How to Monetize Content? Best Ways Made Simple!

Let’s explore content monetization models, strategies, and the best ways to kick off money-making with a social media blog, website content, or other content you love creating.

Our blog has been developed to help any person in the world start monetizing and growing their passive income through advertising. This time, we’ve compiled all the granular details on how to monetize any content easily. Just take the steps and go for it!

We are rooting for you! If you have any questions about placing ads, don’t hesitate to chat with our Partner Care support right that moment.

What is content monetization?

Content monetization is earning money from the digital content you create, including posts, reviews, multimedia, music, podcasts, photography, graphic arts, images, or any other type of content online.

Often, users generate content without knowing how to monetize content, as they do so for pleasure or to establish a personal brand. Some would do it just to gain social recognition through a growing audience. When creators arrive at the monetization question, usually as a side hustle, it doesn’t always come easy. There can be ways and more ways to reclaim the efforts and the passion they give out to the world.

The next thing you think is content monetization platforms. And you usually think of monetizing with social media, which depends on user-generated, mostly free content. On the other hand, it can be a blogging platform (aka CMS) where you can monetize a website content.

Would you like to have more universal approaches to monetize any content?

Well, apart from platform-built-in tools and programs with social networks, you can use extra monetization models for your content, marry them together and enjoy the revenue streams rolling in.

We’ll get back to that in a minute.

Let’s look into the content specifics first.

Types of content that can be monetized

No matter what content you create, be confident that it can be monetized with these or other platforms and approaches. Here’s a quick overview of content monetization platforms and types of content.

Table 1. Content monetization platforms and types of content.

You can become Adsterra’s Publisher and start earning as a content creator immediately with any size of following and viewers. Go through quick registration to see how it works.

Benefits of content monetization

The sky is your limit when it comes to the benefits of creating content and monetizing it. Most of the perks go hand-in-hand and have an overall (holistic) effect of boosting your earning potential in the long run.

Income

Creating content should bring revenue, and it’s your biggest bonus. There is a wide range of paid content monetization models. However, be sure to try a few models and choose a couple that best suit your content and your personal preferences.

Recognition

No guesswork, once you start growing and vetting your audience, you receive a lot of attention, gratitude, and recognition. There can be negative feedback from some subscribers, but it’s more of an ordinary matter in the present digital world. With recognition and volumes of traffic increased, you can receive direct proposals for brand partnerships to publish sponsor’s product posts. Participating in profit collaborations is one more of your revenue-boosting objectives.

Inspiration

The more content creators invest in their “baby” project, the more inspiration, passion, and insights they derive from it. New ideas become fresh, tangible projects charged with a new force. You can have more than one social media platform following or more than one blog in different niches (verticals). You push your expertise forward in one niche and streamline the monetization pipeline into another.

Community

Building your community and network is key to success. Your audience serves as your full-time advisor, helping you measure your progress with likes, shares, and conversions. Here, word of mouth and your subscribers’ shares are a lucrative bonus.

Concentrate on these benefits, remember about the overall positive effect of what you create with passion and care.

Choosing the right monetization model

Now, we have come to the essence of the discussion. Which is the best way to monetize content? The answer will be special for every solopreneur and content creator. Let’s name the most popular models for content monetization.

Direct monetization is a type of profiting when your audience chooses to pay for your content, and that’s how you make money. In this case, you are selling something to your readers.

Indirect monetization involves third parties that are willing to pay for your content and benefit from your traffic, including social media platforms, direct advertisers, brands, and companies. Here, you are “selling” your readers’ attention.

How to monetize my content?

1. Sell ad space

2. Do sponsorships

3. Set paywall plugins

4. Set subscriptions

5. Harness a newsletter platform

6. Do affiliate marketing

7. Do consulting

8. Sell digital products

9. Merchandise

10. Stimulate donations

11. Do crowdfunding

12. Go for patronage

13. Do revenue share

1. Sell ad space

Even if you have a small, loyal following, you can start monetizing the traffic coming to your website, blog, or social media platform. If you have a website, you can register with a reliable ad network and place advanced, high-paying, non-intrusive ads on to your pages and start making money at once.

Alternatively, if you’re a content creator on a social network, don’t miss out on using Smartlink (Direct Link) by simply placing it anywhere suitable and earning money as your viewers click on the url, just like explained on the screen below.

