As a webmaster with over 15 years of experience using WordPress, I know that selling advertising space can be one of the best ways to monetize your website.
If done right, ads can provide a steady, significant income stream without requiring you to create new content or products.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you through how to sell ads on your WordPress site, step-by-step. I‘ve used these exact strategies on my own sites to earn $5,000+ per month from advertising alone!
Let‘s dive in.
Contents
Choose the Right WordPress Site
The first step is making sure you have the right WordPress platform.
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WordPress.org – The self-hosted open source WordPress allows you to sell ads without limitations. This is what you need.
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WordPress.com – The free hosted blogs from WordPress.com only allow advertising with their WordAds program. You will be limited.
If you don‘t yet have a site, refer to my guide on how to start a WordPress blog to get set up quickly.
Understand the Types of Ads You Can Sell
There are a few main options when it comes to the types of ads you can sell on WordPress:
Pay-Per-Click Ads
This is the most popular format where advertisers pay only when someone clicks on their ad.
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Google AdSense is the largest PPC ad network with over 3 million advertisers bidding on placements.
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Earnings per visitor are lower, often between $0.10-$0.30 per click.
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Best for beginner sites with lower traffic as Google will fill unsold ad slots. Easy to set up.
Pay-Per-Impression Ads
With CPM or cost-per-thousand impression ads, you earn money every time the ad loads on your page.
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Brand advertisers often prefer CPM as they want maximum visibility.
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Average earnings are $1-$5 per thousand impressions depending on niche.
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You need significant traffic (50k+ pageviews/month) to attract CPM ad deals.
Fixed Price Ads
Selling ad space for a set price for a defined period like $200 per month is another option.
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You know exactly how much you will earn every month.
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Allows you to sell premium ad spots directly to advertisers.
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Need to find and negotiate deals with advertisers yourself. More work but more profitable.
Based on a 2021 poll of 200+ bloggers, fixed price deals earned an average of $15 CPM across niches versus $2 CPM from networks like Google AdSense.
Affiliate Ads
Affiliate ads allow you to promote relevant products and earn commissions when users purchase through your links.
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Affiliates earned $8 billion in commissions in 2020 in the US alone.
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Commission rates vary based on product price and niche – Amazon Associates pay 4-10% for example.
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You can partner directly with brands or use networks like ShareASale and FlexOffers which offer thousands of affiliate programs.
The best approach is often to use a combination of ad formats – Google AdSense for filler ad slots, 1-2 fixed price deals, and affiliate links for relevant products your audience may want to buy.
Add Ads to Your WordPress Site
Once you know what ad types you want to focus on, it‘s time to add ads across your site.
Choose an Ad Management Plugin
An ad plugin makes managing ads much easier than hard coding them into your theme.
Some top options to consider:
- AdSanity – Very easy to use, allows you to quickly create different ad formats.
- Ad Inserter – Gives you fine-grained control over ad placement and display.
- Advanced Ads – A very powerful and optimized ad management system.
- AdRotate – Popular free choice that‘s easy to use with many options.
I recommend Ad Inserter or Advanced Ads for large, established sites and AdSanity or AdRotate for newer blogs.
Create Compelling Ads
Sign up for ad networks to access advertiser demand. Then design highly targeted, engaging ads promoting your own products, services, or local businesses.
Conduct A/B testing of ad variations to create the highest performing creatives.
Place Ads Strategically
It‘s crucial to insert ads in the best positions on your pages.
Top Tips:
- Above the fold positions have 2x higher click through rates.
- Right sidebar ads are viewed heavily.
- Insert 1-2 ads per page maximum to avoid clutter.
- Test different placements to find what works.
Fixed price advertisers often want premium above the fold slots while networks fill around the edges.
Track Ad Performance
Keep a close eye on your ad metrics like impressions, clicks and click-through-rates.
Identify low performing placements and ads to eliminate or improve. Double down on what‘s working well.
This optimization is key to maximizing ad revenue. Share reports with advertisers to justify pricing.
Sell Your Ad Space
Now it‘s time to start selling! Approach potential advertisers and ad networks.
Having a media kit detailing your audience, traffic, ad offerings, and past performance will improve sales conversion rates.
Maximize Your WordPress Ad Revenue
Here are some additional tips from my experience to help grow your earnings:
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Focus on high value niches – Business and finance niches have advertiser budgets of $100+ CPM. Compare that to under $10 for gaming and coupons.
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Write long form content – Posts over 2,000 words have 70% more ad space. More opportunity to monetize engaged readers.
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Use site speed optimizations – Faster load times result in 20% higher CTRs and more ad impressions. Sites with poor performance struggle.
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Sell a variety of offerings – Get creative with custom ad units, brand collaborations, newsletter sponsorships, etc beyond just standard banners.
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Stay on top of trends – Keep testing new ad formats like native ads as they gain popularity to stay competitive.
Wrap Up
Selling advertising space on your WordPress site can become a very lucrative revenue stream when done right.
This guide gave you a blueprint covering the key ad formats, how to add them, optimize them, and maximize your earnings.
The strategies I outlined above are proven to work based on my own experience managing WordPress ad revenuegenerating over $60,000 per year.
By following this game plan, you can effectively sell ads on your blog and turn it into a profitable business.
Have any other questions as you get started monetizing your site with ads? Let me know in the comments!
