Earning Money as a Citizen Journalist

Citizen journalism is monetizing through the spidery limbs of the massive network that is the internet. Before the World Wide Web exploded, one could possibly only earn money as a journalist by selling articles, pictures or leads to print newspapers and magazines.

The advent of blogs created the dynamic intermingling of local with global perspectives, while empowering each blogger into the status of a self-published opinionist. Gradually communities with editorial capabilities like Digg and Newsvine emerged. Citizen Bay is one such website which promotes journalism from the ground up.

Driven by user-generated content and interaction, Citizen Bay allows you to make money online by submitting news articles, original media and opinion essays about your city and neighborhood.

An excerpt from their FAQ reads:

How do I earn money on Citizenbay?

There are two ways to get paid with Citizenbay:

(A) Every day the top 10 most popular news stories attached to each primary city are rewarded with money.. “Most popular” stories are ranked by the votes of Citizenbay users. To be rewarded, a news story must have been voted on by at least 15 different users.

An author/publisher can earn up to $5 (USD) per day for each article written/published :

• $1 if the article is without attached media,
• $1.5 with 2 photos attached,
• $3 with podcasts,
• $5 with videos,
• or $1 for each news article seeded

The maximum payout is $100 per author/publisher a day. The author/publisher will be paid at the end of each month, if earnings for the month have reached a minimum of $20, or at the end of the month in which unpaid earnings reach $20

(B) Recurring long term revenue for Ambassadors : Ambassadors are entitled to get a recurring revenue from the advertising attributable from their posts . Bronze ambassadors will get 50% of the revenue collected, Silver 75% , Gold 100% . Payments will be made once a month at the end of the month.

DOSH DOSH REVIEW

Citizen Bay is rather new and so there is understandably a great lack in traffic and exposure. I registered for their program and found that there were only two other users for my city, Toronto. No events, opinions or classifieds were listed and the city page is almost a clean sheet of empty web.

Nothing a little marketing and growth won’t change, I guess. I really do like the way how the community is divided according to geographic locations. Being grouped into specific cities keeps the content relevant and motivates users to interact with each other.

If you spend time in several cities, you might find it vaguely nostalgic to read about your favorite haunts. This of course, is hypothetical and will be an actuality when Citizen Bay picks up on the traffic and gets a lot more users involved.

Screenshots of New York, the most popular city in Citizen Bay:

News Section.


Events Section.

As you can tell, the color scheme changes when you select the different tabs. Submitting articles, events and opinions just takes one click and the forms are pretty easy to fill up.

How much you earn with Citizen Bay very much depends on the community around you. You’ll need votes to propel your posts into the group of most popular users, including the cultivated revenue-sharing Ambassador position.

This isn’t too difficult if you have a big network of friends in the same city and should be achievable when Citizen Bay is at early stages of site building. The difficulty of earning money would possibly increase as the website becomes more popular and well-known.

What’s Cool

• User friendly navigation
• Good potential for a strong community
• Strong journalistic ethic frowns on spam/self promotion.
• High maximum earning ratio ($100 per day)

What’s Not

• No referral bonus
• Lack of traffic = weak earnings
• Strict Ambassador prerequisites
• No traditional forum for user support & interaction

Shareapic - Earn money by uploading pictures Website Review

Have you collected many wonderful pictures in your computer, maybe taken by yourself, maybe found online. Do you wanna find an online space to store your pictures? Do you wanna earn some extra money when others view your pictures?

Now you can get paid just by uploading pictures in Sharepic!
Sharepic is a great community for photographers or those who like collecting pictures, whatever you take by yourself, or just download from other sites. You can upload all of your pictures to Sharepic. Sharepic provides you a space to keep your pictures online. Also if others view your pictures, you can be paid depending on number of image views of your pictures.

Getting Started:
Step 1: Create a new gallery
Step 2: Click the gallery to upload images(No Adult Contents!)
Step 3: Get thumbnail linking code to generate image views

Sharepic provides you some tools to promote your pictures. In your own galleries, you can generate some image codes which you can put these codes to your MSN space,blogs or websites. The thumbnail You pictures will be displayed as Clickable thumbnails. If your vistors to your blogs or spaces are interested in your pictures, they may click on the thumnail to have a look, ya, okay, you begin to earn money. Also you can send some links of your pictures to your friends, and that's also a good way to improve image views.

Ok, if you have many pictures, have your own blogs or MSN space or websites, and have many friends, Sharepic is a great place for you to earn some extra money when share your wonderful pictures with others.
now the payrate is about $0.22 for per 1000 pic view.

I thought $0.22 is very little for 1000 pic click. Then I upload almost 500 pics in 4 Galleries in my account. After some time, I saw that there was only $ 0.0087 in my account.That time, I were building my website. I though that if I Promote the my account link in website, it could get more clicks. I did it and got best result. I made a banner and link it in my website. My Shareapic account started reaching $ 8-10 everyday. It's easy to earn extra money!

it's free to join, why not have a try!