Pros of content ad monetization with ad networks

1. You can start monetizing with any amount of traffic. The more you grow, the more you earn.
2. You don’t need to look for advertisers on your own, or prepare your traffic performance metrics, or pitch your blog. For example with Adsterra, there are 15K+ advertisers that will compete to show their ads on your site.
3. You have a 100% fill rate with a reliable network.
4. You have a 24/7 online support team for expert advice.
5. You have a gallery of ad formats to suit your type of content, including industry-advanced ad formats with up to 30% higher CTR, like with Adsterra.
6. You receive payments twice a week per the chosen payment method that suits you.
7. Adsterra also offers free anti-AdBlock features to help you achieve a 35% higher conversion rate.

Cons of content ad monetization with ad networks

• You need to keep your traffic volumes high and rising, as the more traffic you have, the more you earn.

Adsterra team tip

It’s highly effective to use non-intrusive ad formats to tackle the users’ ad fatigue issue. You can also diversify your ad formats or their frequency, so that your viewers enjoy your content and ads the most beautiful way.

We’ve made it simple for Adsterra Publishers to earn revenue. There is a free and quick registration. Then, you choose any ad format, such as Popunder, Direct Link, Social Bar, Interstitial, or In-Page Push, and copy and paste the ad code where suitable on your content.

2. Do sponsorships

This monetization model for your own content is another way of advertising. However, here you partner with brands and advertisers directly to place sponsored content on your blog.

How to monetize content creation here? It’s pretty doable.

Companies usually pay you for each sponsored post and product or service review in advance. You might need to pitch your content and metrics to advertisers to win a chance or grow your audience large enough so that brands would contact you instead.

3. Set paywall plugins

It’s a great model to monetize your content. You gate, meaning “close” some of your content, which is premium content, expert or exclusive content for visitors to pay for. This way works great for website blogs. Just pick a plugin.

• For instance, MemberPress by WordPress. It will serve you well as a full-featured membership and paywall that restricts access to pages, posts, and files and has integrations with Stripe and PayPal. Your spending budget will stretch to around $180 per year.
• Another example is Leaky Paywall by WordPress that is right for you if you’d like to start with metered paywalls, which means some amount of articles are monthly free, others are paid. Especially handy, if you have a news site. As for your budget plan, its basic features are free with paid add-ons.

4. Set subscriptions

With social media accounts, you can turn to subscription services that your social network can offer. You can always start with a soft schema paywall, where you give visitors just enough articles per month for free to hook them and gate the rest of your hottest premium content.

5. Harness a newsletter platform

Newsletters are a powerful content-monetizing model for a few clear reasons that is to build community, drive traffic, and monetize. You can make a series of emails, so that your audience would come back for more of your entertaining and value-bringing, fresh, new content. You can use our guide to follow the main principles of email marketing to boost your income streams this way.

• You might also look into Substack services for creators focused on monetized or serialized content. It offers built-in audience discovery and easy-to-manage paid newsletter subscriptions. The good thing is that it requires no upfront cost, but with a 10% fee on paid subscriptions.
• Ghost is another affordable service that comes very handy for blogging and newsletters, which supports memberships, subscriptions, publishing, and payments. Your spending budget here starts at $9 per month with a Ghost Pro account.

6. Do affiliate marketing

Affiliate partnership can be called a classic of online monetization and can fit your particular content strategy on how to monetize content. By joining an affiliate network, you aim to get affiliate links or referral links from brands and companies which products or services may have demand among your followers.

Just like earning with ads, affiliate marketing works with or without a website.

If you are open with your audience about your affiliate marketing relationship, it’s only natural for your loyal audience to support you in that.

Be attentive when choosing a trustworthy affiliate network. Consider giants like Amazon Associates and their affiliate programs, or opt for a niche one.

7. Do consulting

It’s an amazing approach to content creation and monetization, as you are the one and only source of expertise and knowledge. If you feel like you can share value and experience through writing or broadcasting, go for it. This kind of online content monetization provides not only revenue, but also leaves you satisfied and fulfilled.

8. Sell digital products

There are myriads of digital products and services that you can promote and sell online. Starting from icons and skins for avatars up to e-books, speaking engagements, webinars, and online courses. It can be art pieces, video content, turn-key new websites, digital templates, or software.

9. Sell merchandise

Selling merchandise and physical goods is coming up next. It’s an amazing, creative way of how to monetize your content, when you offer your readers not only engaging materials but a piece of you with your logo, amusing slogan on a T-shirt, or another stylish item.

10. Stimulate donations

It’s one of the most straightforward and immediate forms of paid content monetization. You simply arrange a plugin on your site, leave PayPal details or forward visitors to thank you for your content using any other means.

11. Do crowdfunding

Crowdfunding lets creators, entrepreneurs, or individuals share their idea publicly and receive funding support. Very often, you can offer special perks and early access to the product or service as an exchange for support. If you are interested in this approach, you can check out platforms like GoFundMe, StartEngine, Ko-fi, or Indiegogo.

