As a blogger and content marketer, people face the biggest challenges in these questions:
How do I create more video content?
Where do I get new video ideas from?
Well, the answer is right under your nose.
Convert your existing articles into videos!
Now, this could be done in any form, but the one that I’m sharing is one of the fastest and elegant ways to convert existing articles into videos. You can further use these videos on your social media platform, YouTube or other video hosting websites to gain links or drive more traffic.
I have been testing this with Lumen5 which is by far the most popular and the fastest way to convert your blog articles into a video. There are a few other articles to video software, but on my experience and the simplicity of the process is what makes Lumen5 the numero uno choice in the blog to video converter category.
You can create videos manually from any blog post
Lumen 5 will convert your blog post into videos automatically using the RSSfeed.
I usually prefer creating videos manually as it makes videos more meaningful. Auto RSS video creation speeds up the process, but it’s far from perfect.
So without further delay, let me show you how to create videos quickly with existing articles:
Step-by-step guide to convert blog posts into videos
Create a Lumen5 account
Click on create a video link
You can select either of the three options.
In this case, I have selected the first option and added a blog post link to convert it into the video. Click on Go will take you to the main video creation dashboard where all the magic happens.
The first time when I used this to convert one of the articles into a video, I was surprised by the simplicity it offered.
You should start by editing the first slide on the right, and then you can quickly select the text to be added for the next slide. Lumen5 scans the content of the slide and adds an image automatically.
However, you have the option to search millions of copyright images and videos from the Lumen5 dashboard and add it to the slide with a single click. You can also upload your own image to the slide which is what I use most of the time. However, this depends entirely upon your style.
The media files that you upload can be reused for future videos too. I would recommend you to upload images that you are more likely to use repeatedly and take advantage of the free image catalog of Lumen5 to make your videos unique and brandable.
There are more branding settings offered by Lumen5 that you must take advantage of.
I have converted over 50 blog posts into videos and shared them on social media in drip feed setting. It was great for branding, and even the engagement in the form of likes and shares was high. However, I did not get much success on YouTube with such videos. I believe that could be because videos were too short (<60 seconds) and not well optimized for YouTube. I would still like to test such videos on the platform like YouTube.
Making money from your website isn’t a myth. It’s doable by anyone.
In fact – turning a part-time, hobby blog into an income-generating asset is fairly common with a bit of luck and some hard work.
At the very least, you should be able to make enough to cover your basic expenses for a domain and hosting. You might even be able to replace your income (and then earn some more).
Keep in mind that the strategies listed below range from easy and passive, to the ones which require a TON of on-going work (so make sure you pick something that suits your site and lifestyle preferences).
There are 33 total tips in this guide, but let’s start with the ten most popular (and predictable) site monetization tips.
P.S. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve started a blog or created a website. It works for both. If you don’t have a blog or website, use the step-by-step guides below to create one:
How to Make a Profitable Website
How to Start a Profitable Blog
10 Most Common Ways to Make Money with Your Website
Making money from your website isn’t easy. These ten tips are probably your best bet to get started.
1. Affiliate Marketing (.. and affiliate links)
Examples of a successful affiliate site: Booking.com
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular (not to mention quickest) ways to make money from your website or blog.
Start by finding a product you like and would recommend. Then on your website, you endorse the product and promote it to your website visitors and email subscribers. If the product or service resonates with these people, they’ll click on your affiliate link, purchasing the product (while you get a split of the sale price).
The commission might be anywhere from 30% of the product or service price, up to as high as 70%. For example, if the split is 50% and you promote an e-book that costs $100, you’ll get $50 for simply referring the buyer. Pretty sweet deal, huh?!
Where can I find products to promote?
Commission junction – offers reliable products with on-time payments.
ShareASale – mostly clothes, accessories, and other offline goods.
Clickbank – high percentage payouts, but there’s a lack of GOOD products to promote.
2. Pay Per Click Advertising (Google Adsense)
Example of a successful Google Adsense site: Mashable.com
AdWords are the advertisements that show up on the top of Google search result pages.