26 Affiliate Marketing and Webmaster Forums to help you Make Money Online

One of the best ways to learn how to make lots of money online is to interact with like-minded individuals who are equally dedicated to making money on the internet. Nobody knows every single trick in the book and making sure your efforts are profitable in the long run requires some knowledge of proven strategies or methods for optimum results.

The best and easiest way to develop this knowledge is to visit forums that offer valuable information on topics like affiliate marketing, search engine optimization, Pay per Click Advertising and freelancing.

Webmaster forums like Digital Point and Site Point teach you how to create, promote and monetize a website. Affiliate marketing forums like Wicked Fire will give you the lowdown on effective ways to maximize your affiliate commissions.

Seven Ways Forums can help you make money online

Here are seven specific ways in which forum can contribute to your goal of making money online.

• Marketing and Promotion. Forums are a great way to promote your online business, brand or service because you’ll get to reach a large relevant audience easily by simply contributing to the community.
• Networking and Business Opps. You might just meet a fellow blogger, webmaster or business partner that wants to collaborate on a specific project or venture.
• Scam Verification. Wanna know if a dubious looking website actually pays its users? Forums are the best place to check.
• Referral & Affiliate Booster. Forums are a perfect channel to promote your affiliate or referral link. Heavily trafficked forums with thousands of readers are an excellent way to get successful referral conversions. Just remember not to spam or you’ll easily get banned.
• Free Signature Backlinks. Signature links from reputable forums will help new websites to be indexed by search engines. You can also sell your signature links for money or use it to promote your website or affiliate programs.
• Money Making Knowledge. Knowing is half the battle won. Forums are great ways to discover new ways or methods of making money online.
• Troubleshooting & Appraisals. Maybe you don’t understand why your Adsense CTR is so dreadful, or why your blog has terrible search engine rankings. Forums are an easy way to refine your money making techniques or troubleshoot technical issues.

Webmaster Forums / Website Monetization / SEO / Marketplaces

1. Digital Point

• 

  Digital Point is by far my favorite webmaster forum because of its size. There are over 24,000 active members and the forum offers a great deal of information on topics like Search Engine Optimization, Link building, affiliate marketing, pay-per-click advertising, domain investing and blogging.

  Digital Point also has a large and free marketplace for the buying and selling of links, templates, domains and websites. If you’ve only got time for one webmaster forum, Digital Point is the forum you should visit.

  
  2. V7N Forum

  

  V7N is a big and lively forum with lots of newbie and experience webmasters. Their SEO forum sees the most action while other forums on graphic design, marketing and web directories are pretty active as well. Recommended if you want to learn more about webmastering.

  
  3. Sitepoint

  

  A large forum on web design, programming and site promotion. The very popular SitePoint Marketplace is a great place to sell or buy websites, services and site templates.

  
  4. WebmasterWorld

  

  An established forum with information on domain names, webmaster technology, search engines, SEO and link development. Sorta like Digital Point but with less members.

  
  5. SEO Chat

  

  SEO Chat is a forum that focuses more on SEO for webmasters. They offer free site reviews as well as a lot of information on Yahoo, Google and MSN search optimization. There’s also a tiny section on Affiliate Marketing, PPC and keywords.

  
  6. Earners Forum

  

  A fast growing Forum on webmaster topics such as monetization, blogging and freelancing. Has a nice monetization section and How-To section which beginners can ask experts specific questions.

  
  7. High Rankings.com

  

  A search engine optimization forum that specializes in only SEO strategies and troubleshooting. Includes tips on keyword research, link building and online copy writing. Good information on PPC advertising, search engine marketing and branding.
  
  8. Self Starters Weekly Tips

  

  A forum about making money from websites and ebusinesses. Includes info on networking, SEO, Online marketing, PPC advertising, blogging and domain names. Lots of helpful forum members here.
  
  

  Internet and Affiliate Marketing / Pay per Click Advertising / Adsense Arbitrage
  
  9. Wicked Fire

  

  My second favorite forum after Digital Point. Lots of gritty gray-hat and black-hat SEO and affiliate marketing stuff here and there’s really a lot of learn. Wicked Fire offers a lot of good information on adsense arbitrage and affiliate marketing/ traffic building.

  The community is very active and it might be a little intimidating for complete newbies but do a search before you ask any questions and you’ll be fine.

  
  10. Warrior Forum

  

  A forum that specializes on topics such as internet marketing products, Adsense, PPC advertising and search engine optimization. Includes a small free ebook section as well as a self-improvement section. Didn’t like the forum interface but you might find some useful information here.

  11. ABest Web

  

  Has a vibrant internet marketing community that’s very friendly. The forum includes a comprehensive section on Commission Junction and Shareasale as well as an affiliate academy for newbies and other experienced marketers. A good forum to visit.

  12. 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums

  

  A forum with some decent information on affiliate networks such as Shareasale and AzoogleAds. Also covers RSS Marketing, Adsense and SEO/SEM.

