Make Money Online

The purpose of this one-page guide is to put all of the resources and information I have found over the years in one central place. I have reviewed and used tons of resources for monetization and I wanted to make it simple for new movie bloggers and movie website owners to find everything they need to make money online. The following is a list of all the ad networks and affiliate programs I use to make money online, have used, or considered using. I will be updating this frequently so check back soon for more information.

Alec Baldwin, Glengarry Glen Ross, Always Be Closing

Amazon Associate: a trusted name whose Affiliate Program pays commissions between 4%-8.5% and since everyone knows their name, advertising something available through them could make you some profit. Keep in mind also that even if a person does not buy the product that got them to Amazon,  you will still reap the rewards if they buy something else there, anything, because they came to the site from your link.

Sign up for Amazon

Sideshow Collectibles Affiliate Program:The collectibles they sell cost a pretty penny so your commissions per sell are high as well. Next to Google AdSense, this has brought in the most revenue for me. There are a lot of collectible collectors out there, more than you are probably aware of. When they see a new collectible on the market, you both may get what you want if you are the one advertising it and advertising it properly.

Sign up for Sideshow Collectibles Affiliate Program

AllPosters: who does not like cool movie posters, from students to movie aficionados. By joining AllPosters Affiliate program, you can advertise groups of posters. e,g. movie posters on your website. Since you are running a movie website, this is a no brainer.

Sign up for Allposters

Mr. Skin Affiliate Program: a affiliate movie program best geared toward movie websites that are almost entirely about celebrities pictures, celebrity hijinks or about posting the most salacious pictures of them. Mr. Skin is all about the nude scenes movie stars undertake in film (do not worry, the site is tasteful).

Sign up for Mr. Skin

Google Adsense: The name that changed the game of internet advertising. Sites that receive both millions of pageviews and others that just get a few users per month all use Google Adsense. It is one of the easiest and definitely the most well-known monetization methods out there. After you sign up and place the ad units on your site, Adsense reads the content of your site and generates relevant ads for it. There are a plethora of ad sizes and options to choose from including having their ads show on your RSS Feed.

Sign up for Google Adsense

VibrantMedia In-text Ads: By installing their code into your website, keywords in your post are underlined. When the cursor is over those keywords, an ad pops up that a site visitor can click. When they do, you get paid. I would be using Vibrant on my movie website because I believe and have seen that they generate more relevant links than Kontera (e.g. search engine results, Wikipedia links, etc.). Vibrant requires that your site have at least 500,000 unique visitors per month before they will even consider your application so the little guys are out of luck. If you have a big site with the required visitors per month ratio, Vibrant is the way to go.

Sign up for Vibrant

Kontera In-Text: The closet thing Vibrant Media has to a competitor, Kontera has been around for almost as long. I currently use Kontera. By installing their code into your website, keywords in your post are underlined. When the cursor is over those keywords, an ad pops up that a site visitor can click. When they do, you get paid.

Sign up for Konetra

Blogads Logo

Blogads: By signing up, putting their tracking code into your website, and selecting what size ads and where you want the ads appearing, organizations can find you that otherwise would not and may choose to advertise on your website. I suggest joining a hive, which is easier said than done. Wait until your site is getting decent page views per month before making a request with a hive administrator. At the minimum, choose size the 150×200 ad unit, as it is the most commonly sold ad size. Also consider 150×600 as well.

Sign up for Blogads

Linkshare Logo

LinkShare: The affiliate program houses companies such as iTunes, Buy.com, Walmart, GameStop, etc. You sign up for their program then click the apply button for the affiliate programs you want to join and wait for approval. After you have been approved, you are given access to banners and other affiliate options.

Sign up for LinkShare

Commission Junction: The affiliate program houses companies such as Blockbuster and Fandango. You sign up for their program then click the apply button for affiliate programs you want to join and wait for approval. After you have been approved, you are given access to banners and other affiliate options.

