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How To Monetize a Blog with 200k Impressions Monthly

by Brukhar
17 replies
Heyo WF,

I am trying to monetize my blog, Presidia Creative

Previously, I used Adsense with BuySellAds.com, and was making about $200 a month from the site.

But, BSA started losing advertisers, so I switched to CPM. The CPM network said they would give about $0.25 to $0.5 CPM, but in reality it's been like $0.02 to $0.08 CPM. I get about 200,000 monthly impressions, so I was standing to earn $50 to $100 for every ad space of theirs I placed.

But with their lower CPM, I was only earning like $10 per space, which is crap. Adsense is still there but never is all that much.

So, my goal is to make $1000 a month from the site. Any suggestions on a good CPM network (I don't have enough for TribalFusion)? My traffic is 50% US and Canada, 50% international. If I can get a network that pays $0.50 to $1 CPM, I can earn $100-$200 per ad space per month, so 5-10 ads would easily make that $1k a month. But it seems all CPM networks are paying crap these days, especially for international traffic.

I already sell text links as a way of making money. Most of my traffic is social (particularly StumbleUpon), so affiliate programs really wouldn't earn too much, as social traffic is not the best for getting conversions (at least that I've found).

Any ideas on a good way to monetize this?
#200k #blog #impressions #monetize #monthly
  • Profile picture of the author hashif16
    Originally Posted by Brukhar View Post

    Heyo WF,

    I am trying to monetize my blog, Presidia Creative

    Previously, I used Adsense with BuySellAds.com, and was making about $200 a month from the site.

    But, BSA started losing advertisers, so I switched to CPM. The CPM network said they would give about $0.25 to $0.5 CPM, but in reality it's been like $0.02 to $0.08 CPM. I get about 200,000 monthly impressions, so I was standing to earn $50 to $100 for every ad space of theirs I placed.

    But with their lower CPM, I was only earning like $10 per space, which is crap. Adsense is still there but never is all that much.

    So, my goal is to make $1000 a month from the site. Any suggestions on a good CPM network (I don't have enough for TribalFusion)? My traffic is 50% US and Canada, 50% international. If I can get a network that pays $0.50 to $1 CPM, I can earn $100-$200 per ad space per month, so 5-10 ads would easily make that $1k a month. But it seems all CPM networks are paying crap these days, especially for international traffic.

    I already sell text links as a way of making money. Most of my traffic is social (particularly StumbleUpon), so affiliate programs really wouldn't earn too much, as social traffic is not the best for getting conversions (at least that I've found).

    Any ideas on a good way to monetize this?
    I think Trafficrevenue.net pays, check it out..
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    Make offer Via Pm:QUALIENT.COM for sale
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    • Profile picture of the author vickybabe
      Why don't you try selling banner space to marketers, i would personally be interested. You can charge so much per month for us to place a banner on your site, usually between $20 and $500 Per Month
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      • Profile picture of the author candoit2
        Originally Posted by vickybabe View Post

        Why don't you try selling banner space to marketers, i would personally be interested. You can charge so much per month for us to place a banner on your site, usually between $20 and $500 Per Month
        Try out projectwonderful.com and marketers would bid per day with an auction type platform.

        Aaron
        Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author truly_gifted
    You could also try CPA. Networks would probably be impressed with your traffic, especially if it's organic. You could do some split testing...have your CPA offers and then private ad sales. See which is more profitable, and then stick with it. You could also sell featured posts from time to time with guaranteed front page placement for x amount of days.
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    • Profile picture of the author doorkicker13
      Originally Posted by truly_gifted View Post

      You could also try CPA. Networks would probably be impressed with your traffic, especially if it's organic. You could do some split testing...have your CPA offers and then private ad sales. See which is more profitable, and then stick with it. You could also sell featured posts from time to time with guaranteed front page placement for x amount of days.
      I strongly agree with this. I've only recently broken into the CPA market and I'm quite impressed.
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  • Profile picture of the author The Mysterious Marketer
    Yes, I also think you could probably sell banner ad space yourself.

    Since you have a PR 5 blog, you might even want to sell backlinks for a monthly fee to SEO marketers...
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  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    Try Contextweb. You can set your own CPM. The higher cpm the lower the fill rate. I have mine at $3 (yes 3 whole dollars), and i get 40% fill.

