How to make some extra income with your website and blog – Realistic expectations
There are way too many ads on the Internet that will promise you a huge income with just a little effort from your side. If you expect an easy or a quick way to get rich, then I recommend you to stop reading this blog post any further.
If something is too good to be true, then it usually is. If someone promises you on an advertisement banner a $300/hour income…You might want to ask yourself “Where can I sign-up?”..Well…joking aside. Exaggeration can be great on some ads, but sometimes it goes totally out of control, and some online ads goes more on a comic side. If the Internet would be a full of “making millions sitting at home” job opportunities that actually work, who would do a “normal work” anymore? Why would anyone send out and emails to strangers, if making money is so easy? I doubt that they would have to let strangers to know about these job opportunities… I’ll never seen a guy (or a girl) on real life that makes money purely online. Have you heard from a guy who lives just by his advertising revenues? Me neither…. if you have. I’m guessing you heard this from your online friend?
Is it possible to make money online then? Yes it is. Just don’t set your expectations too high. You can make some pocket money by adding ads to your website. On this blog post, I’m only listing reliable and well known companies that has been online for years. And also from whom I have had first hand experience.
Important! Before your sending your applications to these advertisers, make sure you have read their terms and conditions!
Adsense, Amazon Associates, iHerb and Tradedoubler – Best ways to get an extra income?
1. iHerb.com – Vitamins, health products etc. – Offers discount coupon
One of biggest names in health product business. I order products regularly from iHerb, and I would recommend their products to my family and friends, even if I wouldn’t’ get a dime! It’s easier to recommend health products or any other products when you have actually used them.
For the health food/superfood and other bloggers this is certainly the best way to make some extra money. If you have a large amount of friends on the social media, you should gain referrals rather easy. How the referral thing work with iHerb?
Here is how much income you get from sales:
Level 1 – 4% – those who have used your coupon code)
Level 2 – 3% – when levels above you have shared their code, and so on…
Level 3 – 2%
Level 4 – 1%
More about the iHerb’s reward system: http://rewards.iherb.com/
According to the iHerb website here is the estimated income you can expect:
“Recent data analysis, conducted in October 2011, found that iHerb customers referring 3 or more people over a year ago earned an average of $240.00. And the figure for customers referring 10 or more people was $640.00.”
How to get started with iHerb affiliate program? visit: www.iherb.com Make your first order with a coupon YUY952 and you will receive up to $10.00 discount. Once you have done your first order, you will then get your personal code that you can start to promote.
iHerb.com – Pros and Cons:
+ You can start earning without a website
+ International (ships almost all over the world)
+ If you have many friends (also on Facebook and other social media), you should gain your first referrals pretty easily.
+ Multilevel commission. Commission is paid up to four sub-levels!
+ Ad-blockers won’t block your ads!
+ You can advertise on your website, discussion forum signatures, bulletin boards (gym, flea market etc..), give the coupon to your colleagues at work etc..
+ New $10 coupon for orders over $40 = higher commission thanks to bigger orders
– No revenue from impressions or clicks
– You need to build your own ads
– Starting up can be hard, if you don’t have that many friends, or you don’t use social media.
– Multi-level marketing has a bad reputation.
– Jealousy. People doesn’t like links that have a referral code in it, even if there is nothing to lose. iHerb and other referral based services allows blogger and website owners to earn from their hard work.
More about iHerb on my other blog post: 7 reasons why iHerb is my favourite affiliate network?
2. Google Adsense
Ad service provided by the Google. If you haven’t heard about Adsense before, this must be your first time on the Internet. Google Adsense works on both PPC (Pay-Per-Click) and impressions (PPV = Pay Per View). Google Adsense is easy to set up, and it’s a well known and trusted. Biggest flaw with the Google Adsense is it’s weakness against ad-blockers.
More details: Adsense.com
Google AdSense Pros & Cons:
+ Setting up Google adsense account is easy (for example if you have a Blogspot blog platform in use, there it can be installed directly)
+ Possibility to display ads as images or as text only
+ Payments are made directly to your bank account
+ Google will pay for both clicks (PPC) and impressions (PPV) (fees may vary depending on the advertiser)
– No commission from sales
– Ad sizes are pre-set (choice is moderate)
– Ads can be blocked easily via Ad blocker add-ons and other software.
3. Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk – Amazon Associates
With Amazon your earning are based on commission. Associates earn up to 10% in referral fees on all qualifying revenue made through their links. I’m also a regular buyer on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. I recommend their services to many of my friends.
Get started with Amazon: Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates – Pros & Cons:
+ Possible to make your own referral links (as above), so the adblocker won’t work
+ More you sell, the higher the commission percentage will be.
+ Amazon’s ad tools are filled with possibilities
+ Kindle
+ Huge amount of products to promote
– If your country doesn’t have it’s “own Amazon”. It might be harder to get sales.
– Ad-blocking software will prevent the general image ads completely
– No revenue from clicks or impressions
4. TradeDoubler
Tradedoubler is available on the following countries: Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Russia, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, United Kingdom
Tradedoubler is a PPC and commission based. You should read the terms and conditions carefully, before applying for any of the advertisers.
Get started: Tradedoubler.com
Tradedoubler – Pros and Cons:
+ PPC and commission based.
+ Allows you to make your own ref-links (prevents adblockers to block your ads)
+ Paying revenue directly to the bank account
+ Possibility to display ads in pictures or just a plain text (link)
+ Commissions from sales and clicks (depending on the advertiser)
– If your application gets rejected by the advertiser, it’s not possible to apply again to the same advertiser. Make sure your site is following the guideline set by the advertiser, before applying!
– Ad-blocking software blocks image ads completely.
– PPC amount set by some advertisers can be very low.
5. LinkShare
Review coming later!
Important! Before your sending your applications to any of these advertisers, make sure you have read their terms and conditions!
This page was last time updated: August 28, 2013
Believe it or not, but this blog does not write it self. If you liked this post:
Support this blog and buy your health products from iHerb.com, and get a 5 dollar discount from your first order by using coupon YUY952 – Try it, love it, share it.