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Check out RevResponse
There are few bloggers who aren’t interested in monetizing their blogs. After all, you probably spend a lot of time pouring forth your wisdom and a significant piece of yourself onto those digital pages. And if you’re a WordPlay reader, you also might spend at least a little time working with clip art and photos to make your blog look attractive. I know from experience that all those things take a lot of effort.
Personally, my strategy has been to take these steps: build my blog content and image, thoroughly understand search engine optimization, achieve stable Google rankings and then monetize. That’s why you’ve rarely seen ads on this blog. I’ve experimented briefly with various programs, but I’m just now dipping my toe into the waters of real monetization.One of the methods I’ve identified for WordPlay is RevResponse, which I already use on my editorial consulting Web site. What is RevResponse? It’s a classy, painless way to be paid for generating leads for a variety of quality publications, white papers, etc. And RevResponse actually adds value to your blog by providing free information to your readers. I particularly like that aspect, because WordPlay is all about enhancing content.
RevResponse is unique because it helps you promote their information sources by creating a custom mini-site with graphics that match your blog or Web site. In my case, they created the site to match my business Web site. (Click the image to the right to see a live sample page.) I can link to the mini-site in any way I want, which gives me the flexibility to place links to it where they fit best. RevResponse helps out in this respect by offering a Promotion Wizard that lets you create graphic ads that rotate links to publications relevant to your niche. Or you can create your own text links. You can see an example of links I created if you look in the upper left corner of WordPlay’s sidebar.
Another great thing about the program is the quality of the products; they represent only the cream of the crop. For example, you can get paid to refer people to Website Magazine, which is free for subscribers. As one of their subscribers, I can vouch for its quality. I’ve learned a lot from reading it. There also are many other publications, such as eWeek, a guide to e-commerce technology, and the Vulnerability Management e-book, which helps you understand how to protect your Web properties in the sometimes hostile world of the Internet. (This is a subject close to my heart, since I just discovered there was cross-site scripting, also known as XSS or malicious code, in all four of the free WordPress templates I use for my blogs. I learned to spot the code and remove it, and I highly recommend that you educate yourself so you can do the same.)The only caveat about working with RevResponse is that your blog or Web site must qualify for the program. To do so, you have to have an audience that would be interested in what they have to offer. To see if you qualify, click on this page and look at the sidebar to determine whether the information categories fit your blog or Web site. If it looks like they might be a good fit for RevResponse, click here to apply.
If you apply and your blog or Web site isn’t appropriate, RevResponse let you know! But that’s a good thing. Even though the time needed to implement the program is fairly minimal, you don’t want to to spend any time at all if it’s not going to produce revenue. And if you are accepted into the program, you’ll be glad they’re a little picky. That means the other affiliates in the network will be quality Web properties like yours, rather than spam blogs or sites.