AdSense is the reverse, allowing publishers (which includes bloggers and other website owners like yourself) to tap into Google’s immense advertising network so that other advertisers can run ads on their website.
The best part about this system is how simple everything is.
Once you sign up, Google will place a simple code on your website that will identify the content of your site and start displaying relevant advertisements. For example, if your site is about pets (dogs & cats), Google AdSense will start showing your visitors ads for cat food, dog training and more.
You get paid each time someone clicks on the ad. (Yes, it’s really that easy!)
Your cut might be anywhere from $0.50 to $5 per click. When your site has enough traffic, you can make hundreds (if not thousands of dollars) each month.
How to apply for Google Adsense?
Apply for AdSense – Before applying, make sure you keep up with their latest Terms Of Service. Google has very strict rules, so it’s hard to get (and stay) approved.
3. Sell Ad Space
Incorporating Google’s AdSense on your website is just one way to make money from online advertisements.
Another is to simply sell your own ad space directly to companies looking to sponsor different blogs. You can come up with a price for each space, for example: “Sidebar banner ads will cost $xxx per month”.
You can get paid depending on how many visitors you get. Typically it’s quoted as a dollar amount per one thousand impressions (or CPM). You might see it as: $5 CPM. If the website gets 100,000 visits a month, that ad price translates into $500 bucks.
The good thing about this approach is that if your site gets a ton of traffic from different sources, your simple banner ad pricing can go up to as high as $5000 per month! The obvious downside is that if your site doesn’t get a lot of traffic, you can’t expect to earn much either.
The other common method when selling ad space directly from your website is a simple direct price. You simply name a price (based on what you think it’s worth, relative to what the competition might be charging), and get paid upfront at the beginning of each month. This pricing is also generally a simple flat fee, not tied to a Cost Per Click like AdSense.
Where can I let others know that my website is selling ad space?
BuySellAds – The most popular environment to let everybody know you’re selling ad space.
4. Sell Your Own Digital Product (Ebook for Example)
You have the potential to make the most money on a per sale basis when you can sell your own directly.
That’s because there’s no middle-man or person in between you and the buyer that’s taking a ‘cut’ from the money earned.
This approach seems fairly straightforward because you can simply sell these products directly through your website and get paid immediately. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple in reality.
Creating good products that are well made and polished require a ton of time and additional resources (like design, content, etc.). There’s a lot of ‘hidden costs’ in both time spent and the contractors to collaborate with. Selling your own products on your site also brings up problematic issues like payment gateways (how are you going to collect payment?), shipping (how are you going to mail or distribute the products?) and taxes (oh man, don’t even get me started with that one!).
If it doesn’t sound like enough work already, you’ll also need a well designed, persuasive landing page to make sure your product has a strong conversion rate.
Additional resources:
How to sell products on your website.
How to set up a PayPal “Buy Now” button on WordPress
5. Accept Donations from visitors
If you don’t have a ton of monthly visits, but you do have a strong, engaged community? Simply ask your readers to donate!
Accepting one-off donations isn’t a fast road to wealth, but it can help you cover expenses in the short-term if people like what you have to say and want to support your journey.
For example, PayPal offers little donation buttons that only take about ten minutes to add to your website, offering you a quick way to recoup what you might be spending on a good web hosting, new product creation, research, and all of the other costs to maintain a healthy, active blog.
For example, web.archive.org makes a lot of money from donations (most likely due to their millions of visitors per month).
How to set up donation buttons?
How to take donations on your website – The right way.
6. Accept sponsored posts & articles (…but use nofollow tag)
One of the common ways to make more money from your website means getting those visitor numbers UP.
Once you’ve done the hard work of building steady traffic to your site with an engaged community, there are a few different ways to monetize your hard work.
For example, many companies go out of their way to look for blogs that will feature their sponsored content. ‘Native advertising‘ like this works well because it lines up with your site’s primary content and it comes across as relevant and transparent.
You can also review the products from a company in an ‘advertorial’ that’s part content, part advertisement. For example, if your website is all about the latest iOS games for iPhones and iPads, the creator of one of those ads would LOVE to have you review and feature their app to your fans.
