There are two main reasons for the lack of work in this area:

1. Most focus in the past was on increasing sales through the web store section of my website
2. World of Warcraft

Now that sales are taking care of themselves with additional staff on board and I’ve quit playing WoW (1st Dec, 2007), I now have more time to devote to other areas of my site such as monetizing our thousands of blog pages. Until recently it was an untapped resource.

Where To Get Information on Making Money Online? – Go To the Experts
With terms such as “six-figure blogging” and the million or so pages out there about “making money online”, I felt a bit daunted and overwhelmed with my next challenge. However, when in doubt, identify and refer to the experts. In this case, there are two guys in particular who provide superb information on ways to make money online : Darren Rowse and John Chow. Both are renowned for creating comfortable livings for themselves from the proceeds generated by their websites.

On the footer of each of their sites are lists of ways they create revenue online. I investigated each point on their lists and came up with a list that worked well with my style of blog.

Ways I Make Money Online
So after around 6 months of installing, testing and tweaking here is the list of money makers that are now earning me around 4-figures a month and I can recommend them to you. They are ordered by highest to lowest income per month:

1. Google Adsense: Even though I’ve been using Google Adsense for almost 5 years, it’s only this month (August 2008) that I have truly had time to optimize the code which has resulted, on some days, in triple the revenue I used to earn. If you don’t have it on your site, sign up and give it Google Adsense a go!. Tip: See my post on how I doubled my Adsense revenue with only 2 hours of tweaking over one weekend.

2. Private Advertisers: I only created the Mr.Gadget advertising slots in May this year and they all sold out in 5 weeks! I made 3 main zones where people could advertise: main banner (468×60), Square side bar (140×140) and skyscraper banner (120×600). Tip: If you haven’t set up similar ad zones, I highly recommend that you do then creating an advertising page that provides details and cost. I recommend that you start cheap then raise prices as demand increases. Also speak to PR companies that deal in your niche for advertising opportunities. I’ll post again on techniques that I have employed to secure private advertisers in the upcoming weeks.

3. Selling Text Links: I have one advertiser who purchases one keyword-focused text link to his site every week – it’s an ongoing deal. This is a great arrangement, especially if the keyword is already used regularly as part of your website niche / market. Tip: Try approaching companies / suppliers in your niche and see if you can arrange something like this with them – outlining the benefits of having more keyword-specific incoming links.

4. Kontera: Just installed Kontera 2 weeks ago and it’s trickling money in. With Kontera’s In Text Advertising, the advertiser’s brand is linked to a relevant keyword appearing in the online content which is matched to the advertiser’s ad. Due to the nature of the double-click (user has to click on link first then ad link) required before commission is assigned, I don’t ever expect this to be as profitable as Adsense. Having said that, I’m keeping it on because it’s subtle and is compatible with my other advertisers. Tip: Suited more towards blogs with at good textual content i.e. if you have a photo blog, this may not be the best choice for you.

5. Reviewme.com: As the name suggests, ReviewMe.com pays you for reviewing advertisers websites and products on your blog. To be honest I’ve only reviewed two websites in the last 6 months I have been signed up with them, but if I did 2-5 a week this would move up to be one of my top 3 earners. Advertisers pay from $5 upwards for reviews. I normally do don’t any reviews for less than $20 due to time constraints and the value I place on my time.

6. Affiliate Programs: This is one area that I would like to devote more time to. Like Kontera, at the moment the revenue stream is small but consistent. If you know of any great affiliate programs please email or comment below. Currently signed up with Product Review and a couple of others.

Watch This Space!
As I get find ways to enhance each revenue stream, I’ll collate then present it on this blog for you guys to read so watch this space.

I’m always looking for more opportunities to expand my revenue online so if you have any suggestions please email me or comment below.