  
  13. Affiliate Programs Forum

  

  Associate Programs has a fair number of users. They have a section for newcomers to affiliate marketing as well as a helpful section on the different affiliate networks. Some SEO information as well.

  
  14. Ewealth

  

  Ewealth has a large affiliate network corner which features the usual affiliate companies like Clickbank, Comission Junction, Linkshare and Shareasale. There’s also a good section on PPC and Paid advertising as well as a small marketplace for the trading of domain names and services.

  
  15. Affiliates4U

  

  A UK affiliate marketing forum that offers UK specific affiliate network information. There are also sections on the website which discuss general website promotion, SEO, web security, PPC and affiliate management.
  
  
  Get Paid To, AutoSurfs and High Yield Investment Program Forums
  

  16. Get Paid Forum

  

  A very large forum that specializes in Get Paid to Websites which pay you to do surveys, click on ads, read emails or complete offers. There is a very excellent downline builder subsection of the forum which allows you to build you referral downlines for traffic exchanges, affiliate programs and get paid to website.

  
  17. Dream Team Money

  

  A forum that exclusively specializes in High Yield Investment Programs, Autosurfs, Multi level marketing as well as Get Paid to programs. Also includes sections in stocks, forex and properties.

  Excellent place to visit when you need information before investing in a specific program. A forum with a very large member base.

  18. Whydowork.com

  

  A forum with sections on affiliate marketing, get paid to websites, MLM opportunities, scam reporting as well as reselling & drop shipping. Pretty much a general forum with bits of information on various topics.

  
  19. Goldage

  

  Goldage mainly deals with all matters concerning digital currency investments as well forex and HYIP programs. A very referral friendly forum so visit them if you’ve got a referral program to share.

  
  
  Work from Home Jobs / Freelancing / Multi Level Marketing
  
  20. Work at Home Forum

  

  A nice forum focusing on areas such as business opportunities, multi level marketing, web design, autosurfs and paid surveys. Most of the members are not part of the webmaster crowd but rather offline marketers and stay at home mums and dads.

  
  21. WAHM.com

  

  Work At Home Mum (WAHM) is a great forum to visit because it has large number of active users that are friendly and helpful. Topics include traditional work from home jobs and businesses such as gift basket and craft selling, as well as basic marketing and get paid to programs. Great forum to share a referral link if you have a program to promote.

  
  22. Talk Freelance

  

  A forum that specializes in all sorts of online freelance jobs such as web design design and programming. A great place to frequent if you are designer programmer looking for a paid assignment.

  
  

  Domain Name Investing / Domain Marketplaces
  

  
  23. NamePros

  

  A forum that focuses on domaining and information about monetized domain parking, domain appraisals and other domain name discussions. If you’re new to domaining, check out the domain newbies section. There’s a lot of great tips on how to get started with domaining.

  
  24. DN Forum

  

  A large and active forum that focuses on making money with domains. Sections of the forum include a strong marketplace for anyone who’s planning to sell or buy a domain. Also includes domain name auctions as well as domain brokerage and legal issues concerning domains.
  
  
  Money Making Scam Busting
  
  25. Scam.com

  

  A forum that specializes in exposing all types of online and offline scams. This is the first place to visit before you start investing serious money and time in the latest High Yield Investment Program or internet career kit. Information about online scams are located in the “Internet Scams” section of the forum. They have an enormous archive with hundreds of threads on the scams.

  
  
  Blog Forums
  

  26. Blogger Forum

  

  The largest blog forum on the internet. Blogger forum has has information on blog coding, monetization as well as blog promotion.

  The forum is fairly active and is a good place to visit when you want to exchange links for your new blog.

Affiliate Video Sharing - A Review of Guba Guba

Social Video websites usually operate via profit-sharing models which allow users to earn money based on the popularity of their submitted videos. GUBA is an interesting video site that eschews this format for an aggressive affiliate program: You’ll earn $25 for every 100 new signups you send to GUBA.

You don’t need to submit any videos and there isn’t a need to bother with Adsense and video rankings. Guba basically makes you do all the legwork for their marketing campaign and pays you via their video-based affiliate scheme.

Some important FAQ from their website:

I don’t live in the United States, can I still be a GUBA Affiliate?

If you have substantial US traffic, you are encouraged to become an affiliate, since currently we only pay for referred customers who reside in the US.

How are payouts determined?

Each time a referral from your site or blog signs up for a free GUBA account using a valid US email address, you get paid $0.25. Send us 100 referrals, you get paid $25. Send us a 1,000, you get paid $250. The more referrals you send us, the more you get paid. Simple as that.

How often will I get paid?

You will get paid every two weeks via check. The minimum commission threshold is $25.

Warning: Some of these videos are NSFW.

Finally, GUBA’s profit model brings about several questions. How will they distinguish between valid signups and spammers with fake users? There isn’t any submission prerequisite so you can possibly sign up other users who basically don’t have to do anything but park their profile. The whole thing can disintegrate into a multi-level cross-referral nightmare if GUBA doesn’t do some hardcore IP tracking and affiliate monitoring.

