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How to Really Make Money on the Internet (Hint: Not Amazon Associates)

Just came across a story from About.com on how to really make money online (click here for the article). The article is very basic and leaves out a lot of crucial information. For example, steady income is not guaranteed--or even likely--if one were to only follow the steps outlined in the article. While this blog doesn't usually focus on web promotion techniques, I'll make a brief foray into the genre.

Traffic drives profits. Content drives traffic.And unless your page is as well-known as Microsoft.com, Yahoo.com, or Google.com or has a pagerank of 8, 9, or 10; chances are you'll be getting most of your views organically (that is, through a search engine). So, how do you get more search engine traffic? Three words: Search Engine Optimization (I'll cover this in the next post).

Now, back to the article which talked about the Amazon Associates Program. From my experience, Amazon Associates has been very disappointing. Not only do the publisher's receive a very small commission (~7%), but it's very hard to hold Amazon accountable for sales that were likely initiated from content on a publisher's page. Also, unless your site receives incredible traffic for users searching for somewhat specific items, chances are your Associate income will be no greater than ad services like Chitika or Adsense.

How much money can you make with Google Adsense?

 Many people are curious how much money they can make from using Google Adsense. As always, the answer depends greatly on the publisher's site. The key to adsense success is traffic and CTR (click-through-rate). Websites with more traffic make more than websites with less--generally.  CTR is critical in that it determines whether you get paid in cost-per-click (CPC) or per thousand impressions (eCPM, RPM).

Why is CPC preferable? Assume you have 5,000 unique views per day, with a 2% CTR (a standard rate). If you're getting paid by CPC (roughly 20-50 cents, potentially much more), then you will make $20-$50/day. If you're CTR is low (<1%), you'll probably be paid by eCPM (roughly $1-$4/thousand impressions). Now, you won't be paid by user clicks but by page views with estimated earnings between $5-$20. For sites with minimal traffic, unless the ads are highly targeted (and have considerably high CPC) you might not want to bother.

Take a look at these two examples:

Very impressive (and hard to get)

   vs. 

Average Joe

 Not quite as lucrative as you thought?

 Here's an interesting chart...

Question: How much is your MONTHLY income from Google Adsense?

Less than $30 57 (55.9%) $30 - 99 6 (5.9%) $100 - 299 12 (11.8%) $300 - 599 14 (13.7%) $600 - 999 2 (2%) $1,000 - 2,999 5 (4.9%) More than $3,000 6 (5.9%)
Total Voters: 98

 Best of luck with Google Adsense, just don't expect a fortune.

What Ad Brings the Most Attention (Money)?

Choosing the right ad type and size makes an enormous difference in the success of your ad. If you're paid on CPC (Cost Per Click), you'll want an ad that compels users to both look--and click. If you're being paid by eCPM or RPM (cost per 1000 impressions) then a user's click (measured by CTR: click-through-rate) is less important, though the aesthetics of the ad still reflect strongly on the site, blog, etc.

Question: So what ads attract the most attention?

Answer: It depends on what you're going for...

For users to click on ad, it's important for that ad to stand out. Take a look at these two Adsense examples (one text, one image)

       vs.   

Assuming the viewer was indifferent to the content of the ads above, it's not hard to see why an image ads handily beat text ads. Here's what Google had to say about image vs. text ads

While we can’t make any guarantees about the earnings potential of image or text ads, we believe that image ads will prove to be a high-performing option for publishers looking to monetize their pages. In fact, we show image ads when they have a higher value to you than the corresponding set of text ads that might otherwise run in the same slot.

Now that we've established that image ads generally lead to more clicks, lets talk about which ad size will lead to the most revenue. As always, the publisher should never have ads that are so large--or small--that they distract from the content. Though the decision to choose tasteful ad sizes is yours, here's what Google had to say about their best performing sizes.

The sizes we've found to be the most effective are the 336x280 Large Rectangle, the 300x250 Medium Rectangle, and the 160x600 Wide Skyscraper.

There you have it. If you want to make the most money, go with an 336x280, 300x250, or 160x600 image ad.

Please comment with your experiences below. Next time I'll do an in-depth analysis of Google Adsense vs. Chitika