Lot’s of bloggers and website owners are always wondering the question, when is the right time to start monetizing a blog? If you have a WordPress blog and know that you want to use it to make money, you should make sure and time your ads, affiliate programs, etc. for when you know you can make money blogging.
So when is the right time to start monetizing a blog? The answer is truthfully different for everyone because it depends on your type of blog, blogging content and ways you plan to use your blog to make some money online.
When is the Right Time to Start Monetizing a Blog?
To start, it is important to take the time to think about the different ways you are going to monetize your WordPress blog. For some, they might simply want to use their blog to promote their online business. In this way, you are monetizing your blog from the get go. You later on might want to consider adding in pay per click ads or even adding sponsors, but your blog is essentially helping you make money from the start.
For those who want to use their WordPress blog as an online journal or to simply write and post about information, events and things that matter most to them, it is a good idea to consider adding in a few different money-making ideas. However, for some of these to work, your blog needs to be somewhat popular. If it is not popular because it is a new blog or simply because you aren’t targeting the right crowd, some of these methods of making money online are not going to be effective until some time has passed. Establishing the right time for money making on your blog is important because it will determine what kinds of ads you can put on your site, sponsors who might be interested in your blog or how much you are really going to make on those affiliate programs.
First, establish the ways you are going to make money blogging with your WordPress website:
- Pay Per Click Ads
- Sponsors
- Affiliate Programs
- Online Business
Above are some of the most common ways bloggers will monetize their blogs. Pay Per Click ads are probably the easiest way to go because you can use a program like Google AdSense, which basically makes it so you can add changeable pay per click ads to your site, and have them be relative to the kind of content you already publish on your site. This is awesome because you are able to ensure at least some of your followers will be likely to click on those ads because they are already interested in that type of product or service. The next best part about using pay per click ads is that you can start these or add these to your site at any time. Make it work so they are in the side bar or banner ad. Don’t overwhelm your readership with these kinds of ads however. Do enough to make you a bit of money but don’t expect this to be a gold mine. Know that adding pay per click ads works great especially when your website generates a bigger and bigger following. The more people visiting your blog, the more clicks on the ads, the more money for you. However, if you do too many of these ads, you risk turning off your readers and decreasing your web traffic.
With sponsors, bloggers can either get compensated for their time spent blogging in cash, or they might just end up getting compensated with products. Either way, it can be a beneficial arrangement. However, most sponsors will not be interested in buying ad space on yours site, or offering any kind of compensation until they are able to know they will get business in return. The best timing for this time of blog monetization is to begin offering sponsors ad space and other recognition when you develop a strong following. Depending on your type of blog, this “strong” following can mean different things. If you have several hundred regular followers, put feelers out about sponsors. If you don’t get anyone wanting to become your sponsor yet, you probably aren’t ready. Keep enhancing your WordPress blog with SEO and other tricks to get ahead and so you can increase your following and get some sponsorships.
You might also consider adding affiliate programs to your WordPress blog as a way to make money online. However, like sponsors, you might want to wait to start these programs for when you have a stronger following. However, you can always add these to your site right off the bat and help use the keywords from your affiliate blog posts to generate a stronger SEO. You can’t really go wrong on how you want to time adding affiliate programs to your blog.
Overall it is up to your own discretion to learn when it is time to start monetizing your WordPress blog. Do what feels best to you depending on the type of following you have and type of blog.