Do you want to sell ads on your WordPress blog? Selling ads on a blog or website is one of the most common ways to make money online. In this article, we'll show you how to sell plugins on your WordPress blog and explain the different types of ad options available to you.
First, you need to make sure that you are using the right blogging platform. There are two types of WordPress blogs, WordPress.com, which is a hosted blog service, and WordPress.org is also called self-hosted WordPress. See the difference in our WordPress.com vs WordPress.org comparison.
WordPress.com has its own WordAds program and only allows third-party ads if you subscribe to the business plan.
On the other hand, you can post ads on your self-hosted WordPress.org website.
If you don't already have a WordPress.org website, follow the instructions in our guide on how to start a WordPress blog, and you'll be up and running in no time.
With that said, let's see what kind of ads you can sell on your WordPress blog.
There are different types of ads that you can sell on your WordPress blog. One type of ad may work better than the other depending on your website theme, audience, and overall traffic.
You can also choose to combine different types of ads to create an effective monetization strategy for your blog.
Cost per click ads are the most common type of ads displayed on most websites. The ads are sold per click, which means that you are only eligible to be paid when a user clicks on the ad.
The reason this type of ad is so successful is that it works effectively for both publishers and advertisers. Advertisers get traffic to their websites that they can use to generate leads or increase sales. The publisher is able to charge for sending traffic.
Advertising programs like Google AdSense allow you to easily sell cost-per-click ads on your website. Once you sign up with the Google AdSense program, your website will be available to Google's huge network of advertisers.
For more details, check out our guide on how to properly add Google AdSense in WordPress.
One drawback is that if you have low traffic or your ads are not placed in strategic locations, you may get a very low click-through rate for the ads on your website. However, many website owners quickly overcome this by optimizing their ads in WordPress.
CPM (cost per mile) or cost per thousand impressions are ads that are sold based on the number of times they are shown. This means that you get paid to display ads on your website whether users click on them or not.
CPM ads often don't generate the same amount of revenue as cost-per-click ads alone. However, they can be a significant source of income if you have a high-traffic website and don't want to place ads too close to your content.
Advertisers are particularly interested in buying CPM ads on websites with a high reputation among their target audiences.
Flat Rate Ads allow you to sell advertising space on your website for a specified period of time. You can calculate the price of your ads based on the amount of traffic your website generates on average.
These types of ads provide more impressions and clicks to advertisers and let website owners know exactly how much they will earn at the end of the period.
Advertisers typically buy these types of ads on websites with higher traffic that match their target demographics. You can sell ads directly through your website by creating an 'Advertise Here' page. Alternatively, you can also join programs like BuySellAds or DoubleClick by Google.
Affiliate ads can also be called action-based ads. Basically, you send traffic to an advertiser's website, but you only get paid if a user completes an action. This action can be something like making a purchase, downloading software, creating an account, etc.
Affiliate programs provide you with a unique URL with your referral ID. You can then use this URL to create banners, graphics, or add links directly to your articles.
The benefit of affiliate ads is that you get paid substantially more than what you would pay for cost per click or cost per mille ad.
You can sign up for affiliate programs for the different products and services you want to promote. Each product, service, and affiliate program comes with its own commission fees, terms, and conditions.
For example, the WPEngine affiliate program allows you to earn on every new signup you submit. Your commission will be based on the user's first full month's payment or the flat $200, whichever is greater.
You can easily manage your affiliate links in WordPress using ThirstyAffiliates. You will also find many tools and plugins to boost your affiliate marketing.
After looking at the different types of ads, you can come up with a monetization strategy that works for you. Don't worry if you're still not sure which option is right for you.
Most website owners use multiple types of ads and then prioritize them based on their earning potential.
Once you've chosen a monetization strategy, you're now ready to add banner ads to your website. WordPress has several really great ad management plugins that you can use.
We recommend using AdSanity, it is one of the most beginner friendly ad management plugins for WordPress.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the AdSanity plugin. For more details, check out our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, simply go to Adsanity »Create Ad to create your first ad.
AdSanity allows you to create any type of advertisement. You can create a self-hosted ad, a local ad, or add ad code provided by an ad program like Google AdSense.
If you're running a local ad, you can upload a banner image and graphics. If it's a third-party ad, you can go ahead and enter the ad code.
In the post meta box, you can also schedule the ad to run for a specific period or allow it to run indefinitely. Don't forget to click the publish or update button to save your changes.
AdSanity allows you to display ads anywhere on your website using widgets and shortcodes. Simply go to Appearance »Widgets Page and drag and drop AdSanity's unique ad widget into a sidebar.
For detailed instructions, check out our article on managing ads in WordPress with AdSanity.
We hope this article has helped you learn how to sell ads on your WordPress blog. You may also want to see our guide on more ways to make money online using WordPress.
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