When To Monetize A Website
Posted on February 9, 2010
Filed Under Earn money online
The question of when to monetize a website keeps popping up in my inbox 
so here are my thoughts on this topic…
Hi Tomaz,
I just wanted to ask a question regarding affiliate links in a product review site. I’ve started my second site on _______ and have about 50 pages plus 20-30 C2 pages. At this point I do not have any affiliate links or any links to Amazon or any other product sellers.
Of course I would prefer to have 100-200 unique visitors daily before adding any affiliate links, but it seems odd to have reviews without leading the visitor to a purchase site. So when is the most appropriate time to add affiliate links?
Or do you recommend adding links without affiliate coding first? Or should I add Google ads first? That at least gives them a click option.
———————————————————–
Hi R…,
The “it seems odd to have reviews without leading the visitor to a purchase site.” shouldn’t bother you so much.
Visitors come and go and they come again. It’s an endless supply – in fact it keeps growing. More people use internet every day.
So yes, some people will find your site at the beginning and it won’t be of much use to them. So what?
They will find another site. It’s like some people will find a place in the town where a new restaurant is being built – but there are cranes and workers all around.
What should I do? I’ll find another place – for now.
But there is endless supply of people coming into this town and once the restaurant is done, they will keep coming in.
Same with your site. It is still being built and there are just “foundations” and “walls” there.
Build your content and build your links so that you get more traffic. Then you can monetize.
Do affiliate links hurt a new site with almost no incoming links?
I am not 100% sure because I don’t know Google’s algorithm.
I did have one bad experience though when I added Amazon aff. links very early to a site. Here’s how the traffic was going up and how it went up as I continued to build pages and automatically include Amazon aff. links (the last column on the right are unique visitors):
I thought that this was just a Google dance at first so I didn’t do anything. But my average traffic in the next month was 12 daily visitors.
Eventually I removed aff. links and kept building content and an occasional link and the site now gets over 200 daily visitors – which is normal for the amount of pages and links that it has.
In my personal view I think that the site needs to have some authority to be able to withstand linking out often through affiliate links. Especially those which are easily recognizable by Google with an algorithm. (Amazon, Clickbank, …)
On another note, I also think that adding Google Adsense early to the site won’t bring the site down. Again, this is just my feeling based on my experience and some stuff I read.
Another Reason to Delay Monetization
As most of us have found out, there is a strong emotion that affects people when it comes to money – jealousy.
Simply put, people prefer to link to young sites (with poor pagerank and Alexa and simple layouts) if there are no ads and aff. links present. They might be willing to link to a site if it’s just useful content that they are linking to and not a way for another webmaster to make money.
So if you put ads and aff. links to your site immediately, it will be much tougher to get quality links. And the links are hard to get anyway.
The SBI Action Guide suggests adding monetization to your site once it reaches at least 100 daily visitors. But that number is just an indication of how much content + links you have!
It’s an indication that you probably have enough incoming links and authority which can convince Google to keep your site well ranked despite your obvious attempts to make money from those rankings and high traffic.
I personally now do not monetize a site until it has around 400 or 500 daily visitors. (It took me a year with a site to reach that for example.)
That amount of daily visitors suggests enough high quality links and that will on average earn me $400 to $500 per month extra – which is something tangible.
So when should you monetize?
Realize that on average, you will earn around $100 per month from 100 daily visitors. Again, you can earn 3x more and 3x less with 100 daily visitors but in my experience that’s about the average.
If you badly need those $100 per month, monetize with 100 daily visitors. Know that you will now have more problems getting quality links.
Again, there are always exceptions and your site’s design may persuade people to link to you more or your site’s extremely interesting topic may be more “linkable” than a boring product review.
But in general, the earlier you monetize, the harder it is to get links.
When the Game Changes
I found that usually the game changes once my site gets to pagerank 3 or more. Then the link that I offer in return from one of my internal pages is typically a PR2 or a PR1.
