CPM Ads Are Not Dead (Yet)

Many Internet marketers, especially Internet newbies tend to overlook CPM (cost per thousand impressions) ads. While it is true that CPM ads are hardly the most profitable source of income for your site, they are still not to be trashed completely, especially if you have a high traffic site. CPM rates can be really low - as low as .20 per thousand visitors but you can also find offers, which pay $1+ per thousand visitors. So, if you have 15,000 visitors a month, which is not so hard to achieve, especially if your site has a forum or if you use different techniques to drive traffic, and you have 5 CPM banners, which pay $1 on average, this is $75 a month. If you have more than 1 site, you can multiply this and you will see that it is quite easy to make $200-300 out of CPM ads only. Well, I don't mean that $200-300 a month is that much but this is income you get for doing next to nothing. Besides, there are CPM networks, which pay even more than $1 per thousand visitors so actually, if you are not publishing CPM ads on your site, you are losing quite a lot. Maybe the only good reason not to publish CPM ads is that they do take space and if you can use this space in a better way - i.e. for Pay Per Click ads or for affiliate offers. Of course, if your PPC ads do get clicks and your affiliate offers are converting really well, then you might not need the cents, CPM ads will bring you. If this is so, you are really lucky!

Affiliate Programs - Signups Versus Purchases

You have heard that affiliate programs are the latest craze in Internet marketing and you already count the millions you will earn as an affiliate marketer. However, when you join an affiliate network, you might soon discover that you are not making money at all. Sure, you can't blame affiliate networks for that because their offers are really lucrative, but this does not change the fact that you are not making money as an affiliate. The reasons why you are not making money as an affiliate can be various. For instance, if the affiliate ads you are displaying on your site are not well targeted, your readers will not make the effort to click them, not to mention to make a purchase. But even if your ads are well targeted, you still might experience lack of sales. This is also possible and if you believe that your visitors do see your ads but are reluctant to make a purchase, consider changing your ads with ads that require a signup only, rather than ads that require a purchase. Signup offers might not pay as much as purchase offers but they generally convert better and as a result, you might make more profits with signup offers. Give it a try and see if this works for you.