What’s Cool.

• Embedded videos serve as affiliate links
• Hassle-free earning potential - Just post your link and monitor.
• RSS function & Ipod/PSP one-click download

What’s Not.

• Does GUBA really pay?
• Referrals limited to U.S residents
• Lots of competition from other video sites
• Payment limited to check only. No online methods available.

RightCart - Commissions & Shopping Widgets

Selling stuff online has always been a tried and tested way to make money online. There are basically a zillion places where you list your gear for sale, two of my favorite websites being Ebay and Craigslist.

However, Ebay involves some work in setting up a decent store and Craigslist has weak functionality when it comes to sales automation. Enter RightCart, a free embeddable shopping cart which allows bloggers and webmasters to sell or promote products on their websites.

If you have a product to sell, you could list it through their website and it will appear instantly on websites which are running the RightCart shopping widget. If you want to earn commission from promoting other people’s products, you’ll just have to put up a widget on your site. More on this from their FAQ:

“As a Publisher, you now have the ability to enable sales to occur directly “in-page” through your website. For example, if a user is reading one of your blog posts that talks about your favorite pair of shoes, the user can add the pair of shoes into your RightCart, buy them, and continuing reading your article.

This means a lot of things:

* Your user is still on your website, and, still on the same page.
* You just earned a commission on the item you sold.
* The user will most likely remember that they bought the pair of shoes from your website.”

Signing up is free and if you’re a vendor (seller), RIghtCart takes 1% of the sale. As a publisher, you’ll stand to make a commission of 2 to 19% every time someone buys an item from your webpage.

Here’s a brief demo of how RightCart works. Imagine a scenario whereby I want to promote some books that help people understand how to make money on the internet.

I’ve selected a book that I like and now am ready to include it onto my blog post. There are three ways you can do it: In the form of a text link, add to cart button or image link.

Example of a Text Link

Multiple Streams of Internet Income: How Ordinary People Make Extraordinary Money Online, 2nd Edition

Example of a Add to Cart Button

Example of a Image Link

You’ll be able to buy the item instantly, without leaving the page. Pretty nifty, isn’t it?

For a clearer view on how to set up a shopping widget right on your blog, check out these mini video screencasts..

What’s Cool.

• Addition element of interactivity
• Users can buy listed items without leaving your website
• Digital downloads can be sold to users.
• Good viral marketing if you have a product to sell
• Easy to setup - Copy n Paste Javascript
• Site owners can actively/directly promote a product
• Good for blogs with a strong readership

What’s Not

• Limited Items available - might not fit your site content
• Lack of possible user trust for the security of the Shopping Widget
• Didn’t like the fact that RightCart’s brand was plastered all over the cart.

Jellyfish - Get Cash from Referral Purchases

Jellyfish (aff) is a commission-based search engine that gives you cash back whenever you buy anything from their website. Users can search for specific products that they like and click to buy it directly from the online retailer’s website. Jellyfish earns from your purchase and will send at least half of their commissions back to you in the form of a check.

How can you actually make money online with their setup? Through their lucrative referral program which allows you to get a year’s worth of credit from referrals who use make purchases through Jellyfish.

This means that you’ll actually get cash from all the purchases your friends make at Jellyfish for the period of one year. How much money will you get? This varies according to the product, but Jellyfish has claimed that they will give you 50% of their commissions to you whenever your referral buys something through their search engine.

Here’s an example from their website:

“Your friend buys a $1,000 television from a store in the Jellyfish.com buying engine earns and 10% cash back:

• We collect 20% commission from the store for your friend’s purchase ($200)
• Your friend gets $100 cash back (10%), lowering her bottom line price to $900
• You get $50 cash back (half of what we make on the sale) in your Jellyfish.com account

Attractive, but a little unrealistic. I don’t think anyone would really buy a thousand dollar TV online but it could happen. This example does however illustrate how you can actually make money by promoting Jellyfish to the right crowd.

What kind of people should I refer to Jellyfish?

You’ll want referrals that will actually spend money online because Jellyfish doesn’t have a multi-tiered referral program. If your referral doesn’t make any purchases, you won’t earn a cent.

Try pitching this website to friends or family who often buy stuff from online retailers. Not everyone will understand how Jellyfish works, so I would suggest explaining the process in some detail. This will make it easier for them to understand and they’ll appreciate the value of actually getting money back for their purchases.

Apart from friends/family, stay-at-home or work-at-home mums are the perfect target market you’ll want to reach because 1) They’re likely to make purchases for the household/family 2) They are more likely to be attracted to the cash back offer because they manage household finances.

Try searching forums and blog search engines for your target audience and draft a polite forum message, comment or email. I would suggest actually spending some time interacting with your potential referrals before actually promoting the program.