That is a good enough value for people to put jealousy in second place because their self-interest is now in the first place.
Most webmasters know that a PR2 in-content link is very valuable to their site and they are willing to return the favor and help you get better rankings and traffic and make more money – but that right now doesn’t matter to them anymore.
They want their better rankings, their traffic and their extra income and your quality link will help them achieve that.
- Related posts:
Comments
19 Responses to “When To Monetize A Website”
Leave a Reply
Hey Tomaz,
That’s quite the psychological profile view of webmaster cost-benefit analysis when it comes to links. And I agree that building a site with an “authoritative” perspective also helps to look at the long term value of good content prior to monetization. The key is to remain disciplined with content value, plus link juice, before seeking dollars. But the addition of Adsense earlier on may help to ease the lack of money pain without penalizing your site.
I always enjoy your insights into these matters. Thanks.
One of my sites that I just sit for a year, because the clicks weren’t making a lot of money actually has gotten more natural links to it than any of my other monetized site. So I really think your observation on people linking is ABSOLUTELY right.
However, for me, in the beginning, once I hit that 100 uniques a day, I slapped on some ads and started making money (even that first $60) was VERY motivating. I’ve had friends who held off until there were more visitors, but then their motivation waned and when it came time to renew some chose not to because they couldn’t be sure the site would be profitable. The key here is to know yourself. I have more faith now that my sites will make money (and thanks to my profitable sites I don’t need the money as much) so I can hold off more easily. But if you’re worried, you’re motivation might wane (be honest do you have a history of un-finished projects? I used to), THEN put up those ads right at the 100 uniques. That way even if you wander off and return later, you’re making money.
P.S. If you’re a newbie that has a history of bouts of flightiness (like I did) MAKE SURE to choose a niche that doesn’t have a lot of competition (low supply) or you will be doomed.
I remember when I was reading the action guide that SBI recommended holding off monetization till you reached 50 daily unique visitors. However, this is too soon. I personally had a bad experience with this since I made very little money with 50 daily visitors and was constantly frustrated as to why that is the case.
I probably didn’t do a great job with monetization. I was using AdSense (and got practically no clicks) and Amazon affiliate links (which got some clicks but no conversions).
I read one of your posts that said to hold off on monetization till at least 200 daily visitors and that saved me.
I’m now reaching that point and starting to work on monetization again. I’ve noticed that Amazon starts to convert around 200 daily visitors.
Thanks again for your great insights!
Thanks for another great post. I personally started to monetize my site @ around 50 unique visits per day, with both Adsense and Amazon. I didn’t notice a drop in traffic, but I’ve been pretty aggressive about link-building (getting directory links from Yahoo, BOTW, etc.) so that may explain things a bit.
I think one of the big takeaways from the post is that you have to view your web site as a long-term project. Patience is really a virtue. I would advise anyone just starting out that if you know your site is in a profitable niche (and your research should reveal this) then you need to commit to regularly working on that site for at least a year, without distractions, and without going off and trying out something else.
You just have to stick with it . . . and when the time is right, you can monetize to your heart’s content.
Thank you Tomaz for this very helpful, insightful information. You have helped me a great deal to know where to focus my energy and attention at this point in the developments of my sites. I have two newer sites and have never been really sure exactly when and how much to monetize. Based on what you have shared, I’m going to hold off on any further monetization for the sites, and for my next new site I will wait a good deal longer in order to get quality links more easily. I appreciate your understanding of the long term perspective on site building, and the pluses and minuses of early monetizing of a site. Thanks so much!
I found that the hardest part to building a profitable site (the SBI way), is the links.
Getting links is one of the most tedious, challenging and yet most rewarding aspect of site building.
With links, you can visitors.
With visitors, you can monetize.
So my advice is to hold off monetization as long as you possibly can (if it helps to get you more links).
