When to Start Monetizing Your Website
Posted by Mike | Filed under Make Money Online
Did you ever ask yourself the question “Is my site ready to be monetized?”
…
There are many people who are so eager to monetize their sites that once their sites are up, they start splattering obtrusive ads all around. What they don’t realize is that their chances of making money from their sites will be lower if they start serving ads and putting affiliate links at the wrong time.
So when should you start monetizing your website? Well… I can give you some guidelines.
First, make sure that your site has a good amount of content. Before you place your Google AdSense ads or whatever, you need to have SOMETHING for your visitors to read/look at. Always remember that first impressions last, so if your first-time visitors see that your site is full of crappy ads and nothing else, then they probably won’t come back.
I have to admit that when I started my very first site, I didn’t really put so much content. I was concentrated on putting the ad units, so the site didn’t make me any money… at all.
Your site must have a steady amount of traffic per day. Without traffic, you can’t expect some ad clicks or impressions. Before putting up ad units, you have to have stable traffic everyday. Your ad units will do you no good if no one is around to click on ‘em.
Your site must be quite known by people in your niche. If you’re not running cost-per-click (CPC) ads, you should let people who are in the same niche to know about your site. Otherwise, you won’t get ANY advertisers. 
If you’re running a forum, your community must be active. This is somewhat related to the last tip. Your community members are the ones who will click the ads, so they must be active. Got it? Good.
Well, that’s about it! Sorry to disappoint you if you expected a longer post. If you have something to add, feel free to do so by leaving a comment. I’m going to take our Math exam tomorrow… I’m so excited right now! I will probably write something related to Mathematics and making money online/internet marketing after the exam.
Some of the pro bloggers like John Chow advise to monetize your site from the start. However, why bother if you don’t have any readers? Also, there are advertisers out there that won’t even talk to you unless you have a certain amount of traffic. I agree with you though.
Great article, and Chanya provides some good insight as well. I think the best time to monetize a website is when you have the content and beginnings of a community to benefit from doing so.
Often monetizing a website too early can scare a lot of visitors away.
Thanks Tanner. I agree with what you’re saying. If I visit a site that only has a VERY few number of posts but yet their sidebar is chock-full of ads it gives me pause. It makes me think the sidebar ads are more important to them than content.