12. Go for patronage

Monetizing content on demand through patronage, creators invite their audience to suggest voluntary support via various platforms, such as Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee. While contributions aren’t obligatory, they provide a way to fuel the creator’s work and ongoing efforts directly.

13. Do revenue share

Several platforms have introduced revenue-sharing models that allow creators to earn directly from the platform’s subscriber base. For instance, Medium and Quora are rolling out programs that reward writers based on engagement and membership-driven earnings.

Step-by-step guide to monetizing your content

If you feel like it’s hard to choose the right content monetization strategies in digital space, if you’re stressed thinking whether a particular approach will fit your type of content, choose one out of the (industry-top) three ways we’ll discuss below.

Content monetization networks are a real boon for content creators and publishers. Among them are advertising networks, such as the gigantic Google AdSense and other networks with strict admission rules for traffic volume, viewer numbers, and vertical limitations.

On the other hand, you have more flexible niche networks, like Adsterra, with quick moderation and unique Partner Care available to every individual content creator.

Let’s uncover the perks of an ad network!

1. Smartlink or Direct Link

It is a simple link or a piece of code that directs your followers to a page with high-converting ads. You can place Direct Link wherever it fits best. It’s perfect for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube creators, and alike. It’s a real monetization gas pedal, as it selects relevant ads to display to your viewer at a given time, increasing the chances of conversions. It favorably links your social media audience to the advertiser’s landing page or website.

You can also set up a simple one-page website and place your Smartlink there. It lets you direct your social media audience to a landing page where conversions are easy. Creating and launching a basic site often takes minimal effort and can be done at little to no cost, using free web hosting platforms.

Real-life story from Adsterra

This is an amazingly inspiring true story of Jeremiah Yahaya, an entertainment blogger from Nigeria, who succeeded in growing his Facebook group from 100 to 770K members and earning 9K passive income with Adsterra Direct Link.

Expert tip

“When the users are already engaged with your content, they do not get irritated or tired of the ads you use […] Balance between useful, pleasant, non-intrusive, but still profitable content.“

2. Popunder

Another high-earning format is Popunder. Your viewers don’t usually notice it while they are engaged with your content, and consequently, are not interrupted and annoyed. Once they close the page, they see the ad in full, while you get paid by the ad network.

You can employ Popunder if you are a content creator with a website.

With a social media account, say, Instagram or Facebook, you can create a curious post and invite your followers to get a bonus or extras (like an e-book, white paper, or value-packed checklist) on your simple web page, which can be set up easily. When your new followers visit your site, they see the ad, while you receive a payout from your ad network.

Real-life story from Adsterra

Nothing is so motivating to come out and step up in your monetization and online business career as an authentic story. Here, we’ve got a content creator and YouTube expert that makes $3,000 a month with Popunder and ChatGPT, his little-spoke tactics and hacks in an online detailed manuscript.

3. Unique Social Bar

This ad format is special and stands alone for Adsterra Partners worldwide. It was purposefully designed by Adsterra’s developers to face and overcome the phenomenon of ad fatigue among users globally.

The ads appear as non-intrusive, intuitive notifications, widgets, dynamic icons, chats, or stories, driving plenty of clicks and having up to a 30% higher conversion rate than web push ads. It shows different types of content, including promotional and custom lead forms, operates perfectly on mobile devices and desktops, most web browsers, and operating systems.

Expert tip

“I recommend you to generate at least two different ad codes. Adding Adsterra’s Direct Link to your website along with Popunder ads will help increase your revenue. An alternative method is to add Direct Link to your blog posts along with Social Bar codes.“

Best way to monetize any content with Adsterra

1. Register as a Publisher, go through a quick moderation and confirm by email.

2. Add your website to the dashboard.

3. Copy and paste the ad code of the format you’d like to display on your website blog, webpage, or landing page.

If you have a social media blog, tap Smartlink (Direct Link) in your dashboard and copy the url or code. To learn more, pop into our comprehensive guide about Direct Link for easy monetization. 

3. Monitor your statistics and watch your earnings grow.

Adsterra team tip

If you have a social media blog, post an appealing piece on your media and invite your followers to your own website for an e-guide, white paper, or other valuable, exclusive content. Direct your social media traffic to your simple website, place aesthetic, irresistible ad formats, and profit.

Platforms for content monetization strategies

Let’s add more to the abovementioned high-performing strategies and go through other kinds of content and monetization platforms you can use individually or together. Here’s a breakdown of content platform usage globally.

When it comes to online platform monetization strategies for your content, you can consider a few programs and services, regardless of the social media network you use for creating content.

Let’s name a few that can be of help to you and your business online.

