There are several ways to make money online. Hopefully this article will help you decide which method is best for you.

1. Affiliate marketing – Another popular monetization method that many bloggers use to derive income is through affiliate marketing. Under this system, you work as a middleman for various companies to refer your audience with products that are related to your topic (usually that is the case). As you don’t own the product, you don’t have to deal with customer service, taking orders, etc. The companies you become affiliated with provide you with a tracking link to use to link to their site. The commission is usually between 30%-75%.

2. Banner Advertising – This monetization method is one of the most lucrative out there. Depending on the popularity of the blog, direct banner ads can sell anywhere between $50 up to as much as $10,000 a month individually. The downside however, is that you need to have a big audience to get qualified advertisers, and you will need to spend time managing the sales process, the banners and the payments.

3. Affiliate marketing – This is one of the most convenient way to make money online. As an affiliate you refer your audience to various company websites, and when a sale is made you earn a commission. You are the middleman (or middlewoman) so you don’t have to deal with customer service, taking orders, etc. The companies you become affiliated with provide you with a tracking link to use to link to their site. That’s how they track how many sales you’ve generated. Almost all affiliate programs are free to join. It usually involves filling out a sign-up form and within moments the company sends you the links you need to use on your site or blog.

4. Premium Content – Some websites and blogs give away part of their content for free, and charge for access to the premium content and exclusive tools. SEOMoz is a good example. They have a very popular blog that gives advice and information on wide range of SEO related topics. On top of that visitors can decide to become premium members. It costs $48 monthly and it grants them access to guides, tools and other exclusive material.

5. Selling or Renting Internal Pages – Million Dollar Wiki made this concept popular, but it was being used on the web for a long time around (check Pagerank10.co.uk for instance). These websites sell for a single fee or rent for a recurring fee internal pages on their domain. Usually they have either high Pagerak or high traffic, so that people purchasing a page will be able to benefit in some way. Implementing this method on a small blog would be difficult, but the concept is interesting and could be explored further.

6. Highlighted Posts from Sponsors – Techmeme probably pioneered this idea, but somehow it has not spread to other websites. The tech news aggregator displays editorial posts on the left column, and on the sidebar they have a section titled “Techmeme Sponsor Posts.” On that section posts from the blog of the advertisers get highlighted, sending qualified traffic their way. Considering that the monthly cost for one spot is $5000 and that they have around 6 sponsors at any given time, it must be working well.

7. Selling a Hardcover Book – Many authors and journalists leverage their blogs or websites to sell copies of hardcover books. Examples include Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell. While most of these people were already renowned authors before they created their website, one could also follow the other way around. Lorelle VanFossen did exactly that with her Blogging Tips book. First she built her authority on the subject via her blog, and afterwards she published the book.

8. Merchandising -There are quite a few larger blogs are making money through this monetization technique – especially blogs with a cult following. A famous example would be by Shoemoney.

Nik Imran is the creator of IMakeABlog, a make a blog guide for beginners. You can learn how to create a blog with the 6 simple steps provided.

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