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Introduction To Online Advertising

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Face it, running a website isn’t cheap. The main overhead costs for most websites are hosting and domain name registration. Not to mention the amount of time you must invest into creating and maintaining a website (thanks to The Learning Curve for pointing that out). One way to offset this cost is by utilizing internet advertising. This tutorial will give new Web Developers and Bloggers insight into how to make money from their website.

On TeamTutorials we try to keep things in perspective and keep a certain level of honesty. This tutorial will not show you how to become a millionaire overnight. It takes a lot of hard work to get rich online, don’t believe those e-books people sell. You can get all of the information for free online if you do enough searching. In reality, you will need a very high number of page views to make a decent chunk of change from your website.

With all that said, it is possible to make money online. I will give you the tools, and it is up to you to take advantage of them. The main thing to keep in mind, when creating a website, is to add quality and unique content. This will keep the visitors returning to your site and also keep you ranked in the search engines. Without traffic, you will not make money from your website. I will get into traffic building techniques in a post later on. I also planning on writing some tutorials that will show you how to implement the advertisements from a few of my favorite add networks. Now, let’s get into some of the different types of advertising.

The first type of advertising I will talk about is Cost Per Click advertising (sometimes referred to as CPC). With CPC ads, you will display the advertisements on your site, but only be paid when a users clicks on the ad. These ads are usually (but not always) contextual, meaning that the ad agency will search through your content and try to display advertisements that match the theme of your site. These ads perform the best in my personal experience, but every site is different.

Here are a few Cost Per Click advertising agencies that you can use:

  • Google Adsense – The mother of all internet advertising. Google has built the largest advertising network available, and has created a billion dollar industry out of it. It is very easy to use, and I have heard that the percentage of payout is quite high.
  • Yahoo Publisher Network – The Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN) is very similar to Google’s Adsense program (and most other CPC ad networks). Yahoo could use some work on their functionality, but it is still a great alternative to Adsense.
  • Chitika – Chitika is most famous for their “E Mini Malls”. These advertisements are “Interactive Product Merchandising Kiosks.” They tend to perform well on product based sites such as a digital camera site, for example.
  • BidClix – Advertises a high quality ad network for your site.
  • BannerBoxes – Display banners on your site and get paid. With banner boxes advertisers can set different amounts based on the number of clicks.
  • Adbrite – Is a great alternative to the big CPC engines. I have heard it can perform very well.
  • AdSonar – Has been partnered with some of the most visited website online.
  • Clicksor – The FAQ doesn’t specifically say that adult sites are off limits, so it may be possible to use Clicksor for adult sites. If you are interested in adult advertising I would contact Clicksor to get a specific answer.
  • Searchfeed – Offers access to millions of pay per click advertisements.
  • Revenue Pilot – The websites claims that “RevenuePilot provides you with the most innovative, efficient and effective way to monetize your traffic.” They also offer performance incentives, so you can make more if your ads perform well.
  • Kontera – These are content based links that are double underlined on your site. When a user rolls of the link with their mouse, the ad is displayed. You only get paid when the user clicks the ad. It’s a like it or love it type of ad, but pays fairly well for us. You do run te risk of annoying your users.
  • Adengage.com – Lower CPC than some of the “big boys”, but offers some great stats on what ads perform well for other users.

Keep in mind that clicking on your own ads is a sure way to get removed from a program, and forfeit all of your earnings. The good news is that if you screw up, there are plenty of networks to choose from.

Another way to make money from your website is by using CPM ads. CPM stands for Cost Per thousand impressions (don’t ask me where the M came from). You are paid based on the number of views an ad receives, and are not compensated for clicks. These ads are great for highly trafficked sites.

Here a few CPM Advertisement Sites:

  • Tribal Fusion – Is an excellent CPM network, however, you need a very high number of page views to be accepted in this program. very popular network.
  • Casale Media – Reaches 66% of the US market, 82% of the Canadian market, and 59% of the UK market.
  • BurstMedia – Cost Per thousand impressions. They have a flashed based website so I didn’t dig for more info.
  • RealTechNetwork – They claim to have some of the highest paying rates available for a variety of the most popular creative sizes. Variety of payout options available.
  • ValueClick Media/FastClick – Large CPM Network. Has been noted to be a little shady by a few bloggers out there.
  • 24/7 Real Media – Bought out by a large advertising company. Look for new features to be added.
  • Bannerconnect – “Advertising without boundaries.”
  • Mamma Media Solutions – Mamma search engine’s advertising agency.
  • Ad pepper Media – Spicy advertising for your website.
  • Rightmedia.com – Interactive advertising solutions
  • Accelerator Media – Accelerator is an intelligent ad network that features predictive ad serving technology.
  • AdSmart – Adsmart is the new brand name for Adrevenue which has provided online marketing services to leading advertisers and agencies since 1999.
  • Interclick – Earn an industry high 60% monthly payout on all advertising revenue your website generates.
  • Realcastmedia -RealCast Media was designed to provide small- and mid-sized Web sites with an avenue to become part of an online publishing team.

The last money making program that I will talk about is Cost Per Action (CPA) and Cost Per Lead (CPL) networks. These networks are also known as Affiliate networks. With Cost Per Action advertising, you are paid when a user clicks through an ad on your site and completes a predefined action, such as purchasing an item. Cost Per Lead payout occurs when a user click through the ad on your site and either signs up for a program, submits an email address, or submits their zip code (for you U.S. readers).

CPA/CPL leads have been known to generate large amounts of revenue for some websites. The payout can be on a percentage base (%10 of purchase amount), or a flat rate (I have seen $.50 for a lead up to $400 for a purchase). Keep in mind that just because a payout is higher, doesn’t mean you will make more money. Five percent of $100 is better than 75% of nothing.

Here are a few of the Top Affiliate Networks.

  • Linkshare – Has been in the business since 1996 offering a large advertising network.
  • Commission Junction – Offers CPA and CPL ads and has a low minimum payout.
  • ShareASale – Network of over 2000 advertisers.
  • WebSponsors – Cost Per Action Advertising network.
  • Advertising.com – They claim that they are the biggest advertising network in town and reach about 85% of all internet users.
  • Azoogle Ads – Maximize revenue from your traffic by promoting offers from our vast network of quality Advertisers.

  • Maxbounty     – Earn revenue from advertising sponsors on a pay-for-performance basis.
  • Affiliateer – Is a performance based affiliate management company. They focus on offering quality CPA ads.
  • AuctionAds – Serves up eBay ads based on keywords you supply. You are paid when items are purchased. The benefit of being in this network is that users pool together to get a higher payout than you would just signing up with eBay themselves.
  • Copeac – I like the Zip Code submit and Email Submit offers available on Copeac.

With these advertising networks you should have a great start in your quest to make money from your website. Experiment with different types of advertisements and different advertising networks to see which will perform the best on your website. Look for future tips on using these advertising networks and maximizing your revenue.

There are also other methods of making money such as selling links or writing reviews. I will get into the other options in another post.
Let us know what your favorite advertising network is and your preferred type of advertising!