Should I monetize?

A strong driver for creating a website is monetization but when to monetize your site is really important to think about. It is amazing to me how inconsistent information there is out there for making money through a blog and I want to bring it all in one place end to end for you. That said, there are some things to consider. 

A risk for monetizing too early is that content can come across as spammy and plus in the early days when you don’t have very much traffic you can get frustrated that you aren’t even making enough to buy a pizza. Putting too many ads on a site can inhibit your growth early on. Since your monetization is fairly low at the beginning it is therefore a better approach to focus on creating good helpful content and increase your traffic. Once you get between 20k to 40k views per day and have at least 40 posts on your site then it is worth monetizing. Further because affiliate sites like Amazon Associates require your first sale in 180 days attempting this too early without sufficient traffic could end up in your account closing. Finally, another thing to consider is that initially you are just not making very much money which can turn into a disincentive and frustrate you when your focus should be on consistent posting and growing your audience base. While 1k to earn $1 a day is a good rule of thumb it is not guaranteed depending on your ad strategy and if you have a long view for turning your website into a business having a customer obsessed mentality is your best bet.

So what do you do to earn money in the mean time while you grow you build great content and grow your site traffic? For me I want to focus on low effort activity that can generate revenue immediately. For example a site like InboxDollars  will allow you to complete surveys and watch videos for payouts between $.01 and $.5 per activity.  While it is a low payout it will keep you feeling motivated to grow your base. In addition, for a lot of the video content you can have it automatically play so there is even less effort to grow and compound your earning. While this is a good way to get started and stay motivated as you create great content you eventually want to grow out of this strategy as the returns over time are not significant. That said, not bad for just answering questions and watching videos!

Once you start monetizing don’t over do it with ads. One to two on a site is sufficient and any more will detract from the value that your site is providing. Further focus on balancing releasing helpful content and product reviews that drive affiliate marketing. This will help you maintain your brand and continue to drive people to your site that are looking for solutions. A good way to both add value and drive affiliate purchases is to write a ‘how to’ article and in that list some your favorite products that support you in accomplishing your goal as these tend to do better and add more value than just a product plug.

Once you’re ready though here’s a few options for generating revenue through advertising: 

WordAds – earn money through page views. With a free WordPress site there is a minimum traffic requirement before WordAds can be displayed on a site. You can pay for a Premium or Business subscription but unless you’re getting enough traffic you will not get ad bids and WordPress will insert their ads on your site instead. This is a frustrating feeling. WordAds is available for a WordPress.com site and WordPress.org if you pay for an upgraded version of Jetpack. 

Google Adsense – you are paid per click on an ad. There is a long wait period for your site and you may be rejected if you don’t get a minimum traffic threshold or your content is inappropriate to Google. 

So how to create great content?  Check out this out for ideas on Creating Valuable Content 

 When you are ready to monetize check out this article for Monetization Strategies