When done right, this can create a win/win scenario. However – done poorly, with irrelevant or inauthentic site content, it can erode all of the reader’s goodwill you’ve worked so hard to create in the first place.
For further reading:
How to make money through sponsored posts and reviews – About.com
7. Generate ‘leads’ for other companies
Businesses thrive on new leads coming in their door to inquire about their products or services.
It’s no surprise that they’re alwayson the lookout, searching for creative ways to find new sources of leads to help them grow.
For example:
Let’s say you have a website about teaching math skills. Your reader’s information (like their email address or phone number) would be of great value to different online schools who’re looking to sell their courses to eager, proactive students.
Basically, you’re connecting the dots; playing the matchmaker by introducing two parties who can benefit one another. While it’s similar to how affiliate marketing works, in this case, it doesn’t actually matter if your reader ends up purchasing their product or not. They’re just looking for an introduction at this point.
Where can I find such offers?
MaxBounty
Neverblue
Peerfly
8. Build an ‘Email List’
Spend any amount of time reading blog growth tips, and you’re sure to come across people saying “the money’s in the list“.
They’re referring to your email list, which comprises your most loyal readers. The objective is to convert as many strangers who visit your site for the first time into passionate followers who want to stay up-to-date on your latest work or content.
Admittedly this is a long term strategy (and you definitely won’t get rich overnight). But it’s one of the best, long-term methods to profitably growing your blog into a full-fledged, money making enterprise.
Never lose sight of creating relationships with your followers. Offering great information or free help is a perfect way to start. Spamming people with unsolicited offers is one of the fastest ways to abuse reader’s trust and sabotage your long-term goals.
How does it EXACTLY work?
Listbuilding 101 – Probably the best introduction on the internet.
How to build a list with your website
Best Email Marketing Services
9. Set up an e-commerce site (hard work is required)
Websites don’t just have to be about content. They can be centered around tools or products on an online store.
Be forewarned:
There are literally hundreds of thousands of eCommerce websites or online stores. Make sure that yours is filling a unique niche, with a detailed strategy and the latest marketing techniques to stand out from the crowd.
How do I create a successful online store/shop?
How to Make a WooCommerce Shop (WordPress)
How to Make Shopify E-commerce Store (Shopify)
10. Flip Your Websites (Create -> Sell -> Reinvest)
Believe it or not, there’s almost always a market out there for your website.
That means if you’ve built up a following (or possibly even sold a few products or included advertising on your site), you might be able to sell it to someone else and make a quick buck.
To be honest, I typically don’t suggest people to plan on flipping their website or blog (I’m a bigger fan of creating something for the long term).
You can’t deny how lucrative it can be. For example, if your website is making $500 per/month through selling ad space, you might be able to sell the site for $5,000 – $10,000 (which is about 12x – 22x monthly income).
Another interesting option is to sell ready-made sites, These are MUCH cheaper, but there’s still some money to be made.
Where can I sell my site?
Flippa – The most popular website market.
We Buy Websites – Another popular marketplace.
FEinternational – Mostly for high-end websites.
By now we have counted down some of the most popular ways to earn money from your website.
Yet, we’re still only just scratching the surface.
Below are another 23 ways to make money with your website.
(Keep in mind that some of them are slightly connected with the ones above yet they are little ‘out of the box’.)
Another 23 ways to monetize your website
11.Sell text-link ads (NOT RECOMMENDED) – There’s still a demand for text-links ads (believe it or not). But please keep in mind that these violate Google’s Terms of Service (which means you run the risk of getting penalized).
To avoid it, simply keep the ‘nofollow‘.
12. Set up “infolinks” – Infolinks are a great alternative to AdSense advertisements, that are very easy to setup. The downside is that they aren’t high in converting, and the payouts (on a per click basis) are also quite small.
13. Use monetization widgets – These are also very similar to Google Adsense, so they’re worth trying out as an alternative.
14.Set up RSS feed ads. – Exactly what they sound like. Ad space for sale in-line with content from an RSS feed.