It’s important to get that first purchase out of your referrals because anyone who’s taken the big step of actually buying something through Jellyfish, is likely to repeat the process. No point aggressively pushing your referral link: Make sure that your referrals are comfortable with using Jellyfish as a way of saving money on the products they normally purchase online.

How can I promote Jellyfish?

It’ll be great if you could do a short writeup on your blog, if you have one. I think product review blogs would do great because you’re actually directly or indirectly pushing products to your readers through your blog posts. Integrate Jellyfish into your posts in the form of a plain text link and explain that they’ll actually get a lower price when they sign up and buy through your referral. Other methods of promotion can include a well written email to people in your Inbox (the ones that actually know who you are!) and forum signatures.

A screenshot from their search engine. Note that the cash you’ll get back as well as the final bottom line price you’ll be paying are clearly displayed.

You can start promoting Jellyfish on your own by signing up here (aff) Do also leave a comment if you’ve successfully gotten credited for purchases or referrals. It’ll be great to hear more about how Jellyfish functions as a money making opportunity.

Make Money Promoting Directories

Best of the Web (BOTW) is known as the internet’s oldest web directory and is currently one of the most authoritative directories around, alongside other juggernauts like Yahoo, DMOZ and Business.com.

Best of the Web’s Reseller Program allows you to earn money whenever you refer webmasters who submit their websites to Best of the Web. You’ll get 25% commission on all successful referrals and will earn annual/monthly recurring commissions on approved paid directory listings and category sponsorship.

Commission payments are made via Paypal or Check within 15 days of the end of every month when your earnings reach $50 or more.

Best of the Web’s main attraction is their directory listing services. They charge an annual or one-time review fee for websites, which ranges from $69.95 per year to a one time payment of $199.95. Blog directory submissions incur a one-time fee of $39.95.

Some notes from Best of the Web on the referral process:

You may either specify which sites customers will be originating from so that we can credit you for referrals accordingly, or you can use your unique tracking code by appending it to any links.

As with sites you represent, referred customers who use the BOTW Directory Submit Service will earn you commission. Listings that renew annually will also earn you commission annually.

Referred customers who sponsor categories within the BOTW Web or Blog Directories will also earn you MONTHLY commission for the life of the sponsorship.

It seems that you’ll stand to earn the 25% commission even if you submit your own websites. Best of the Web also offers some very nice looking affiliate banners, logos and flash buttons, which you can use to promote their website.

How should I promote their affiliate program?

You have the choice of either promoting it passively or pro-actively. A passive method that doesn’t require much effort or attention would be simply to display the affiliate banners or text links on your website.

The active way would be seek out webmasters who are interested in increasing their Page Rank, exposure and site rankings. This can be done through PPC campaigns or just simple word of mouth promotion.

It’ll work best if you are providing a link building or SEO service because you could probably include submission to BOTW as part of your general service package.

This interview with Greg Hartnett from Best of the Web is a good introduction to Best of the Web and web directories in general.

Harnett talks about the benefit of getting listed in a web directory:

Getting listed in a quality directory can prove very beneficial to a site owner. Through proper categorization, a site owner should expect relevant traffic from the users of the directory.

Additionally, most search engines tend to value listings in a directory as a trusted link. Due to the editorial control of a directory listing, search engines view a listing in an authoritative directory as a sign of confidence that your site is a quality resource.

Template Monster’s Affiliate Program

Template Monster is a popular online store which offers readymade website templates for webmasters and businesses. Other products from their large inventory includes pre-made Flash templates, Wordpress and other CMS themes, logos as well as osCommerce templates for online stores.

Affiliates earn 20% commissions on all purchases made via their affiliate link or template shop. Templates generally range from $5 to $3500, which means that you do have a chance to make some substantial earnings.

This is useful because the visitor may not buy something on impulse but may return to the site a while later to make a more thorough purchase.

How do I make money with TemplateMonster.com?

There are three main ways to make money with Template Monster:

1. Refer visitors through your affiliate link to the Template Monster website.

2. Set up your own online store with the ready made store templates and scripts from Template Monster

3. Refer other affiliates to Template Monster’s affiliate program. This is known as a Supervisor program and allows you to receive 25% of the sum they earn as commission.

What Payment Methods do Template Monster offer?

Template Monster will only pay out via four methods: Moneybookers, ACH transfer, check and wire transfer. The minimum withdrawal amount is $800 via wire and $100 for the other three methods. Payment is made on a monthly basis.

Affiliate Dashboard & Stats Tracking

Template Monster includes a pretty detailed commissions statistics program that is built in all affiliate dashboards. You can track your own and your sub-affiliates earnings as well as monthly traffic statistics for your template shop.

There is also an ad campaign tracker which is an analytic tool that allows you to gauge the usefulness of your advertising channels.

How this works is relatively easy: you’ll just need to include a modified link in the banner or promo ads that you buy on other websites and the campaign tracker will monitor the number of clicks and conversions from each advertising campaign you run.

Template Monster’s Affiliate Forum

What I really liked about Template Monster’s affiliate program was the forum which allows you to interact with other affiliates and discuss sales techniques or conversion rates.

