One important method is of course using Adsense ads or similar programs that are available from Yahoo, MSN, and others. With these programs, you place script on your website, and Adsense spiders your site to find out what it is about. Then when it displays ads on your site it shows ads that are likely to be relevant to your visitors because it matches your pages content. Your visitors are far more likely to click on highly targeted ads than non- targeted ads.

Different advertisers pay different amounts for the ads depending on the subject matter. Some ads go for pennies, and some ads go for tens of dollars per click. If your subject material attracts lower paying ads, it could be worth looking into the second method of monetizing your site, pay per view ads. If you are making more than $1.00 per 1,000 page views, you might want to stick with pay per click ads.

I have a site where an ad agency is paying me 50 cents per 1000 page views for each of two ads on my pages. The ads must be above the fold and the ads cannot be the same size and shape. I use a banner ad across the top of the page, and a skyscraper ad on the right hand side of the page.

That leaves room for another Google adsense ad on the right hand side below the CPM ad, and one banner ad across the bottom of the page. I make a dollar for every 1,000 page views, and I still make more money from clicks on the Google ads.

I also am a member of several affiliate programs, the third method of monetization. With the affiliate programs you place an ad on your site from the affiliate program you are a member of, and if someone clicks through to the advertiser’s site and buys something you get a commission. There are lots of affiliate programs available. I joined Commission Junction, and I’m very happy with the selection of programs available.

Commission Junctions collects the money and pays you for any and all of the programs you join. They provide you with comprehensive stats and all kinds of support. If you are a webmaster you should at least check out their programs and see what’s there.

The Fourth method of monetizing your site is called 5 second audio ads. The program is band new, in fact it’s still in beta, but it is very interesting. When a visitor lands on your page, a 5 second long audio ad plays. Every time an audio ad plays you get paid. The ads will not play again for at least 3 minutes after your visitor hears one. After 3 minutes since the last ad played, the visitor can hear another if he refreshes the page or goes to a new page on your site.

The ads are very effective, since the visitor isn’t off in the bathroom, or grabbing a snack as so often happens with radio and TV. Your visitor is not driving a car either. He is sitting in front of the computer waiting for a page to finish loading. His mind is receptive to the ad. It’s actually a quite remarkable way to advertise.

You as a webmaster or publisher can also sign up other webmasters and publishers who want to run ads on their own sites. If you are the one that signs them up then you receive a commission on every ad that plays on their site. It can ad up to quite a bit of income if you get some decent sign ups.

The 5 second audio ads program is free to join so you don’t risk anything. It doesn’t even take up any real estate on your pages. It has no affect on any of your other advertising. And perhaps best of all, the visitor never leaves your site. It’s like finding free money.

So now that you know how to monetize your website or blog, you can move on to promoting your site!