15.Give away premium content for extra $$$ – If you are producing mind-blowing, awesome content that visitors can’t get enough of… you can always try asking them to pay for some of it! (Crazy concept, huh?!) I’m personally fine with paying for premium content. Bear in mind – don’t ask people to pay right away. Instead, stay focused on growing an audience and visitors first.
16.Start a private forum or coaching class(es) – Most of us have unique skills that others can benefit from. Setting up a simple forum or classes is an easy way to help others and generate recurring income at the same time.
17. Create a job board – Setting up a job board on your website is another simple, easy way to collect additional money when people are accepting different job offers from various companies or individuals.
18.Offer consulting – Offering consulting gigs and providing services can help you bring in decent sums of money while other forms of ‘passive’ revenue take a little time to build up. You can offer these services via email, forum or even Skype.
19.Add “hire me” page on your website – Your new website or blog is also a perfect place to feature your freelancing services. Showcasing samples or evidence of past work will help greatly increase your chances of getting hired.
20.Sell or rent internal pages – These aren’t very common, but you might be surprised at what people would be willing to rent or spend money on!
21.Display pop-ups advertisements – Pop-ups can be extremely annoying. However, they’re also another easy way to make some quick money.
22. Use content lockers – ‘Content locking’ is similar to hiding or protecting pieces of content until a visitor takes some action to redeem it. For example, maybe you want them to pay a small amount, or perhaps click on an advertisement.
23. Display audio ads – These are relatively new and are becoming increasingly more common. Personally, I haven’t tried it. But I have read some articles and it definitely looks promising.
24. Sell an e-book – This one is a no-brainer. Many people sell e-books through their site. Some examples: If you have a website about recipes and cooking, you can easily create and sell your own recipe book. The same applies to almost every niche.
25.Create a conference around your website – Lots of work but a huge potential payoff as well.
26.Set up a teaching program – Kinda like a cross between selling your own content and offering consulting or services.
27.Host paid webinars – Similar to the last tip, which is largely a mix of consulting through content and a teaching program.
28.Create a membership site – Yet another tier on the ‘info-business’ model that has the added benefit of bringing in recurring revenue.
29.Offer coupons (with affiliate links) – People are eagerly looking for discount & promo codes for everything from clothes to travel vacations. If you can (find and) offer a valid one, you can also get a cut of that revenue too.
30. Host polls on your website – Hard to believe, but easy to do!
31.Offer writing gigs – You can easily make $20 – $30 per 500-word articles writing for other companies or individuals. There’s also a huge potential for fluent speakers of different languages, as many companies want their websites translated by those who speak the native language.
32.Create a paid directory/business page – You charge people for listing or subscribing to the page.
33.Just copy what others are doing – My personal favourite!
A Russian based network (Service in multiple languages however & they partner channels all over the world) that seems to be using lot of same services and dashboard along with Scalelab (However their base revenue share is higher). They say on their website that they offer consultation and protection services for their partners. Dashboard language can be changed into multiple languages whatever its Russian, English, Spanish, Portuguese or German.
One of the biggest challenges of being a blogger is finding a trustworthy ad network. Most of us are aware of networks like AdSense and Media.net that show quality ads and also pays well over time. However, it takes a lot of hit and trial to find a trustworthy ad network to serve ads on the blog. A reliable ad network is one that serves both the advertisers and publishers equally and takes a commission for the service.
Update: As per comments and feedback from readers, Propellerads is not suitable for all kind of blogs. They serve Adult ads as well, so this is not recommended for every type of blog. Even though they have strict rule but unlike AdSense, they can’t impose their rule strictly for now. If something changes, I will let you know.
To ease the pain of hunting for a reliable ad network for your blog, I keep testing new networks to find good ad platforms for bloggers and warn against any scam ad networks at the same time.
This review of Propeller Ads media is part of our ad network review series. This is one of the most popular and the fastest growing ad networks among bloggers who are known for timely payouts.Propeller Ads offer various ad types:
PopUnder
Native Direct Ads
Interstitial mobile ads
Dialogue ads/Push up ads for mobile
Banner advertising for all standard size
Push notification ads
Depending on the type of blog/website you have, you can pick the right ad type to monetize your blog with Propeller Ads. I will walk you through the setup part also some tips to make the most out of this ad network.
