Friday 9 November 2007

Make some money with adverts on your website

Unless you get tons of traffic (and if you do then this post isn't for you), putting advertising on your personal website or blog isn't going to make you a millionaire, or even give you enough for a pint for that matter. That's why the people who make money from putting ads on their personal sites design the sites around the advertising, essentially they make their website a billboard, don't get me wrong a clever billboard, but a billboard nevertheless.

The old faithful ad supplier is of course,

Google Adsense - This displays Google Adwords on your page - you can see them below each of my posts (UPDATE: I've taken them off, they look cr*p). With the exception of when they are moulded cleverly into your web design, Adwords generally stick out like that annoying bit of wallpaper in your bedroom that's starting to peel away from the wall. Google Ads on websites remind me of Windows Clip Art in PowerPoint presentations, it just looks amateur in most cases. I'm still to be convinced...
Earnings - A 'portion' of what the advertiser pays.

I've recently discovered an ad supplier that enhances your site with less effort than it would take to make Adsense earn you money

Amazon Associates - Once set up this lets you display Amazon products on your website. There are a variety of widgets and different ways you can do this. One way is a simple image like on the right of this post. Now in this example The Crow is not in anyway relevant but if you're talking about a book or a subject area on your blog you can add something that complements your post. Such as what i did on my 'Don't make me think post'.

You can even set up your own Amazon store, make your own categories, add your own books and then have as a standalone page or even build it into your website using frames.

Earnings - 10% of whatever the person you referred spends. I think it also saves a cookie on that person's computer and you get a reduced percentage of subsequent sales but i'm not too sure about that, would have to check.

There aren't many corporate sites that include Google Adwords on their pages, probably for the reasons i mentioned above, however i'm constantly coming across what i'd call corporate websites that do use Amazon Associates. You can earn more, they're more relevant and at the very least you're adding lots of pretty pictures to your website or blog.

Lots more bits and pieces about Amazon Associates here. Also maybe i'm speaking out of my proverbial because i've just found someone who's made very little.

Well I like the pictures it adds to my blog, it's worth it for that. Now where's that Pammy calendar?

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