Whether you have a new blog, are already an A-lister, or are considering starting a blog, please take the time to learn about blog monetization. What in this world is a more valuable way to spend 10-15 minutes of your time?

Are you getting the most from your blog’s traffic?

Starting From Scratch (Monetization for brand new blogs, 0-1 months)
Let’s assume that your blog is 1 second old. You just started it! Well done, you’re well on your way. Many people are going to tell you that you shouldn’t monetize yet. They are, in essence, telling you that your blog is worthless.

They couldn’t be more wrong. From the first time you hit the publish button, your blog is worth something. How dare they say otherwise? Of course, if you believe them…. you make them right. Please don’t believe that garbage. When you write something of value, you deserve to be paid. There could be tens of thousands of people out there that need to read your work. When they find it, you need to be ready.

If you started your blog today, start here:

Google Adsense
Google Adsense is a free program that will place ads on your site. When your readers click on your ads, you will be paid a small amount. I emphasize a small amount. Adsense can be quite lucrative over time, but will only make you pennies in the beginning.

Do you know what happens to most people? They make $1-$10 dollars their first month. At that point they get frustrated and quit. Keep this in mind:

Your Adsense Revenue Is Not An Accurate Representation Of Your Blog’s Worth

Since Adsense is one of the only revenue streams that you can use right out of the gate, you need to be patient and believe that your blog is worth more than what you’re making from Adsense. Within a few short months, you will be able to use more powerful and valuable monetization methods.

I just looked up what CourtneyTuttle.com made from Adsense in its first 30 days. Would you be surprised to hear that it was less than $5? From Feburary 12 to March 12, this site made less than $5 from Adsense. If I would have believed that $5 was an accurate representation of my blog’s value, do you think I could have made $293.01 in April?

Before you let too much time pass, you should start preparing for better monetization options that will be there in a few months, are you ready? Read this post from my archives to start preparing: Going From PR Zero To PR Hero.

1-3 Months
If you’ve made it to the 1 month mark, hopefully you’ve made a few bucks! If you have, you should celebrate, because you probably made more than I did.

After 1 month, you should have quite a few posts on your site. Until you have about 30 posts, you probably won’t be able to qualify for the next revenue stream I want to talk to you about. Make sure you get 30 posts up by the time you hit 1 month. They don’t need to be 1000 word posts, they can be 200 word posts if you want them to be.

Kontera Contextual Ads - Sign up for Kontera
Kontera displays ads inside your posts themselves. You will notice some double-underlined links in this post - those are my Kontera ads. When users hover over them, it displays a nice little ad-box with a related ad inside. If the user clicks, I get paid.

I’ve read quite a few blog posts that say you shouldn’t use Kontera-type ads. They say that it takes away from the user’s experience. They say that the ads drive users away from the site. If your content is worthwhile, your readers will come back.

I have Kontera ads on almost every page of this site, and by looking at my stats I have decided that my readers are still having a good experience. I have readers that view over 50 pages in one sitting. My stats show readers every day that stay on the site for more than an hour, loading a new page every 3-10 minutes. You can use these ads and still provide a good user experience.

Don’t be discouraged when you don’t make a ton from Kontera in the beginning! Until you hit the 3 month mark, you won’t be able to get a representation of your blog’s worth that’s even close.

Installing Kontera ads will likely double what you’re making. At this point, your revenue will likely be quite small. Don’t let it get to you, you are investing in your future, and you can make that investment pay off.

Between your 1 and 3 month marks, it is highly, highly critical that you invest some time into marketing your blog. Start digesting this concept: Are you ready for sponsored posting?

3-6 Months
If you have made it to 3 months, start getting excited because this is where you start to get a lot more bang for your buck. It should be noted that some of you will take a little bit longer to get to the point where you can use these monetization methods due to several factors including:

• Google PageRank Timing - Google updates PageRank approximately every 3 months. It could take more time than that, and you will need PageRank to use more powerful monetization methods.
• Experience - For some of you there will be a slower learning curve. You can still get there. Who cares if it takes a little more time?
• Time Commitments - Some of you may have more pressing matters to attend to. If I had a full time job and 14 kids, it would take me a lot longer to make my blog profitable. Keep on working and you can get there!

At the 3 month mark, a whole new monetization world will open up to you. It will get a lot easier to make money online, especially if you have hit a PageRank update. If you haven’t, continue to invest your time, rest assured it will pay off.