Sign up for Commission Junction

Sponsored Tweets: If you use Twitter, and you should, and would like to monetize you Twitter account, Sponsored Tweets allows you to do so. Sign up for an account, set the price for the commissioned tweets (initially based on the number of your followers, how often you tweet, etc.) and your Twitter account will become a money maker. Note: You need 200 Twitter Followers to be allowed to participate in the program.

Sign up for Sponsored Tweets

MovieGoods Logo

MovieGoods: If you want to market not only movie posters, but standees, lobby cards, film cells, etc., joining MovieGoods Affiliate Program allows you to do that. They offer 18% commission on all sales.

Sign up for Movie Goods

GameStop Logo

Gamestop: “Hay, they don’t sell movies or movie products” you might be thinking. Think about this: Some people that buy movies also buy videogames and GameStop is a trusted retailer of videogames and videogame systems. Their 5% commission isn’t bad either. By joining LinkShare, you are able to sign up for their affilate program.

Sign up for GameStop

Walmart Logo

Walmart: Because Walmart is such a large brick and mortar retailer, they can sell the movies and videogames they have at a discount some other retailers like Buy.com and Amazon might not always be able to match or beat. Also a nice feature is when someone clicks a product, sometimes, like Amazon, other similar products are shown. Their commissions are low though, between 1%-4%. By joining LinkShare, you are able to sign up for their affilate program.

Sign up for Walmart

Buy.com Logo

Buy.com: One of the affiliate programs the offers the highest commission rate, 8%, but it also offers some of the highest prices for movies. One reason for this is that they include the shipping cost in their displayed price tag for their products. Other online retailers shows this after the customer is well into the buying process. By joining LinkShare, you are able to sign up for their affilate program.

Sign up for Buy.com

MoviePosterShop Logo

MoviePosterShop: A movie poster affiliate program that offers %15 commission on all the sales you make for them. By joining ShareASale, you are able to sign up for their affilate program.

Sign up for MoviePosterShop

Gorilla Nation Logo

Gorilla Nation: an ad network that leverages “longstanding industry relationships to bring you targeted site-specific ad campaigns, relevant to you, your users and your brand.” Much like other ad networks, Gorilla Nation may be the largest. Because of that, their criteria for publisher entry into their ad network is also higher than most: “At a minimum we require that all Publisher Partners have at least 1 million page views per month” plus “several other criterion”.

Gorilla Nation requires at least 1-2 standard IAB ad placements, presumably above the fold of the website but they can manage all of your ads for you as well.

Sign up for Gorilla Nation’s Ad Network

MTV Click Logo

MTVN Tribes: an ad network of websites anchored by MTVN properties like MTV. This ad network has the MTV name in front and behind it in addition to the youth-orientated advertisers that advertise on their television channels. This ad network favors United States ad clicks over international ad clicks.

MTVN requires at least two ad units above the fold of the website but they can manage all of your ads for you as well.

I am currently using their services on one of my websites. I wrote about that here: MTVN Tribes: Earn Revenue, Exposer with MTV’s Advertising Network.

Sign up for MTVN Tribes’ Ad Network

Indie Click Logo

Indie Click: an ad network that “helps brands and agencies match their RFPs to your audiences of individuals.”

This ad network favors United States ad clicks over international ad clicks.

This ad network offers an embeddable video play for both its exclusive clients (they sell all of your ad space for you) and for their non-exclusive clients. I previously spoke about these embeddable players here: Embeddable Video Players: Website Branding, Digital Logo Watermarks, Ad Options.

Indieclick has a three month waiting period while their tracking code is in your site to assess it. No ads will show during this assessment period.

Sign up for Indieclick’s Ad Network

You know what it takes to make money in the Movie Website business…

Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Glengarry Glen Ross, Brass Balls

Useful Resources for Movie Website Owners Wanting to Make Money

Below are a number of articles that I have written exploring some of the ways that a movie website owner can make money.

Recommended Reading on How to Make Money Movie Blogging

Connect with ProMovieBlogger

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