Otherwise, go for it…
Hi Tomaz,
This is great. I had a “gut feeling” that I should hold off in my particular niche because I have a couple of big competitors and I felt if they knew my site was “trying to make money” (of course 95% have that motive !) it might be used against me. The Vineyard is a small island and I want to keep the minds of small business owners open regarding my site and future biz relationships. I didn’t want to become known as the “new site moving in to try to make money”.
So, I held off monetizing, and still have not added Adsense. This is a slow month for my niche and things should start to pick up headed into Spring so I planned to ad Adsense soon (I have about 800-1000 uniques/day). But, I’m still cautious because of the factors you mention in this post.
I know I can build more traffic in this niche and don’t want to hurt my progress by monetizing too soon. I do have a PR3 and some solid links though.
I’d welcome any thoughts you have !
Thanks,
Scott
Hi Tomaz,
How timely for me to read this
I’ve been pondering for a few days about how to complete a page in stretching. I joined an affiliate program so I could add content from articles they provided. My site doesn’t have visitors anywhere near the numbers you mention but I had just decided I would go ahead and do it when I read this.
What should I do? I don’t want to do anything that will jeopardize my progress so far. I think you have told me the answer, but are there any exceptions to your advice?
Thanks for all the great help and advice,
Caroline
Caroline,
If you have added aff. links, then wait to see if your traffic drops. If it does, remove them.
Otherwise look to find high quality links to your site that will give it authority and “allow” the site to link out with aff. links and keep good rankings.
Thanks Tomaz,
I hadn’t added the aff. links and I’ve finished my page by using some videos from YouTube. I have linked out at the end of the page but it isn’t an affiliate link.
Thx for your guidance
Hi Tomaz,
great post, I have never held off monetizing but am doing this now with my new sites.
An idea for people who want to earn while holding off monetizing there site, build an email list.
Still include great content and also offer a free report.
Jeremy
Hi Tomaz,
My traffic has improved…I now get 75-87 unique daily visitors. I also put some adsense in some pages. But only 1 page has made me $3.28 for this month so far. I also have 2 Amazon affiliate links which I made into a nofollow.
Will this hurt my site? Because if it will, I’ll remove all monetization.
I have 54 back links now.
Thanks!
Len
Hi Len,
This Internet thing is not something that can be guaranteed with 100%. I cannot tell whether affiliate links will hurt you.
I don’t even know if they hurt me. I had one experience that suggested that but I have no proof.
You need to play the game and get more experience with it and then you’ll know with a little better probability what goes on.
But you’ll NEVER know with certainty!
Tomaz,
What a fantastic post! It comes just at the right time for me.
Do you believe affiliate links that have the no-follow attribute can hurt a site’s rankings and traffic?
When you noticed your traffic decline with the site you mentioned, were you also tracking your rankings, and did they decline?
I know nothing is for sure in this game, but would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
Dave,
I don’t know whether no-follow links affect the rankings.
And yes, the rankings dropped therefore the traffic dropped. They are 100% related – your traffic comes from good rankings, right?
Hello Tomaz,
I can totally concur with your statement of not adding monetization too early ona product review website. It has simply killed my inbound linking strategy and slowed down my traffic progression.
I am wondering if it would be beneficial to take out all of my affiliate links to Amazon, CJ and Clickbank and then trying to go out and get links to free and paid directories that stated they would not link to commercial websites? I would then wait until your prescribed 400-500 visitors a day(I am at 80 per day) until I return my monetization.
Hey Dwight,
I wouldn’t bother with 99,99% of free directories – I tried submitting to them a few times for some smaller sites where I could track exactly the increase of rankings and traffic and there was NONE!
Submit to a few big ones if you can afford it and then just work on article submissions and link exchanges.
Thank you Tomaz,
You are SUPER fast with responses!!!! It is good to know that my problems aren’t completely unfixable. My main concern is the big ones say they will not take commercial websites submissions. Should I still apply and risk loss in money or just forget about them?
I will definitely pick up my article submissions and search for high PR5+ link exchanges. That was actually on my list to do, but I have been working everyday to fix my crappy keywords.