Web Moves Blog

At the end of my article about link shops I promised I’d show you a few more ways to monetize your sites and blogs. That’s what I’m going to do today. You’ll see that besides the 4 basic business models presented in the previous parts of this series, there are several alternatives and mixed plans that you can use to make money online.

1. Article marketing

You choose a good product to promote and select appropriate keywords. Then you write articles optimised for the search engines and publish them on article directories. People will read your articles and hopefully click on the links in your resource box, which will lead them to a sales page on your chosen product.

• This model is somewhat related to the fast money making sites and blogs that I discussed in part 1. However, there’s an advantage to article marketing: your articles are a way to develop a sort of relationship with potential buyers. If they like what you write, you will earn their trust, hence increasing conversions.
• Article marketing can also be used for link building. All of the monetization models discussed in this series might benefit from it.

2. Human-edited niche directories

• These aren’t your typical link shops. You must set clear, strict guidelines for link submission. Unrelated sites should be rejected, as well as sites with little or no content.

• This is a long term business model. By not approving all submitted links, you may lose money at a first moment. However, you will also show that you are serious about your directory, which will help you build a strong reputation. And this is the kind of directory that search engines are more likely to favour.

3. Informational resources

• They are like directories, with a fundamental difference in site structure: you first publish an informative article on a topic; then you place a related link list below it. Repeat this on all site sections.
• By providing information, instead of merely listing dozens of random links, you make your site more authoritative. Internet users will have stronger reasons to visit your directory and to click on links. Therefore, your site will look more attractive to webmasters; they will not only get backlinks, but also direct hits.
• For better results, it’s advisable that all sections on your informational resource deal with related subjects. Avoid general resources. If you want to attract more visitors and webmasters, you can always build more sites for different types of audience.

4. Visitor-oriented blogs and sites

• Why am I mentioning this monetization model again? Because it blends relatively well with other models (see client-catching sites for an example). It can even be combined with fast money making sites, which are its opposite.
• You can build a visitor-oriented blog and fill it with articles that, while relevant and helpful to readers, are also meant to make them take action (click on sponsor links, buy affiliate products, subscribe to newsletters etc.) as soon as they finish reading. This practice is a bit risky; it can harm the blogger’s reputation, making him/her look like a scammer. But it all depends on the blogger’s personality and boldness.
• A visitor-oriented blog or site can easily include a directory/link shop. Depending on the blogging platform you use, it may be especially easy to do, because several platforms allow you to build link lists on separated pages, as opposed to the traditional sidebar bogrolls. WordPress is a good, popular example.

This is the end of this monetization models series. Of course, it doesn’t mean I’ll never get back to this subject. Much in the contrary: you can be sure that on Li’l Engine you’ll always find several monetization ideas and tips.