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May 21, 2013 ,

 Updated October 8, 2021

It’s pretty safe to say that the vast majority of website owners have room for improvement in monetizing their existing web traffic. Whether embracing thorough A/B testing, cultivating direct ad sales relationships, or simply opening up new revenue streams, there are plenty of opportunities for the majority of publishers.

Fortunately, there is a tremendous amount of guidance out there for those willing to look, including plenty of entrepreneurs and webmasters who share their insights and monetization tips for free through their blogs. Below are 50 of the most worthwhile blogs for those looking to ibcrease their online revenue. (By the way, you can sign up for the free MonetizePros newsletter to get monetization tips delivered straight to your inbox. You may also want to take a look at our free guides.)

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AdSense, Display, And Sales

Getting more out of your display inventory is one of the easiest ways to give a major boost to your bottom line; if you have a lot of traffic that’s not living up to your CPM expectations (or if you don’t know what CPM means), check out these blogs:

  1. Inside AdSense Blog: Brought to you by the team at Google, this blog is a must-read for any webmasters who have struggled to get the most out of Google AdSense. The Inside AdSense Blog includes in depth analysis of different monetization techniques and countless tips on how to maximize your display advertising revenue stream.
  2. Ad Hustler: This blog features the candid musings of a self-described “Serial Internet Entrepreneur,” touching on a wide range of topics that will be of interest to those looking to make more money online. Check out the recent post on Cable TV spend vs. Google AdWords.
  3. Acquisio: The official Acquisio blog, simply put, has a ton of content. While the focus of the blog isn’t specifically on optimal monetization techniques, it does feature a great collection of insights on display advertising. Browse through the collection of posts on this topic and you’ll come away with some great ideas for boosting your site’s performance.
  4. Vertical Response: Vertical Response maintains a marketing blog that provides daily insights on everything from email marketing to SEO to general public relations. This infographic / feature on the display advertising landscape alone makes this blog worth the trip; if you’re struggling to understand how the whole system works, this piece is a must-read.
  5. Heavy Hitter Sales Blog: This blog is run by Steve W. Martin, who’s published a series of books about successful sales strategies. For anyone who is looking to establish direct sales relationships and transition away from ad networks (which, by the way, is both tremendously challenging and rewarding), Steve’s blog is worth visiting regularly.

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Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has become tremendously popular in recent years, as publishers have embraced this model as a way to turn targeted traffic into monetized leads. There’s a lot to learn in this field; check out the blogs below for a bit of expertise and side hustles from some of the industry’s brightest:

  1. MissyWard.com: Described as “an affiliate marketing Swiss Army knife,” MissyWard.com is a great source for news and strategy on all things affiliate marketing. This site has great coverage of affiliate marketing industry events, a worthwhile read / watch for those of you who can’t make it to all the conferences.
  2. Affiliate Marketing Blog by Geno Prussakov: This site has a boatload of resources for webmasters monetizing through affiliate marketing relationships. Guru Geno Prussakov also maintains a blog that touches on timely issues in the affiliate management industry. Check out this recent post on how to successfully design affiliate banner ads.
  3. PerformanceIN: This site features work from a number of different contributors, resulting in an extremely deep monetization resource. PerformanceIN also has a number of forums that are a great place to get your custom question answered.
  4. Dukeo.com: This blog is maintained by Stephane Kerwer, a successful affiliate marketer and lead generation veteran who makes a very comfortable living through his online businesses. Through his blog Stephane shares many of the tips that have made him so successful, including strategies for lowering bounce rates, improving email conversions, and tapping into the avalanche of traffic available from social sources such as Pinterest.
  5. AffPlan: In addition to a blog updated with industry news and insights, AffPlan maintains a great resource center for aspiring affiliate marketers. Their lists of top networks, podcasts, and forums are worth a deep dive. 
  6. Finch Sells: This blog focuses on techniques for surviving the world of affiliate marketing, and has frequent in-depth blog posts that address the common struggles many affiliate marketers come across. Check out the Affiliate Toolbox for some great monetization resources.
  7. Marketing Gorilla: This site is run by Greg Hoffman, who operates an affiliate management company and shares his thoughts on the affiliate industry here. If you’re looking for new affiliate opportunities, this site is a great way to stay up to date on what’s happening in the industry.
  8. Tricia.me: This site is run by Trisha Meyer, a professional affiliate marketer who shares candid thoughts on what works and what doesn’t in her profession. Check out her 2012 in review for some good insights on where she’s had success. Tricia also offers consulting services through her site.
  9. Affiliorama Blog: Affiliorama offers affiliate marketing training, software, and support through a number of paid products. The company also maintains a blog (free to read, of course) that features regular posts on the countless ways to make money through affiliate relationships. If you’re in the market of affiliate marketing, do yourself a favor and sign up for the Affiliorama newsletter before you do anything else.
  10. Avangate: This blog focuses on the ins and outs of affiliate marketing, but also includes some great insights into more general monetization techniques. Check out the posts on shopping cart customization and negative keywords; both are great reads that will likely teach you a thing or two.