Note: Propeller Ads is compatible with Google AdSense.
Read: When Should A New Blog Start Adding Advertisements For Making Money?
How to get started with Propeller Ads: A Beginner’s Guide
The Propeller Ads interface is easy to use, even for a newbie. However, don’t underestimate its simplicity, for what you get inside the dashboard is powerful enough to help you generate the money you deserve from your blog. Let us look at how to get started with Propeller Ads.
Once you have registered and activated your account, log in to Propeller Ads dashboard.
Click on Site > Add new site
Verify the domain ownership
Next step is to verify the ownership of the domain you have just added. You can do this using either of the two methods listed below.
Add a verification tag to your website
Upload the verification file to your root folder via FTP
Once the domain ownership is verified, you can start using Propeller Ads right away.
It is important for you to know various kinds of ads on offered so that you can pick the right ad type and make maximum money. In the section below, I have outlined the different ad types and their essential pointers. Take a look.
Some of the high performing ad types from Propeller Ads
Pop under ads:
The type of ads that pop in another window behind your original website. Such ads are common on viral websites or used by people who drive paid traffic to their website.
Propell Ads has also developed an anti-adblocking technology, and to mitigate the risk of Adblocker, you can enable this feature for the Pop-under ad type. See screenshot below for a better understanding:
Native Direct Ads:
This is another popular ad type on Propeller where you make money from directing traffic to a link. You can drive traffic using any possible method – buy traffic, in-house pop-under, social media traffic, place link on your site or another site – and so on. The eCPM can go as high as $15, depending on your geo, device and other factors.
Here are some placement ideas for direct native ads from Propeller Ads. Some of the ideas are taken directly from the official site and fall into the category of grey hat practice.
Put the direct ad on an intermediate page with a “Skip to content” button between your main page and the page with content.
If your site contains any downloadable content (software, mobile apps, photos, etc.), put the direct link on a “call-to-action” button (graphic or text-based) above or below the content.
For video sites, it is a good idea to place a fake player, with a static or animated image, that is linked to direct ads, above your real player.
I am sure most of us have seen the ‘Skip to content’ ads a lot of times, even on big publishers like Forbes. No doubt this kind of ad generates a lot of revenue.
Web push notifications:
With display ads becoming tougher to be used with Adblocker, and Chrome integrating a native ad blocker, every ad network has to innovate and adapt to the latest technology to serve the publishers and advertisers. Web push notification is one such technology, and Propeller Ads is one of the very few ad networks that offer web-push notifications as an advertising option.
Minimum payout and payment options:
Minimum payout should always be one of the deciding factors while picking an ad network. You don’t want to be stuck with money in your account and not be able to cash out due to high minimum payout. With Propeller Ads, you don’t have to worry about it considering the minimum payout is a meager $25.
I have configured Payoneer instead of PayPal to receive payment. If you are wondering why, you can read my earlier case study here. Also, I hope they add the Bitcoin withdrawal option sometime soon, a feature many other ad networks have already started offering.
I often keep hunting for high-quality ad networks which work and help us generate revenue. Even though most of my monetization is via affiliate marketing and eBooks, I often test out new ad networks simply out of curiosity. I have been testing Propeller Ads for a while, and I must say this is an ad network you can use without any issue.
However, you need to be smart when it comes to placing the ads. Some of the ad types like pop-unders generate great revenue but also hinder user experience in the process. For certain kinds of websites, such ads may be useful, but for a content-rich website, it is hazardous. You should test out different advertisement options and see which one works best for you.
Shortzon.com is a newly launched indian based url shortener service, also it is a one of the high cpm offering network with daily payments. If you want to earn money with Shortzon then just shorten any long url link with their tools and share it with your friends or audience or relative using your website, youtube, facebook or any social media sites, if any visitors visits using your shorten links then you will paid some amount, cpm rates are depending on many factors like visitors country, number of clicks etc. also its cpm rates are not permanent it will change on daily basis based on market requirements.
