Show Me the Money

Well if you are a regular here than you should be aware that I do quite indulge in the Advertising quotient when it comes to blogging. There is a famous Hindi line which goes something like this “Ghar aati hui Laxmi ko khabi na nahi kehate”….in English words meaning “Never say no to easy money”.

Since I do spend more than required time on my blogs, I believe it’s perfectly alright if rake in a few bucks while at it. The rule is simple – don’t shove your ads in the readers face, keep them subtle but visible.

Over the past few months, I have worked a bit around quite a few Ad Networks and while some did wonders there were many more which ended up being just a waste of blog space.

Here is a look at some of the Publisher programs offered by Internet Advertising firms in India and across borders along with my two bits on them.

Google AdSense – In other words, the big daddy of virtual advertising world. If you have decent blog traffic (around 300+ unique hits a day) then you can expect regular earning via Google Ads. I get on an average around 700 hits and earn around $2.00 per day. And this is purely from “AdSense for content” alone. Its best feature ofcourse is that you can easily change ad codes to go with the color theme of your blog, plus the ads displayed are mostly in sync with the content of your personal space. The only drawback I see is in the payment system – since your earnings comes directly from Uncle Sam’s pocket (USA); it takes good 3-4 weeks for your cheque to arrive via normal airmail. Unless you have subscribed for courier service, which takes just a week but burns your pocket by $25 every month.

Text Link Ads – With these guys, a good traffic and Alexa Rank is a pre-requisite inorder to get a nod for their publisher program. They basically work as a shop front which displays your blog as a commodity on sale to prospective buyers. TLA sets an amount for each advertised link (works on monthly basis) and gulps in 50% of your earnings for their service. Requires just a one time code installation which could be a bit tricky for some. Choosing of appropriate category to place your blog under could really make the difference. For example, TEIO was first placed in the Entertainment category and I barely got any ad links…since the competition is pretty steep here. Then couple of months back, I decided to go with the People and Culture bracket and shazaammm….at present I have 5 ad spots filled. Till date I have earned over $300 using this ad network. A PayPal account is a must.

Tyroo – Sadly didn’t work as per my expectations. The reason why I decided to go with them was firstly it’s an Indian firm based in India so therefore your income is in Rupees. Secondly their client service department not only makes sense but thankfully doesn’t work by Indian Standard Time – meaning they are very fast in their responses. However all this doesn’t matter when you are not getting what you are actually there for…right? In 6 months I earned a mere amount of Rs. 600, that’s it. The reason behind this could be shortage of ad inventory at their end. Many a times in a banner size display, all the visible ads belonged to the same company thereby resulting is loss of potential income.

Vizu Polls – To describe this advertising program I can only think of one line which we have heard many times on our tele-screen during Maggie Tomato Ketchup commercials – “It’s different”. Here one makes money from Vizu’s Clients who would like to ask questions of the unique audience that frequents a respective blog or website. The best bit I like about Vizu is that it helps in interaction between my blog and my readers. Plus the bonus bit is that it doesn’t take away your visitors to someone else’s virtual space. Poll layout can be tuned to fit your blog theme. Just like TLA they eat-in 50% of your revenue but here you can set your own CPM rate. Initially I started off with CPM of $1.50 and now I am set on $3.00. In 2 months I have earned around $100. A definite try-out is what I would say.

Ads for Indians – It’s just been a month or so since I singed up with these guys therefore cant really form an opinion on them as of now. The funda here is that ONLY Indian sites catering to Indian traffic are eligible to join. A minimum of Rs. 2 per click + Performance bonus + Commission on Premium Ads = Your Income. Unlike Tyroo, AFI is aptly stocked with advertisers though some of their displayed ads can make your blog layout look a bit shabby. Ad block colors could be played with to suit your taste and source codes are easy to install, just like Google AdSense.

Then there were others like AdVolcano, Clicksor, ADster, ExpoActive, etc who managed to produce only “zero” results.

A blogging Guru (who also happens to be a good friend) once told me “Treat your blog space as your house. Neither let it get messy nor rent it for cheap”. So choose wisely because believe me some are there only to dupe you.

If you are a newbie with the whole blog monetization process, I would advise you to start of with ONLY Google AdSense. Once you are a bit experienced, then you can afford to explore infinite possibilities.

But yeah….in all this money making jing-bang be careful not screw up your basic necessities.