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Did you know that you can make money advertising for companies and a lot of it is PASSIVE, meaning you can do it while you live your normal every day life? Thousands of people take advantage of the digital marketing age we live in by creating mediums to advertise for companies and make money doing it.
There are tons of different ways to advertise for companies including very active ways like starting your own ad company and creating your own ads to very passive ones like putting an advertisement on your blog or social media account.
We live in a consumerism world and there are hundreds of thousands of companies trying to get their advertisements to consumers, which means you can get paid to help them spread their message.
So which type of advertising is right for you and how much can you make? Read below to find out.
Types of company advertising
Almost every company on the market today has some portion of their focus on advertising to potential clients. The larger companies spend millions of dollars on advertising every month but the smaller companies tend to utilize smaller platforms to get their messages out. That’s where you come in. So, what type of advertising companies are out there?
Advertising through an MLM
An MLM, or multi-level marketing, company is focused on a referring model for their businesses in which they recruit people to advertise and sell their products as well as bring in their own people to do the same. MLM’s are a very direct way of advertising for the company as you get paid off of commissions and recruitment. Be careful and research any MLM company as some do not have great reputations.
Advertising through affiliate marketing
Some companies use split commissions to advertise their products or services similar to offering an affiliate marketing program. More companies than you realize have affiliate programs in which you can join and advertise their products or services for a portion of the sale.
Advertise through smaller companies
Whether you’re creating your own brand or ad company, you can get paid to post ads on your platforms or get paid to create ads for companies. When you are starting out, you can build relationships with other small companies or people in your focus area to build your own platform out. Every company needs to advertise, it’s all about finding the right companies to partner with. Many companies only require you to sign up and you begin advertising for them.
How much can you get paid to advertise for companies?
The nice thing about advertising for companies is you can start out very small, making $100 per month, and if you have the ability to scale your platform or blog can grow into $1,000+ per month- with some bloggers bringing in six figure numbers. Of course, it takes time and work to grow your platform, but the positive news is that you can start no matter how small.
So, how much can you actually get paid to advertise for companies? Most ad displays on websites or blogs range from $0.01-$0.10 per 1000 views. That means if your blog brings in 10,000 views every month you could typically make anywhere from $100 to $1000 per month just for people viewing your website. Typically, starter advertising platforms like Google AdSense pay out lower than platforms like Mediavine which have a much higher payout but require you to have a certain number of sessions per month before you can apply to their program. The idea here is to start small and work on growing your platform so you can bring in more money per page view.
If you are putting sponsored content on your site like getting paid to review a certain product or promote a service through a blog post, you will also typically get paid by the number of followers you have or the page views your blog gets. Typically, sponsored content can start around $50 per post for people just starting out and can scale in to the thousands as your platform grows.
The key to advertising for companies is to pick a field or niche where there are lots of advertising opportunities. For example, if you are branding yourself in the fitness niche there are tons of products and services you can promote. You can also even start your own fitness service or sell your own products. On the flip side, if you go with a much smaller niche like 1920’s big band music, it may be harder to find ads or products to promote.
What are the different types of advertising?
Advertising for companies through display ads
Advertising display ads on your social media platform or blog is probably the simplest and most common way of making money through advertising. It’s also the most passive. You start by signing up for a display ad platform. Some ad platforms like Mediavine will require you to have a certain number of user sessions per month before being accepted, but they also have a higher payout then some other sites. You can start with a platform like Google AdSense and as you increase your pageviews, you can apply for platforms with higher payouts.
Below are a few of the common display ad platforms.
Advertising through affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing entails advertising products or services for a company on your platform or website and receiving a portion of the sale commission. For example, if someone is selling a course or service, then you can get a portion of that sale if people purchase the course through your platform.
How to sign up for affiliate programs
Signing up to be an affiliate is super easy for most companies. Usually you can just google the company you’re interested in and the word “affiliate” and their program page will pop right up. You will then either sign up for the program and begin advertising or for some companies you may have to apply to be in the program.
After you are accepted you will either be given your own discount code that you can give advertise on your platform- this will help the company track you to the sale and give you a commission. Or you may be given unique links that you will use on your website. These unique links will help the company track the sale back to you.
Make sure you read the company’s program policies and rules to make sure that you don’t violate any of their affiliate program rules. It’s also important to denote when you are adding affiliate links to a post or posting an ad on social media- these are requirements and you can get in trouble for not doing so. You can see an example of our disclosure at the top of this post.
How much can you make with affiliate marketing
Because affiliate marketing is typically based on a split commission approach, the amount you can bring in varies widely with the company you’re an affiliate of. For example, sites like Amazon Associates and FlexOffers will give you a percentage of the sales price when someone buys a product you’ve advertised.
That means your payout is dependent on the sales price of the item.
Some affiliate programs may be for subscriptions or services so they will pay you a one-time fee for the referral. This could be anywhere from $50 to $100 to $1,000 depending on the final product or subscription price.
Where to get started?
Brand partnerships or sponsored posts
You can get paid to create social media posts or blog posts about a certain company, product, or service and get paid. Examples may include reviewing a product or using a company’s service to solve a problem your followers or readers may have.