You can also ask for reviews of your site and banner placement. Free and open to all registered affiliates, the forum has some useful information as well if you need tips on how to better your sales.

The only drawback is that most of the threads and discussions in the forum are months old which indicates that not many users are actively using the forum.

Affiliate Tools and Promotional Materials

The affiliate tools section for Template Monster are quite advanced and offer a whole range of promotional and conversion methods. For the basic affiliate, you can chose from a range of static or dynamic banners which you can simply copy and paste to your website or blog (An example of a static banner can be seen below).

If you are running your own Template Monster store, you can choose to establish your own chat system which connects your visitors directly with Template Monster’s live chat support. You can also turn on or off merchant systems and determine the price/commission ratio for sales generated through your affiliate links and banners.

An interesting feature is that you get pick and choose any template from Template Monster and pay for it using your commision while receiving a 20% discount. This is useful if you’re running new online projects and want to put up a new site template.

Other Related Affiliate Programs

Template Monster’s affiliate program is managed by MyTemplateStorage.com, a website which also manages affiliate programs for Site2You and Template Tuning, both of which are online website builders.

You’ll have access to the stats tracker and affiliate tools for both these websites as well through the MyTemplateStorage.com central dashboard.

How much will I earn with Template Monster?

PPC advertising will help but you’ll need to pick the right keywords and generally know how to manage your costs and campaigns.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are affiliates in the forum who reputedly sell 5 to 10+ templates in a day, with each individual template bringing in commissions of $30 to $600.

Like every other affiliate program out there, you’re likely to earn a lot more money if you are aggressive, persistent and skilled at the entire process of driving targeted traffic to your site.

Web Hosting Affiliate Programs

Web hosting is a very competitive market and affiliate programs are often created by web hosting companies in a bid to obtain more customers. According to each web hosting affiliate program, you’ll earn a commission when you refer a customer who purchases a hosting plan.

For web hosts, there’s nothing easier than getting other people to promote their web hosting services for them. The returns in investment for each new customer is usually high as well, because each signup gives the web host recurring income over the long run.

For webmasters, bloggers and internet marketers, web hosting affiliate programs can be a rather lucrative source of income.

You’ve probably seen many web hosting ads on numerous websites all over the internet. These web hosting affiliate programs work well for almost all types of websites, particularly if you are offering a site-building or website consultation service for clients or businesses.

One particular benefit of affiliate programs for web hosts is that they offer high commission rates which can range from a minimum of $60 to over a hundred dollars just for referring a single customer who purchases a web hosting plan.

How do I Make Money with Web Hosting Affiliate Programs?

There are several ways to make some money of web hosting affiliate programs. You can create a website or blog solely dedicated to web hosting or simply include the affiliate links and banners on your existing websites.

You can leverage existing traffic from your website or use PayPerClick advertising to send targeted visitors to any specific webpage. The goal is to get as many interested individuals to click through on your affiliate links as possible.

List of Web Hosting Affiliate Programs

1. BlueHost

By driving customers to sign-up at BlueHost.Com, you will receive $65.00 per referral. Through your personal Affiliate login and their online administration you can view click-through ratios of your links or banner promotions.

2. Yahoo

Yahoo’s program structure is simple: The more customers you refer, the more you earn. You get $60 to $70 for each Yahoo! Web Hosting customer and based on volume, you can make up to $100 per referral. Yahoo also pays 20% of the total sale for each Yahoo! Domains customer.

3. Hostgator

Hostgator utilizes a commission scale. Referring 1 to 5 customers a month will make you $50 per sale and 20+ customers a month will earn you $125 per sale. Payment is monthly via Paypal.

4. LunarPages

You earn $65.00 for every new customer you refer to Lunarpages from YOUR website. Refer advertisers to sign up for LunarPages’s affiliate program and earn $5 for every new customer they refer to LunarPages.

5. IX Web Hosting

Sign up customers through their affiliate program and receive commissions starting at $50 up to $150 for each signup (varies depending on the hosting plan and billing cycle). Commissions are paid no later than the first week of each month following the first 30-days after the sale that achieves the minimum level was made.

6. MidPhase

MidPhase’s affiliate program covers four different webhosts (Midphase, Autica, Thrill host and AN Hosting) and commissions range from $25 to $85 per sale, depending on which host you promote. Payments are made every two weeks via check. Cookies are set for one year and premium rates exist for premium publishers who are able to send over 20 signups a month.

7. DreamHost

You can choose to receive substantial one-time credits for each of your referrals, or recurring credits for every payment that your referrals ever make to DreamHost. For one time payments, a new customer you send to Dreamhost will make you $97 and each customer your referral sends will earn you $5.

For recurring payments, You’ll earn 10% of every payment that your referrals ever make and 5% of every payment that their referrals make - for as long as they remain customers too. Credits can be paid out via PayPal or check, or applied to a hosting bill with DreamHost.com.

