I’ll be honest, you’re unlikely to be able to give up your day job on the proceeds, but if you have a website you do have the opportunity to make a little extra cash. Thankfully, you don’t need to pepper your site with popup musical flash banners to see results.
Google AdSense
If you’ve ever been on a site with Google text ads sitting unobtrusively at the bottom or down the side, its owner’s making money with Google AdSense. This is a great option if you run a small business or hobby site – Google will take a look at the content of your website and deliver ads which are relevant, so there’s a greater chance of your readers being interested enough to click. You’ll be paid a portion of what the advertiser pays each time someone clicks on an ad on your site. You can adjust the format of the ads so that they stand out on your website or look more subtle, according to your preferences.
More information: Google AdSense.
Affiliate Schemes
There are a couple of different ways to earn money through affiliate schemes.
The first is to sign up directly to schemes offered by companies whose products you think will appeal to your readers.
For example, if you sign up to the Daily Affiliate Scheme and put a banner on your site (we’ll give you a choice so you can pick whatever works best for you), all you need to do is wait for the affiliate payments to start rolling in. We’ll give you a £10 credit just for joining, and then 30% on any confirmed sales resulting from clicks.
Other affiliate schemes:
Amazon
eBay
iTunes
For access to a wider variety of merchants, you could sign up to one of the big affiliate networks like TradeDoubler. Signing up is usually free and gives you the option to sift for merchants that are a good fit with your site and are offering a good rate of commission. You’ll be able to add their banners to your site and once people start to click on those you’ll generally make money on any resulting sales.
Some top affiliate websites for you to check out:
TradeDoubler
Commission Junction
Affiliate Future
Affiliate Window
