Just a little FYI for those running campaigns with Google Affiliate Network:

Google Affiliate Network publisher payments will soon be made through Google AdSense accounts. AdSense will offer you a wider range of payment options, improved ways to manage payment information, and consolidated payments from Google (if you’re working with other Google products).

You must link to an approved AdSense account in order to receive payments for earnings. Starting on August 13, 2009, if you’re the primary user of your publisher account, you’ll see an account notification asking you to create a Google AdSense account or link to an existing Google AdSense account. (If you aren’t the primary user, you won’t see the account notification.)

You must link your accounts before midnight (Eastern Standard Time) on September 21st, 2009 to receive payments through Google AdSense for July and August 2009 earnings (depending on relevant advertiser payment terms). Please create or link an AdSense account as soon as possible to avoid delays in your Google Affiliate Network payments.

Earnings prior to July 2009 will be made through the existing Google Affiliate Network payment system.

You have a website and you have heard the buzzword: monetization. Monetizing your site is simply hosting ads that you are paid for, either per click, per impression, or per sale. There are literally dozens of different options, and most of them are relatively straight forward to implement. All you have to do is decide which options are the most appropriate for your site. Whether you are starting from the beginning, or looking for a fresh concept, here are some options to consider:

Google Adsense

Adsense are content-based ads that run on your site in blocks. Google’s spiders read your site’s content and produce ads on related topics (as much as possible). You specify the size, shape and quantity of ads in blocks.

Pros: Implementation is no harder than designing your site to begin with, and ad blocks are fully customizable to fit your page layout. Adsense is pay per click so you get paid whether or not your visitor buys anything from the advertiser. Google rarely turns a site down initially, which benefits new domains that have little to no traffic. Adsense has extensive tracking features to monitor performance and there are tons of resource books out there that will walk you through step by step optimization. Google handles your relationship with advertisers.

Cons: Google’s algorithm for determining your share of ad revenue is a mystery, and often seems arbitrary. Some key words pay higher commissions than others, but even then, it depends on a lot of factors that you have little control over. Therefore, some clicks are worth $1 or more, and some are worth a penny. And in most cases, you just never know. Web users are used to ignoring Google ads because they are so prevalent, and some browsers automatically block ad scripts from loading.

Peel Away Ads

Peel Away Ads sit in the very corner of your website and peel back when a user scrolls their mouse of the ad.

Pros: Simple script to implement, but you do need to be able to design the graphics. Because they sit in the top right corner of your webpage, they are never in the way of your content. You can easily host other ad space on your page.

Cons: Peel Away Ads are eye-catching, but there is no proof that they are any more effective than other ads.
Peel Away Ads is just a script, you still need something to advertise. You can sell your own product or establishing a relationship with an advertiser.

Commission Junction

Commission Junction is an affiliate program. You establish relationships with advertisers individually through CJ’s interface. Then, each advertiser provides block and text ads for you to host on your site.

Pros:High profile, brand name companies use CJ, so you benefit from their name recognition. CJ handles the relationship with the advertisers, and commission payments. Wide variety of product types to choose from, so you can easily pick things that are highly relevant to your site. You can easily encrypt most ads, and have them open in a new browser window, as well as append tracking codes to each sale.

Cons: Most commissions through CJ are paid when the customer takes action on the advertiser’s site. Which means, no sale, no commission. Commissions can be very low compared to other affiliate programs.

Clickbank

Clickbank works the same way as Commission Junction, except all the products sold through Clickbank are digital. And for the most part, you are advertising the product not the company.

Pros: High commissions, up to 75% It is just as easy to advertise someone else’s product as your own, giving you a full range of potential income. Tracking transactions is trouble-free.

Cons: You have to establish an individual relationship with every single publisher. A lot of publishers will offer banner ads, e-mail text, and keyword help to assist you in advertising their product, but it’s up to each individual advertiser to do so. There is almost no quality control on the products themselves, so unless you have purchased the product, the only way to know if a product is viable is to do some calculation against the $/sale.

Auction Ads

Auction Ads are hosted ads for eBay products.

Pros: If you have high conversions, you can take advantage of eBay’s bonus payouts. The ads, particularly the bigger blocks, can break up the monotony of your webpage. Commission payouts occur at the end of the month, so there is no delay in payment.

Cons: Auctions Ads interface isn’t great, but it gets the job done. Control over the products displayed on your webpage is limited, even when you use highly targeted keywords. There are a lot more small ticket items on eBay than big ticket, which means your commissions will often be pennies.

ReviewMe

Advertisers commission a paid review that is posted on your blog.

Pros: In addition to getting paid for writing the review, you also get original content for your blog. Advertorials rock! A company writes the post for you, all you do is post it to your site.

Cons: Your website has to be approved by ReviewMe before you can participate. Very new sites may have a hard time geting approved. Your commissions are based on your website ranking, so newer sites will potentially do the same work for less money

Amazon.com

Amazon is one of the biggest solo affiliates on the web.

Pros: Every product that amazon sells, you can pitch on your page. You can design ads by category, you can promote specific products, you can promote seasonal sales, or you can let amazon decide. More than any other affiliate program, amazon has a dozen monetization options for you to choose from. In particular, their product previews and astore widget are top notch.

Cons: Commissions are scaled based on items shipped per month. You don’t get paid for pre-orders until they ship, which means even multiple orders within the same month may not count towards increasing your commission percentage. There reporting interface is confusing. Commissions, particularly at the lower end of the scale, are minuscule. You really need a lot of conversions every month to really make it work.

And of course, many companies that have a strong web presence offer some kind of affiliate program. So depending on the nature of your site and what you want to promote, you can seek out many, many other affiliat