8. HostiCan

Affiliates will receive $70 for the first 4 successful sales and then $90 per successful sale. Commissions are only paid for qualifying and approved sales. You will earn $5 extra for every sale that a sub affiliate makes for HostICan.

Commissions are paid one time a month for all verified and approved sales. Payment is made via Paypal. Performing affiliates have the advantage of earning $250 bonus for 25 new referrals per month, $500 bonus for 50 new referrals per month, and $1000 bonus for 100 new referrals per month.

AdSense

AdSense is a ‘contextual’ advertising program where publishers simply add a piece of code to their blogs that helps Google analyze what your page is about so they can serve ads on that topic. This increases the chances of your readers clicking the ad which increases the chances that you’ll earn something from them.

AdSense also provide a variety of other income streams to bloggers including a site search tool (you make money by people searching your site) and referral tools (where you can make money by recommending Google products).

AdSense is how I earn around 35% of my income as a full time blogger and I would thoroughly recommend it as a way of monetizing a blog - especially for those just starting out.

If you’re not already an AdSense publisher sign up for it using the following button.

Once you’ve signed up (or if you already have) check out some of my tips for maximizing your AdSense income.

Earn Money with Poll Widgets - Vizu Answers

Vizu Answers is a ad network that allows you monetize your website by including interactive poll widgets that provide targeted content to your audience. How does this work? After registering for an account and choosing a poll template that fits your website, simply copy and paste the code for the widget on any place on your website. You’ll make money on a CPM (cost per thousand page views) basis. Here’s something you don’t expect: As a publisher, you’ll get to set the minimum CPM price for each poll you put up on your web page. More details below:

How do you get paid?

Payments are made monthly subject to a minimum of $50 in accrued earnings from paid research polls served. Their section on ‘Prohibited Uses’ states that publishers cannot directly or indirectly induce their readers to participate in the poll. It basically functions exactly like Adsense: You can’t ask your readers to click and participate in the poll.

CPM Rates and Ad Placement

One poll widget is allowed per page and Vizu advises that you base your CPM rate on factors such as the placement of the Poll Zone. Polls placed on a prominent position on your page can be priced higher than Ads near the bottom of the page. Visu suggests that high-performing sites may have their CPM rate automatically increased.

Poll Size & Design

The polls are usually between 150 and 300 in width and 300 to 600 pixels in height. Note however, that the actual height of the poll zone depends on elements of the poll itself, such as the number of answers required.

Therefore you should try to put the poll in an area that allows it to expand if needed. According to Vizu, clients will pay more money for additional graphics so the taller the poll, the more you’ll stand to earn.

Content in polls are usually related to your website, although this might not always be the case. You have the additional option of removing specific polls that you find objectionable. Here is an screenshot of a poll widget:

Setting up a Poll Zone

I registered for Vizu Answers and was accepted immediately. There are no prerequisites to fulfill and basically any website will be approved on the spot. Setting up a poll was pretty easy.

You’ll just have to submit the URL and description of your site, along with some keywords which advertisers can use to find your website. You can then coordinate the color and size of the widget to fit your website. It’s pretty much like how you set up a MyBlogLog readers widget.

After completing the customization for the first time, you’ll be given a script to copy and paste onto your blog or website. If this is your first time running a poll, it’ll take up to 4 days for your Poll Zone to be become active and available for purchase by Vizu’s clients.

In the meantime, Vizu will run basic polls to characterize the site’s audience and demographic (age/gender/income) in order to make your Zone a better fit for their clients.

What’s Cool.

• Adds additional element of interactivity for users
• Ability to set your own CPM price
• Easy to blend widget with site color theme

What’s Not.

• No guarantee that advertisers will choose your website
• Sites might go without a poll for a long time.
• Visitors might not take well to demographic mining polls
• Payment is only made via Paypal.

Sell Time-based Ads on Your Website.

AdVolcano is yet another ad network which connects advertisers with bloggers or webmasters seeking to monetize their website with the placement of advertisements. According to Entrepreneur’s Journey, AdVolanco allows you to “define areas of your blog.. and charge a monthly fee, rather than a cost per click, cost per action or cost per impression method.”

This literally means that you can offer time-based ad campaigns. For example, you might want to sell some space on your sidebar for the price of $10 a day or $250 for 30 days. Here are some points I’ve made after signing up and digging around their website.

• No submission prerequisite
• Minimum payout is US $20
• Payment is only made via Checks on a NET 15 basis.
• No option to categorize blogs by tags.
• User panel is clean and easily to navigate.
• No affiliate program for webmasters
• Weak navigation functions for advertisers

With nothing really to differentiate it from other programs like Text Link Ads, advertisers will most likely select the latter because of its far greater publisher base and in-site navigation.

I do like Ad Volcano’s site design and concept but I think that they should make it a lot easily for advertisers to pinpoint specific niches or blogs that are relevant for their campaign.

