Summary: There are over 103 ways bloggers can make money, but this episode focused on the top 10 revenue sources reported by bloggers (Source: Digital Influence Report by Technorati). Ed, Jessie and Leon discussed the pros and cons of each revenue source. Before talking about the 10 monetization models, the discussion mentioned the 3 criteria we use when choosing a monetization model for our blogs: Sustainability (need to know that the blog has elements in place to last for years to come) Scalability (have to be able to take it from say $500 per month to $5000/$10,000 and more per month without completely overhauling your process) It must fit the theme of the site (regular readers must find it relevant and useful) Below are the top 10 revenue sources reported by bloggers. Percentages represent the percentage of bloggers using the monetization model: Banner Ads - 61%. Limits your revenue. Overlooks bigger sources of income Text Ads 51%: Adsense and text-links though ad networks. Bloggers have reported making so little now with Adsense it is no longer a viable option. Affiliate Programs - 41%. Google favors ecommerce sites for "buying" keywords. Hard to stay at the top of the search engines for quality keywords. Producing brand-sponsored content - 24%. Sponsored posts are fast becoming popular with bloggers. Not a perfect monetization model, but has a high return for the time investment. Producing brand-sponsored product reviews - 19%. Posting brand content - 19%. Ecommerce - 17%. In order to do any decent volume you will have to partner with Amazon Other - 10%: Selling a service. If you want to buy yourself a full-time job - this is for you. Collecting Subscription Fees - 7%: Membership sites. The typical life for a member is 3 months.Hard to turn into a sustainable business Gating Content - 3%. You will miss out on search traffic. Must be a name brand to make this work. A short discussion of brand partnership model ensued. 3 of the top 10 revenue sources on the list involve some form of brand partnership. In fact, we have identified 18 forms of brand partnership. We believe brand partnership is the future for monetizing your blog. The next podcasts will delve deeper into the world of brand partnership. Link to the Technorati Digital Influence Report You can download the transcript of podcast 103 here. Join the discussion on Facebook here. Or join us on our Linkedin Group here.