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Blog Monetization

Not everyone sets out blogging to hit it rich–but it certainly doesn’t hurt to make a bit of cash from your site. If you’re interested in turning your blog into a moneymaker, check out what these folks have to say:

  1. ProBlogger: The team at ProBlogger covers a wide range of topics in their own blog, including quite a bit of content on advertising, AdSense, and generating other income streams. Though the name indicates a focus on blogs, a lot of the insights and ideas can be applied more generally to other sites as well.
  2. Side Income Blogging: This site, published by Larry Deane, is a guide to starting and building a successful online business. Larry writes regularly on a wide range of topics such as using Google Analytics effectively, using email intelligently, and picking out the right blog host.
  3. Standout Blogger: Standout Blogger is a resource for those looking to launch and monetize niche blogs, offering tips for building an audience, building a blog sales funnel, and implementing affiliate marketing schemes. This site also gives real life updates on actual niche sites, a level of transparency that translates into very effective advice. Topics include keyword research and content creation, two key areas that are often overlooked but can have a huge impact on revenue.
  4. Online Income Teacher: This site is all about how to make money blogging, including tips for producing quality content and effectively translating your traffic into cash. Blogger Matt Smith and his team put out a ton of content here, so be sure to check back often. Also check out the collection of blogging resources on this site; there are some great free tools in here that can make your blogging life more productive and profitable.
  5. Blog Marketing Academy: This site is all about blogging for business, focusing on ways to convert readers of your original content into paying customers. For anyone struggling to get their business’ blog off the ground, an hour on this site will be time very well spent. The Blog Transformation Challenge–access to a load of content that can help out with improving conversions and monetization–is also worth checking out.
  6. New Media Expo Blog: BlogWorld maintains an excellent blog that touches on all aspects of–you guessed it–blogging. The section on monetization is full of great information. Check out 17 Free WordPress Plugins for Blog Monetization; that one post is worth a ton to any blogger interested in making more money.
  7. Think Traffic: This site is designed to help bloggers get more out of their online presence, including more money and more general satisfaction. The team maintains a regularly updated blog that is full of good advice on a wide range of topics. They also offer a great collection of resources that can put you on the path towards bigger paydays from your blogging activities. Check out 5 Steps to Make More Money From Your Website with Less Traffic for a taste of what this blog has to offer.

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General Monetization

A lot of the best blogs out there don’t fit nicely into any one categories; below are some solid blogs about general monetization techniques:

  1. KISSmetrics Marketing Blog: KISSmetrics’ blog is about analytics, marketing, and testing…lots of testing. If you have a shopping cart, landing page, or newsletter on your site, this blog is an absolute must-bookmark. It’s full of ideas for testing out all aspects of your web site to find winning combinations, and also features insights on building a winning culture at your company. KISSmetrics also runs regular webinars that can be great learning tools, and their free guides on marketing and infographics are definitely worth a download as well.
  2. BryanEisenberg.com: Bryan Eisenberg is one of the foremost authorities in online marketing and a general expert in all things related to online conversions. In addition to several best-selling books, he posts his thoughts, case studies, and ideas for all to read on his blog. Recent posts worth a read include How To Optimize Your Mobile Landing Page for Conversions and When Conversions Come Easily.
  3. Your Customer Creation Equation: Brian Massey is a well known “Conversion Scientist,” and he writes here on all aspects of building an audience and converting them to customers. Brian is one of the Web’s most brilliant minds on these topics; check out his thoughts on conversion basics and SEO to see for yourself. (He also shares links to some of the best reading from around the Web.)
  4. Econsultancy Digital Marketing Blog: This blog is published by Econsultancy, a team of experts who advise on all things related to online monetization. See Five Must Have Newsroom Features and 40% Of Consumers Are Unaware That AdWords are Adverts to get a flavor for what this site has to offer.
  5. Smart Passive Income Blog: As the name of Pat’s blog suggests, this resource focuses on content for those looking to maximize the passive revenue generated from their website. This site has a number of podcasts, several presentations Pat has given, and a fully transparent monthly income statement from Pat’s businesses.
  6. SarahBundy.com: Sarah Bundy maintains one of the more frequently updated blogs on this list; her site has a ton of regular content on a whole bunch of different content. Some of the recent topics she’s covered include conversion optimization, mobile marketing, and the impact of social media on SEO.
  7. ZacJohnson.com: Zac shares his ideas for more effectively monetizing a passion or idea online in his blog at ZacJohnson.com. He’s also assembled a great Affiliate Marketing Guide Book that covers just about every topic imaginable (though his site covers a lot more than just affiliate marketing).
  8. Mr. Green: This unique site is home to the POF (Plenty of Fish) tool, a pretty slick resource for anyone with a landing page or product to sell. There’s also plenty of free content and a free newsletter that sends along monetization tips to your inbox. The marketing guides are also a great resource worth checking out.
  9. ShoeMoney: This blog is run by Jeremy Schoemaker, who has advisory positions with Google, Facebook, and eBay (among others). In addition to an inspiring personal story, this site is full of both random and extremely relevant thoughts on lead generation, customer conversion, and other aspects of online monetization.

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E-commerce

From shopping cart optimization to CPC bidding, there is a lot to know about e-commerce that can have a major impact on your conversion rate and bottom line revenue. Below are some of the best blogs on this topic:

  1. Shopify Blog: You’ve probably heard of or used Shopify by now, but you might not know that the company also maintains one of the best monetization blogs out there. This site covers e-commerce trends and inspiration, and has a must-read article every week. 
  2. Get Elastic Blog: This blog is one of the best resources out there for e-commerce optimization, featuring a wealth of content that can improve your conversion rates and boost your average ticket price. The Conversion Optimization posts are particularly useful for anyone who has a shopping cart on his site.

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Lead Generation

Lead generation is often overlooked as a potential revenue stream, but it has the potential to be a big moneymaker in certain niches. Below are some blogs on this technique that can help you optimize your lead gen business:

  1. Business 2 Community: Business2Community.com features articles on a range of topics, including sales management, online marketing, and social media. This site is also definitely worth following on Twitter @B2Community. A great read if you want to learn more about the lead gen business.
  2. Marketo Blog: This site is all about best practices in B2B marketing, including lead generation and inbound marketing. Marketo also offers a number of comprehensive guides on topics such as marketing metrics and analytics and a marketing automation buyer’s kit. Marketo also features commentary from several guest bloggers, bringing together experts on a wide range of topics. (Check out their top contributors to get a feel for the caliber of experts writing here.)
  3. Sales Lead Insights: This is the blog of Mac McIntosh, a veteran of B2B marketing, direct marketing and sales who has worked for companies both big and small over the years. Mac has an extremely sharp mind when it comes to lead generation, and his blog is a great resource for those with a site that can be monetized by capturing leads. Mac also has his own list of publications that he finds to be valuable resources for those in this space.
  4. B2B Lead Roundtable Blog: The title of this blog sums it up nicely: this site is powered by a team of bloggers who write about the latest trends and ideas in the B2B lead generation space. For newcomers to the lead generation biz (or those trying to figure out if it’s a good monetization fit for your site), a recently published intro to lead generation provides a good starting point. The team also has a collection of webinars that cover a number of different subjects.

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Know of a great monetization blog that we missed? Let us know in the comments below!

  • What a great list Michael!

    There is tons of great sites here that are worth while to follow. I’m a big fan of many of these, though there are some that I’d not heard of before, so thanks for letting me know about them.

    Thanks for mentioning my site as well 🙂

  • There are a few of the blogs that are no longer around. Do you plan on writing a more up to date version? Been looking for some new reading material 😉

  • Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading your blog posts.

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