    Which brings me to my second suggestion.

    If you're gonna be using CPM, you don't want to be using just one network, as none of the good ones (contextweb, tribal, burst media, casale, valueclick) will fill 100%. Setup a CPM chain and utilize the default tag feature of each network. So the remaining 60% of my traffic goes with Burst Media, where i get $1 CPM and then I send the rest to Advertising.com.

    Third tip, is to use an Adserver to manage where you send your traffic. I use OpenX to send my US/Canada traffic to the networks that will pay big for it. International traffic is sent to local networks that will best pay for it.
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    • Profile picture of the author hikerguy777
      How hard is it to implement openx? Just signed up with contextweb and it was crazy easy.
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  • Profile picture of the author webmaster1742
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Brukhar
      Originally Posted by Illumination View Post

      Yes, I also think you could probably sell banner ad space yourself.

      Since you have a PR 5 blog, you might even want to sell backlinks for a monthly fee to SEO marketers...
      What is a recommended monthly rate for a text link on a PR5 blog (on the sidebar, and for one in a post)? I already sell some text links but I probably undercharge.

      Originally Posted by vickybabe View Post

      Why don't you try selling banner space to marketers, i would personally be interested. You can charge so much per month for us to place a banner on your site, usually between $20 and $500 Per Month
      I do sell banner space, but is there a good way to advertise that banner space is available? On BuySellAds there used to be gray spaces that said "Advertise Here", but I never found that advertisers bought them that way, it was always through demographics searching on the ad network itself.

      Originally Posted by truly_gifted View Post

      You could also try CPA. Networks would probably be impressed with your traffic, especially if it's organic. You could do some split testing...have your CPA offers and then private ad sales. See which is more profitable, and then stick with it. You could also sell featured posts from time to time with guaranteed front page placement for x amount of days.
      I already do CPA, but they don't have a fully 'creative' related niche (the closest ones are education for like art school). Most of the high paying offers like insurance and credit reports aren't too related.

      For paid posts, users complain about them. I used to publish paid posts for people from TemplateMonster but the users complained about it.

      Originally Posted by retsek View Post

      Try Contextweb. You can set your own CPM. The higher cpm the lower the fill rate. I have mine at $3 (yes 3 whole dollars), and i get 40% fill.

      Which brings me to my second suggestion.

      If you're gonna be using CPM, you don't want to be using just one network, as none of the good ones (contextweb, tribal, burst media, casale, valueclick) will fill 100%. Setup a CPM chain and utilize the default tag feature of each network. So the remaining 60% of my traffic goes with Burst Media, where i get $1 CPM and then I send the rest to Advertising.com.

      Third tip, is to use an Adserver to manage where you send your traffic. I use OpenX to send my US/Canada traffic to the networks that will pay big for it. International traffic is sent to local networks that will best pay for it.
      Wow, that is brilliant. But what overall CPM does it average out to (ie, 40% at $3 CPM is good, but what's the other 60% average out to?)? Also, with Contextweb, is it possible to get 80-90% fill for $1 CPM? What do advertisers look for on there?

      I'll have to research on how to set up OpenX to manage my ads, mind if I PM you if I have any problems there? Also, how does that default tag feature work? I've never heard of it tbh

      Originally Posted by webmaster1742 View Post

      Use your blog traffic to build a list!
      Alex
      Clickbank Premium Apex memer ( CB top 100 affiliates )
      Will be doing that, I have been slacking on list building but between this and one of my other sites, my list could be huge by now. I just need to develop a good opt-in teaser.
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      • Profile picture of the author retsek
        Originally Posted by Brukhar View Post



        Wow, that is brilliant. But what overall CPM does it average out to (ie, 40% at $3 CPM is good, but what's the other 60% average out to?)? Also, with Contextweb, is it possible to get 80-90% fill for $1 CPM? What do advertisers look for on there?