Remember, when building a brand or a website, reputation is everything so be sure to only partner or promote products with good reputations.
How to find sponsored content opportunities
You can start building relationships with companies by reaching out to smaller companies in your niche or focus area. How do you find them? By seeing which social media platforms that are around your size are promoting. If someone has 5,000 followers and is promoting a certain business and you are around that size, then reach out to that company and ask them about advertising opportunities. Same goes for those with 1,000 followers all the way up to 100,000+ followers.
How much can you make with sponsored content
Sponsored content payouts are typically related to how large your following is how or many pageviews your blog gets. The higher the number, the larger the payout for you. Typically, sponsored posts start around $50 for a post on social media or a blog post. When you are negotiating an advertising agreement, make sure the payout is worth your time and take into account the size of your audience. You can negotiate as needed.
Where can you advertise for companies?
There are tons of social media influencers that bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just by posting ads on their social media; however, they already have hundreds of thousands of followers. So, what about you? You can start making money with significantly less followers (think less than 10,000)- as some companies shift away from quantity of followers to quality of relationships. If you have a small following, but they are active in engaging with your social media platform, then you may be a good candidate for partnering with smaller companies. Which platforms should you consider?
Snapchat
Snapchat is a popular social media platform that boasts over 200 million users every day. There are tons of ways to advertise on Snapchat including using SnapAds which comes in many forms including small videos that play in between snaps to shoppable ads that allow users to click on and purchase products. You can also advertise on Snapchat by creating filters that advertise a brand or product.
Related: How to Make Money on Snapchat
Facebook is a great place to start when you’re looking to monetize your social media platform as billions of people use it. Facebook is less known for advertising on your personal page, but if you have a high number of followers this is an option. If you have a product of your own you want to sell, then creating your own Facebook business page may be the next move. You can then advertise all over Facebook and sell your own products. Check out the Facebook Business Ads page here.
Instagram has quickly become a marketplace for social media influencers and small or large companies looking to reach millions of followers. You can make money on Instagram by working to build your following (targeting 5,000+ followers) and working with smaller companies at first to advertise their products.
Once you start building a following, companies will start reaching out to you, but you can also find companies that sponsor smaller influencers by engaging with influencers in your group size and seeing which companies they advertise on their own platforms.
Advertise on your blog
Having your own blog is a great way to bring in extra income. The great thing about blog posts is that you can write a post with several affiliate links on it and that post can continue to bring in income for years after you’ve written it.
Similar to social media platforms, you can make money by posting ads on your blog. The more traffic your blog has, the more money you will bring in from the ad views. Many bloggers bring in thousands of dollars a month just by posting display ads on their website. Bloggers also make money through affiliate marketing and sponsored posts as described above.
Ready to start your own blog? Sign up with SiteGround and start today.
Advertise on your car
Posting ads on your car can be a great way to make money while you’re driving. The only real catch is that you have to drive your car, as most companies will require you to download an app that logs how much you are driving, so they can make sure their ad is being seen. Check out companies like Carvertise, which will pay you to put ad stickers on your car.
Start your own online advertising company
Are you creative and have a passion for marketing? Take a look at starting your own advertising company.
Steps to creating your own ad company:
- Identify product niches and companies that utilize online marketing on social media and blogs.
- Start creating your own ads using graphic design sites. There are tons of graphic design applications out there like Procreate or Canva, where you can make custom images and graphics.
- Set up a Facebook business page or create your own website to begin advertising your services.
- Create samples and show them off to small businesses. Target smaller companies at first to gain traction with your business. Use create samples to show them what your company has to offer.
Work as a freelance advertiser
If you aren’t interested in creating your own ad company, then try your hand at freelance ad creation. You can sign up for a site like Fiverr or Freelancer and add your ad creation services there. Then companies or people that are interested can contract your services on a case by case basis. This can be a good way to get your feet wet in graphic design and ad creation before jumping in to your own business.
How to be successful advertising for companies
- Create an authentic and genuine base platform. If you are on social media, then curate authentic content for your followers to build your brand and your following. This will appeal to companies looking to partner with you and will also help you grow your platform which will also grow the amount of money you can charge for displaying ads.
- Start small. When you’re first starting out and you don’t have a lot of followers or page views on your blog, start small by identifying successful influencers or blogs in your niche. See what ads those sites are displaying and then reach out to those companies. If social media platforms or blogs that are similar in size to yours, then those same companies may be interested in creating a partnership with you as well.
- Be consistent and stay with it. It will take time to build up a meaningful following, but the growth can be exponential. So, if at first you aren’t raking in the big bucks, take a step back and adjust your strategy if needed, but continue posting authentic content. Building a meaningful brand or blog can take time but, in the end, can pay off through consistency.
Summary
Making money advertising for companies can be a great way to bring in both active and passive income. Take a look at your end goals to figure out which platform may be right for you. If you are interested in creating content around a specific niche or knowledge area, then maybe a blog is best for you. If you are interested in building up a personal brand, try social media marketing. Build up your following and you can start bringing in money through passive ad displays and affiliate marketing. Side hustle engaged.