The addition of a live search bar, along with a tag cloud would probably do wonders. Categorizing websites solely according to page views just doesn’t seem to be effective to me. Suggestion for webmasters/bloggers: Try if you’ve had no offers with other ad selling network, you might just get an offer from Ad Volcano if you’re lucky.

A Review of Kontera - Monetize your website with Contextual In Text Advertising

How does Kontera work?

Kontera is an In-Text advertising solution that automatically converts specific keywords on your website into monetized links. You’ll simply need to install a script on every page of your website and several words per page will be transformed into links with bubble box advertisements. Like Adsense, you’ll earn money according to both Cost-Per-Impression and Cost-per-Click.

According to their website, Kontera currently only works for publishers in USA, Canada and UK. Do note that these limitations could be outdated because I’ve read that some Australian, European and Indian publishers have been accepted into their network as well. I would suggest emailing Kontera or just signing up to check if your application will be approved.

Why should I use Kontera?

Kontera doesn’t conflict with Google Adsense, an advertising network that you are probably already running on your website. This means that you can use Kontera alongside Adsense, which gives you another way to monetize your website. Kontera is also a reliable option for webmasters who do not like to use blocks of Adsense-style contextual ads on their website.

Several publishers using both Adsense and Kontera have indicated that they have not experienced any drops in CTR for Adsense, so it’s possible that using Kontera will not have a negative effect on your integrated Adsense ads.

While this has been the experience of most publishers using Kontera, your mileage may vary depending on factors such as ad placement, site design, content type as well as keyword density.

What qualifications do I need to be accepted as a publisher?

According to Kontera, your website should have more than 500,000 page impressions per month and must be rich in textual content. Your site must also be in English and must not cover subjects like pornography and other illegal activities.

The largest barrier of entry is obviously, the page impressions prerequisite. Most smaller blogs do not meet that requirement so using Kontera was originally next to impossible. However, I recently came across news that Kontera is currently opening up its doors to publishers with smaller traffic levels.

Kontera Review - Final Thoughts.

Here’s a summary of what most publishers have mentioned about Kontera. Some of the points come from my brief experience of using Kontera on Dosh Dosh.

What’s Cool.

• Efficient and personal customer support.
• Legitimate. Kontera pays on time.
• CPM rates are negotiable if your site attracts significant traffic
• Very easy to install. Only takes a few minutes to set up the code.

What’s Not

• No real time stats - reporting is 1 day behind.
• Advertising may not be targeted. Some manual tweaking needed.
• Doesn’t work in Firefox. I can’t see Kontera ads when I’m running FF. Anyone verify this?
• Kontera script slows down loading time for webpages.
• In Text advertising may detract from content.

Shutterstock - Making money with images

Are you an amateur photographer, graphic designer or animator with lots of juicy pictures? Try selling them to Shutterstock, the largest subscription-based stock photo agency in the world who will pays you 25 cents every time one of your images is downloaded.

There are two main ways to earn money with Shutterstock, either by selling your photos or through the referral of stock buyers and photographers.

How much will I be paid as a submitter?

Our current rate is: $.25 (25 cents per photo download). Since ShutterStock is an all-you-can-download subscription site, a user may purchase a subscription and download hundreds of photos. Your earning potential is endless!

Is there a minimum payout?

Yes, you must accumulate at least $75 to be paid. All earnings are brought forward into the next pay period until you reach $75, at which time a payout will be issued automatically. If you close your account before your earnings reach $75, you will forfeit those earnings.

How often will I be paid?

Monthly, checks are sent out for the previous month’s payouts. For example: On the 15th of March, payments will be sent for February downloads

Can I join if I am outside the USA?

Yes! Certain high fraud areas of the world may require prior approval before an account is created. If your country isn’t listed on the signup form, please contact support and submit your portfolio. We may also require references. As long as you can receive and cash checks by air postal mail, and your pictures are 100% yours, you can join.

The most important tip I can give on making Shutterstock work for you, is to be aware of what images sell and what images do not. The easiest way to do so would be check out ShutterStock’s Top 50 images of the week or all time.

Notice the watermark, which is imprinted on your pictures to prevent theft and will be removed when sold to the prospective buyer.

Another important point to note is that the pictures submitted must meet specific guidelines, mostly notably that the picture must be wholly owned by the submitter and cannot contain any copyrighted materials or logos.

Images of identifiable persons must be accompanied by a model release, which is a brief form that must be submitted online when you upload your images. For a complete list of the extensive list of guidelines, visit this page.

After uploading a picture, you can tag it with certain keywords which will enable your picture to show up when a buyer does a search on ShutterStock.

What’s Cool.

- Real-time statistics for photo downloads
- Submitted images are watermarked to prevent theft
- Multiple and fast uploading options
- No limit to number of images to be submitted
- Illustrations and 3D renders are accepted
- Non-exclusive TOS: You can submit the same images to other agencies.
- Active forum: interaction with other photographers/designers.

What’s Not.
- Lots of competition from fellow submitters
- Very strict guidelines for photo submission