        I'll have to research on how to set up OpenX to manage my ads, mind if I PM you if I have any problems there? Also, how does that default tag feature work? I've never heard of it tbh
        the remaining 60% averages out to 0.50 since contextweb fills almost all the US impressions. If you lower your asking price on ContextWeb, your fill will increase but i've found it doesn't by much for me. The network is really sensitive to the type of website and the type of visitors you get. So results will vary.

        the Default Tags feature on most networks work by allowing the publisher to send an impression somehwere else if the network is unable to fill that ad impression.

        So if a chain a bunch of them together, you can have several ad networks running in the same spot. The general Idea is that you want your highest paying cpm network at the top of the chain and then you descend onto the lower paying ones.

        you put code for your adserver onto your webpage. Inside the adserver setup, you specify that Network Chain A gets all the US/Canada impressions, Network Chain B gets all the UK/Europe and so on. (This is rationing for a single ad spot)

        Then for Network Chain A you have Network 1 which defaults to Network 2 which defaults to Network 3, and so on. You setup the defaults on the network admin pages.
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        • Profile picture of the author kumar5876
          Hi Retsek,

          How hard is the chaining process? i have signedup with lijit, contextweb, openx market

          not sure how to setup the chaining of ads




          Originally Posted by retsek View Post

          the remaining 60% averages out to 0.50 since contextweb fills almost all the US impressions. If you lower your asking price on ContextWeb, your fill will increase but i've found it doesn't by much for me. The network is really sensitive to the type of website and the type of visitors you get. So results will vary.

          the Default Tags feature on most networks work by allowing the publisher to send an impression somehwere else if the network is unable to fill that ad impression.

          So if a chain a bunch of them together, you can have several ad networks running in the same spot. The general Idea is that you want your highest paying cpm network at the top of the chain and then you descend onto the lower paying ones.

          you put code for your adserver onto your webpage. Inside the adserver setup, you specify that Network Chain A gets all the US/Canada impressions, Network Chain B gets all the UK/Europe and so on. (This is rationing for a single ad spot)

          Then for Network Chain A you have Network 1 which defaults to Network 2 which defaults to Network 3, and so on. You setup the defaults on the network admin pages.
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  • Profile picture of the author drmani
    Originally Posted by Brukhar View Post

    I am trying to monetize my blog, Presidia Creative

    Any ideas on a good way to monetize this?
    If you can show proof (verifiable) of your traffic and PR,
    then here's an idea I've not seen many use effectively:

    Allow guest blog posts on your blog - and charge the author
    for each post WITH editorial approval being up to you.

    You get quality content written by someone for your audience
    - and get paid for it!

    The guest blogger gets real value from a content-based link
    and exposure to your audience.

    Win-win.

    How much to charge?

    At least your monthly target income divided by the number
    of guest posts you want to allow!

    Thoughts?

    All success
    Dr.Mani
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    • Profile picture of the author matt5409
      Originally Posted by drmani View Post

      If you can show proof (verifiable) of your traffic and PR,
      then here's an idea I've not seen many use effectively:

      Allow guest blog posts on your blog - and charge the author
      for each post WITH editorial approval being up to you.

      You get quality content written by someone for your audience
      - and get paid for it!

      The guest blogger gets real value from a content-based link
      and exposure to your audience.

      Win-win.

      How much to charge?

      At least your monthly target income divided by the number
      of guest posts you want to allow!

      Thoughts?

      All success
      Dr.Mani
      This is the way to go. I would be more than happy to write (and pay) for a guest post if I could get a link back to my site in it
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  • Profile picture of the author SeanSupplee
    Sell banner ads etc either though projectwonderful.com or buysellads.com
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    Sean Supplee -Expert Insight of an Affiliate Marketer (Blog)
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  • Profile picture of the author indojobsearch
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author matt5409
      Originally Posted by indojobsearch View Post

      If i were you i will place adsense into my site..I think it will give you lots of money...
      did you even LOOK AT HIS SITE? see that huge adsense block... that adsense.
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  • Profile picture of the author vikasrawat
    I would suggest selling ad space directly to the advertisers. For that, you should have a advertise here kind of page on your website
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  • Profile picture of the author unknownymous
    Stick to BSA and adsense. Nothing can beat those two combination.

    If you switch or change to others, Im sure instead of increasing your profit, it will gradually fall down.

    Best monetization regarding blog is: ADSENSE/BSA/CPA.
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