At 3 months, you can introduce multiple, new streams of income to your site including:

1. PayPerPost
2. Smorty
3. SponsoredReviews.com
4. Text-Link-Ads
5. ReviewMe

PayPerPost - Sign Up
With PayPerPost, you will have opportunities almost daily to make some money. Sign up once your blog is 3 months old, regardless of your ranking. Even if your blog is a PageRank 0, there will still be some opportunities for you.

As your blog progresses, the opportunities become more and more lucrative. If you have a PR0 site, your first paid posts will bring you in about $5. Writing one of those each day will make you $150 in a month. After you increase your PageRank, Technorati ranking, and Alexa score you will be able to take opportunities that pay better. You may not be able to find a sponsored post every day, which is why I will recommend some alternate companies that will pay you to post.

Over time, your PayPerPost income can improve dramatically. You may start by making $5 per post, but as you get better you will qualify for $10 opportunities, then $15 opportunities, then $20 ones, and then $50 ones, and $100+ ones. There is currently an offer in PayPerPost that pays $300; you have to have a PR6.

Hopefully you can see that as time goes on, you can make more and more money with this!

Smorty - Sign Up
Smorty is a program very similar to PayPerPost. Sign up once you’ve hit your 3 month mark. Smorty is a smaller program, but they still pay! You get paid weekly with Smorty. When you start out you will be making about $5 per post. As time goes on you will find more lucrative offers.

SponsoredReviews.com - Sign Up
Once your blog hits the 3 month old mark, get signed up. This gives you three new revenue streams you can use after 3 short months of work.

With SponsoredReviews.com, you will be bidding against other bloggers for reviews. I would recommend making small bids when you start out, you will be able to sell more reviews this way.

Between SponsoredReviews, PayPerPost, and Smorty, you should be able to easily make at least $200 extra per month. This will, of course, increase significantly over time.

Text-Link-Ads - Sign Up
I wouldn’t recommend signing up for Text-Link-Ads until you have hit your first PageRank update. Until your blog has some PageRank, you won’t be accepted. I can’t actually remember at what point I applied for Text-Link-Ads, but I know that it was way too soon. Now I’m stuck waiting for them to re-evaluate CourtneyTuttle.com. It appears that I will be able to use this revenue stream when I hit about 6 months, maybe sooner if they wake up and evaluate my site again.

Once approved, you can get a nice residual from selling text links on your site. Make sure to work on your PageRank! If you really focus on building links for your site, you can definitely get approved for Text-Link-Ads within the first 4 months. Once approved you can add an additional $50-$500 to your monthly revenue.

ReviewMe Sponsored Reviews - Sign Up
ReviewMe has requirements similar to Text-Links-Ads for inclusion. Like Text-Link-Ads, they don’t tell you exactly what those requirements are. I would recommend getting your site to a PageRank 4, most of the sites that offer ReviewMe reviews have 4s. If you’re like me, you’ll have to wait until the next PR update, and if you do it’s no biggie. Once you’re approved, you can start writing reviews of sites for cash.

Between your 3 and 6 month marks, you should be able to add at least 5 new revenue streams to your blog. You now have a total of 7 revenue streams. $50 a month from each would give you $350, $200 from each would give you $1400 per month. If you can get your PageRank above a 5, you can make way more than $200 from a few of the streams.

6+ Months
With these seven revenue streams, you should easily be able to make your revenue grow for quite some time. Every single one of them allows for you to make more and more money as your blog gains in popularity.

When you start writing reviews and sponsored posts that command $100+, you will be ready to be a problogger. Many of you could reach that level by your 6 month mark.

My Overall Thoughts On Monetization
I think that most blogs are producing a lot less than their potential. I see so many that rely on Adsense, and this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. In order to achieve the best results, you need to have a lot more streams.

Looking at your potential for monetization should bring a few things to mind. Hopefully it makes you realize that your blog has to provide value in order to reach the highest levels of monetization. If you can’t develop a group of daily readers, your monetization will suffer due to your lack of traffic. I also hope that it motivates you to succeed. Your hard work will pay off! Your efforts building links and writing quality information will earn you respect and ultimately, money.

No matter where your blog sits right now, devise a plan. Decide where you want to be in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Believe in yourself and make it happen.