Shortzon.com also offers some best features like ShrinkEarn and Clk.sh to all its users which are daily payments, good referral commission, high cpm rates, multiple payment methods etc. While writing this review it was offering up to $14 per 1000 visits, i like this url shortener because it counts multiple visits from same visitors within 24 hours. currently it’s minimum cashout limit is only $3 if you use PayPal, paytm and UPI as your payment method to get paid, if you select Indian bank transfer then it will be $10. Its referral commission is attractive like ShrinkEarn.com and clk.sh url shortener, currently it pays 20% referral commission to refer other users to them and it is valid for life time.
Referral: 20%Payout for 1000 views: Upto $14 Simple Details: Network Type: CPC, CPM Ad Formats: Banner Ads Minimum Payout: $3 Payment Options: Paypal, Paytm, UPI etc. Payment Time: Daily Referral: 20% Payout for 1000 views: Upto $14 (Minimum $4)
What is Shortzon.com?
Shortzon.com is a highest paying indian based url shortener service, If you want to earn money with Shortzon then just shorten any long url link with their tools and share it with your friends or audience or relative using your website, youtube, facebook or any social media sites, if any visitors visits using your shorten links then you will paid some amount, cpm rates are depending on many factors like visitors country, number of clicks etc. also its cpm rates are not permanent it will change on daily basis based on market requirements.
How much does Shortzon.com pay you?
While writing this review it was offering up to $14 per 1000 visits, i like this url shortener because it counts multiple visits from same visitors within 24 hours. currently it’s minimum cashout limit is only $3 if you use PayPal, paytm and UPI as your payment method to get paid, if you select Indian bank transfer then it will be $10. Its referral commission is attractive like ShrinkEarn.com and clk.sh url shortener, currently it pays 20% referral commission to refer other users to them and it is valid for life time.
Shortzon.com Requirements and Restrictions:
Don’t create multiple accounts
Do not send any fake traffic to your Shortzon.com shorten links
Don’t place Shortzon.com shorten links on any illegal content sites
Do not shorten any illegal content sites with Shortzon.com
Do not click on your own links for earning purpose
Don’t instruct others to click on your shorten links
Do not create redirect loop
Don’t spam any website or forum using their link
Shortzon.com Advertising Formats and Detailed Stats:
Currently Shortzon.com shows only banner ads to all its users to earn money, like other url shortener Shortzon also offers live stats reporting system to all its users to check their earnings quickly.
Best features offered by Shortzon.com to publishers:
High cpm rates
Multiple payment methods
Quick payments
Good referral commission
Live stats
Easy to join
Low cashout limit
Nice Customer Support
Shortzon.com Payment Informations:
Shortzon pays up to $14 per 1000 visits
Its minimum cashout limit is only $3
Shortzon.com uses multiple payment methods to pay
Currently it pays 20% referral commission to refer other users
Daily payments
It uses cpm and cpc as revenue models
Shortzon.com Payment Methods and Minimum withdrawal limits:
PayPal
$3.00
Skrill
$3.00
Paytm(INDIA)
$3.00
UPI(INDIA)
$3.00
Bank Transfer(INDIA)
$10.00
bKash(Bangladesh)
$3.00
Shortzon.com Referral Program:
Its referral commission is attractive like ShrinkEarn.com and clk.sh url shortener, currently it pays 20% referral commission to refer other users to them and it is valid for life time.
corporating Google’s AdSense on your website is just one way to make money from online advertisements.
You have the potential to make the most money on a per sale basis when you can sell your own directly.
If you don’t have a ton of monthly visits, but you do have a strong, engaged community? Simply ask your readers to donate!
One of the common ways to make more money from your website means getting those visitor numbers UP.
Businesses thrive on new leads coming in their door to inquire about their products or services.
Spend any amount of time reading blog growth tips, and you’re sure to come across people saying “the money’s in the list“.
Websites don’t just have to be about content. They can be centered around tools or products on an online store.
Believe it or not, there’s almost always a market out there for your website.
11. Sell text-link ads (NOT RECOMMENDED) – There’s still a demand for text-links ads (believe it or not). But please keep in mind that these violate Google’s Terms of Service (which means you run the risk of getting penalized).
