I’ve noticed from reading other blogs, readers seem to enjoy learning how other sites make money.
So I’ve developed a “Top 7″ list of my top income generators based on nothing more than monthly income earned.
Note: This list is from all my sites combined.
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1. Wild West Domains
This program is a great example of why you should look for affiliate or reseller programs in your niche that pay residual commissions.
If my site got wiped out today, I would still be able to live off the residual income I’ve generated since joining this program in 2002.
If you have a site that targets Webmasters, reselling domains and web hosting is a great way to build a long-term income that continues to grow and grow.
As a reseller, you receive your own customizable website that allows you to set your prices and determine your profit.
Wild West Domains handles all the customer and technical support, so all you do is promote your own reseller store.
It would be hard for any other affiliate program to bump this from the #1 spot.
2. SiteSell
I’ve been receiving checks from SiteSell’s affiliate program since 1999, but nothing like the ones I started getting when I bought Site Build It! and displayed my own success story.
This was my biggest lesson in the importance of knowing and actually using products you refer from your site.
SiteSell’s affiliate program pays a generous $75 per Site Build It! sale, plus residuals on all yearly renewals.
I really wish more affiliate programs would put the same amount of time and energy SiteSell does into helping affiliates.
I’ve never known another company to offer so many tools to help their affiliates make sales. From videos with your affiliate links embedded in them to over 60 audience-relevant landing pages, this program has it all.
3. Affiliate Networks (CJ.com, ShareASale.com, etc.)
I promote a variety of products that I find on some of the larger affiliate networks. From web software, web hosting, HTML editors, to anything I can find that’s useful and related to my audience.
Belonging to an affiliate network has its advantages…
1) If you’re looking for a specific product to promote, you can do a search to see if there are any relevant affiliate programs that offer the product.
2) You can join multiple programs with a few mouse clicks.
3) All of your earnings are tracked in one place, so you have one-stop reporting instead of multiple affiliate account logins.
The downside is that many companies who run their affiliate programs through large networks tend to have sub-par customer support.
There have been many occasions where I’ve sent an email to a company I’m affiliated with through CJ and never received a response. Companies that run their own in-house affiliate programs seem to have better customer support over all.
Nevertheless, large affiliate networks are definitely worth exploring, particularly if you’re looking for a specific product to promote on your site or blog.
4. AdSense
I hate using the term “easy money”, but if you have enough traffic, AdSense has got to be one of the easiest way to generate an income from your site or blog.
AdSense performs much better on my sites not targeted to Webmasters and Bloggers - which is a big reason why you don’t see AdSense on this blog.
Bloggers and Webmasters tend to be immune to Google ads so they ignore them. However on my fitness site, my click-thru ratio has been as high as 8 or 9%.
My main site, 2CreateAWebSite.com, does OK with AdSense because it gets enough traffic to make displaying the ads worthwhile.
5. ClickBank
With ClickBank, you really have to feel it out and see what works for you. Even though it’s on my Top 7 list, I must admit there is a lot of garbage on ClickBank.
Many of the eBooks you can sell are a bunch of recycled facts you can find anywhere on the web.
They are usually promoted by an over-hyped landing page with a loud sales pitch that promises you to either get rich quick, lose weight tomorrow, or get out of debt in seconds.
However, if you really comb through the ClickBank marketplace, you can find some winners. I was able to find a few good digital products to promote that convert well on my sites.
The great thing about ClickBank is that the commissions are extremely high since product development and delivery costs are low. You could earn up to $75 on certain products in their marketplace.
6. AdBrite
Many people use AdBrite’s cost per click program (similar to AdSense). However, I use them to manage my own flat-rate ads.
I have various advertising spots on 2CreateAWebSite.com where I charge a flat fee for the week, month, etc. and AdBrite manages the payments, ad rotation, etc.
If you’re looking to offer advertising on your site, but don’t want to deal with collecting the payments and setting up an ad rotation script, you may want to check into AdBrite.
They still have some kinks to work out (support response time, ad rotation options, better targeting for network ads, etc.) but they are getting better with time.
7. Amazon.com
With its extremely low commission payout, it’s amazing this even made it to number 7.
Even though Amazon only pays 3-4% on most products, it’s still not a bad program to belong to because they sell almost every product known to man.
They also have widgets you can place on your pages that will display a small selection of products that match the theme of your site.
Let’s say you have a site on stress relief, you can add an Amazon widget that will display 3-4 books on stress relief with links directly to the product pages.
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I didn’t create this list so you’ll join all seven programs here. Many of these programs perform well on my sites because of my traffic and theme. Of course, you’ll have to discover what works best for your audience.
I encourage you to diversify your income streams as much as you can. If you are only earning from AdSense, join some of the larger networks (CJ, ShareASale, etc.) to look for other relevant products.
Take a peek at AssociatePrograms.com. Allan has a nice directory of affiliate programs organized by subject.
And finally, don’t discount lower paying programs like Amazon.com. Even at .50 cents per sale, if you can sell large volumes, that money can add up over time.
The large product selection and brand recognition is what keeps Amazon.com on the list of good affiliate programs to join.