1. Instagram

• Subscriptions, Instagram Badges, Reels Bonus.
• Requirements: Eligible professional account, 10K+ followers recommended.

2. YouTube

• YouTube Partner Program (YPP), ads, YouTube channel memberships, Super Chat Super Thanks, Super Stickers, merchandise shelf, YouTube Shopping.
• Requirements: 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 watch hours or 10M Shorts views in 90 days.

3. TikTok

• Creator Rewards Program funds high-performing videos (CPM-based), Creativity Program Beta for longer-form videos (over 1 minute), TikTok Live Gifts, when viewers send virtual gifts (convertible to cash), TikTok Shop (affiliate program) per tagging and selling products in your video ads. TikTok Creator Fund (unfortunately, discontinued).
• Requirements: 10K+ followers, 100K views in last 30 days.

4. Twitter aka X

• Ad Revenue Sharing (via X Premium), Subscriptions.
• Requirements: Must be X Premium (paid) user, 5M impressions in past 3 months or 500 followers, 25 posts in last 30 days.

5. Facebook

Still named as the leading world’s social media platform by Statista, it gathers most of the world’s population under its hood.

• In-Stream Ads, Facebook Stars that fans can send out, Fan Subscriptions.
• Requirements: 5K followers, 60K minutes watched in 60 days.

6. Pinterest

• Pinterest Shop and affiliate links with Affiliate Product Pins are designed to earn commission as they allow direct affiliate urls.

There are always requirements that you should remember to meet. Always double-check the current platform rules before you initiate the approach. Some monetization programs for content can be on an invite-only basis. Nevertheless, platform-specific content monetization is one more way that is up your sleeve!

Content monetization tips and tricks

Here are a few more tips and tricks from us for you to lean on to grow faster and get a steady source of income. As a content creator, you might be in doubt about where to start or what to try next. Be consistent with what you do, try an approach, take metrics, and make conclusions. Test, rinse and repeat!

A.Shape original voice

Pursue to appear to your audience with fresh and authentic ideas, be genuine with your followers. Always look for ways to join the Blue Ocean strategy with less competition and more creativity, rather than fight with thousands of similar peers in the Red Ocean.

B. Generate diverse content

Blog posts, e-books, reviews, white papers, write-ups, infographics are all your tools for more visibility and true engagement with your audience. Participate in online discussions and forums, respond to comments, and build trust and relationships with your audience.

B. Look for more ways to bring traffic

Just like with content types, research and weigh out which of multiple platforms and followers might be interested in your creations. This is definitely more than one digital space, where your followers can find your compelling work. Always aim at expanding your audience.

D. Know your followers

Right, this is as important as editing before posting. Befriend your people, learn where they need help and support, what resonates with them and what their pain points are. Learn more about audience demographics, thier habits, geos, preferences, devices, other characteristics and metrics through tools like Google Search Console (GSC), Google Analytics (GA4), your platform dashboards, with the help of mere surveys, polls, and conversations.

E. Know your niche

Niche to niche, you may want to apply a few different methods for content monetization, ad formats, and approaches. What is your niche? iGaming, News, Lifestyle, Sweepstakes, Anime, or Antiviruses?

And again, it’s a big chance once you’ve started with one vertical, you’ll be interested in transferring your skills and knowledge to another. Base your content on those findings, whether you write new content on your own or use AI tools to generate blog posts with post-editing.

F. Introduce basic planning

You don’t need stringent planning. Make sure you follow your content plan posting carefully, just enough to keep your readers engaged. Utilize easy-to-use SMART tool to set and always accomplish your goals that should fall into the category of specific, measurable, attainable, relevant/realistic and timely set. Being consistent can help you build a reputation as a credible expert in your industry.

It’s also a great idea to sync with your audience at the most profitable times. Here is a breakdown of when you’d better post your content for the best engagement, according to the research conducted by Sprout Social of 2025.

How to avoid common mistakes monetizing content?

As the saying goes, better safe than sorry, however, there are no results without mistakes. We put all the common and less common mistakes and issues together. Look through, have an idea of what to watch out for, and be safe to happily monetize.

Table 2. Mistakes during digital content monetization of social media content

Table 3. Mistakes while monetizing online content with a website

Adsterra team tip

Use all the benefits and perks with Adsterra, such as unique Partner Care help, anti-AdBlockers, expert advice on demand, 24/7 support, and many more.

Conclusion

There is always much more you can find on our blog to monetize content and make money. Follow your intuition and use a few content monetization strategies. Sponge the expertise of other content creators, however, find your own unique way of uniting with your audience. Adsterra is here to help your on your way to always grow and look up into the future.

How to monetize content FAQ