 2013
Adsense and Amazon are the two common ways to get started. It's easy to get started, and they are highly automated markets. Google will do the heavy lifting of finding people who pay to display ads. They take quite a cut, but it's better than nothing while you develop your own ad sales pipeline.
Is it customary to get paid per click or per view? Are there different rates depending on the readership?"
In 2013, it's mostly a pay per click model, though Google does have some advertisers paying per view. Adsense doesn't pay based on size of viewership, but it does attempt to match advertisers with keywords, and places the most profitable ads for a given page based by keyword. Amazon more directly rewards referrals per month based on the amount purchased. If you drive a lot of purchases, your rates go up that month.
posted by pwnguin at 4:37 PM on March 16, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
Also, if you have an idea of what your visitors are interested in, you could approach an ad network that specializes in that type of marketing/advertising to join their network.
posted by gramcracker at 7:19 AM on March 15, 2013