Monetize a blog on Wordpress

[fcuco]

I have a blog on the free Wordpress hosting plan, I know for sure that I can't add AdSense to it as this goes against the terms of service from AdSense or Wordpress, I don't know, I know that you can add AdSense to a self hosting blog though.

This blog has some traffic, not much, but one post in particular gets a lot of traction, what alternatives do I have to monetize this? I've heard about Exoclick, it apperas to be a more forgiving alternative to AdSense but I don't know if I am going to able to add the code to a blog that's hosted for free.

 

[Vampa]

Wordpress does not allow any third party advertising on free wordpress sites. Why? They have an ad network of their own which they want wordpress users to use. Bloggers whose sites get moderate to high traffic can apply to run Wordads [that's what their advertising program is called] and when approved they can start showing ads on their sites.

Just search for "Word ads Wordpress" and take a look at what they offer.

 

[PenguinManiac]

Wordads is indeed your best bet, if you want to monetize your Wordpress-hosted blog through banners: however, there are many other choices available out there. The main one I'd take into consideration is Amazon Affiliates, which you can use to earn money if your visitors buy anything on Amazon through your links (you usually get around 10% of their earnings): this has much more potential than displaying ads, but it's also harder to get people to buy actual products.

 

[AnkitaaGD]

You should try Affiliate Marketing. You don't need any permission for that. Just add relevant affiliate links on your articles and you can earn money.

You can try Amazon to get started with affiliate marketing. You can also join Wordpress themes like Elegant, Genesis, ThemeJunkie, etc. Then there are affiliate marketplace like ClickBank (although this might have some rules like AdSense - I tried to join this but at that time they were not accepting applications from India, so didn't get in), JVZoo (some of my friends over in the USA use it), and so on.

 

[pwarbi]

I think a lot of people run into this issue when they first start thinking about running a blog. They'll choose WordPress as it's probably the most popular blogging platform in the world and they'll start to get to work.

It's only later on when they've got used to blogging and got a fair amount of subscribers that they'll then think about monetizing the site, and realise that on the free WordPress platform, you can't.

 

[brofist]

Your best bet would be affiliate marketing. A poster above has already mentioned Amazon Affiliates which is pretty good. Though they have low commission percentages, a lot of people tend to purchase from Amazon so it is easier to get sales. Aside from Amazon, you could also try other affiliate networks such as eBay, ClickBank, Commission Junction and JVZoo. However, these are not similar to ad networks like adsense because there needs to be a sale in order for you to earn profit.

 

[iKnowThings]

Your best bet would be affiliate marketing. A poster above has already mentioned Amazon Affiliates which is pretty good. Though they have low commission percentages, a lot of people tend to purchase from Amazon so it is easier to get sales. Aside from Amazon, you could also try other affiliate networks such as eBay, ClickBank, Commission Junction and JVZoo. However, these are not similar to ad networks like adsense because there needs to be a sale in order for you to earn profit.

Exactly, so many people are focused on ads that it's impossible to convince them that ads are just the default, commonly-promoted way of making money and nowhere near desireable once you know what you're doing. Starbucks doesn't run ads on their site because they have enough that's worthwhile to maintain their brand integrity.

 

[fcuco]

Thank you for all your answers, up until very recently I was completely unaware of Affiliate Marketing but that appears to be the new name of the game, plus it looks like something that I could extend to the rest of my online presence, namely, social media and my mailing lists and that's something impossible to do with banners. I actually think that I am going to abandon the idea of banners or ad networks altogether in favor of seriously considering this.

It's only later on when they've got used to blogging and got a fair amount of subscribers that they'll then think about monetizing the site, and realise that on the free WordPress platform, you can't.

This exactly is what happened to me, I started the whole blogging thing, more than 8 years ago mind you, as a hobby, I wasn't even aware of the fact the you could make money online by monetizing your content, now everybody knows this, everybody is trying at the same time and it is getting harder and harder now than a few years ago.

 

[brofist]

If you're really serious at making money, then I suggest that you ditch the free wordpress hosting and go for a paid hosting service. Get your won domain and install wordpress. That way, you can do whatever you want with you website, most especially, you can now put adsense (assuming that you already have an approved adsense account).

Back in the day, I also used free web hosting services like freewebs, weebly, etc. But I found them to be limited. I didn't earn any cash. But when I shifted to a paid web hosting service, that's when the money started to come in (thru ads). I'm not saying that you will make a profit outright, but it's a start.

 

[fcuco]

The problem is that I already have this established blog, it is well ranked and has a reasonable amount of content, although, honestly, all the traction comes from a single post, I somehow was able to resonate with a lot of people with that post to the point that I get a fair share of visitors for something that basically has 0 promotion even today.

The problem is the subject matter of that post will never give me enough content to start a whole blog dedicated to it, plus I don't feel like doing all the serious work that's needed to kickstart a new blog, I think these days you are better off by monetizing an adult oriented niche tumblr page if you are going to start from 0.