In this tutorials I'll outline 7 methods with which a new webmaster can start making money with his or her site. It's a very good thing when you create and maintain a site because you enjoy it, but it's even better if you make money while going at it!

Monetization methods:

1. Google Adsense (contextual advertising)

Even if you're not a webmaster you have heard or surely seen Google Adsense ads. This is one of the preferred methods of monetization for most webmasters, mostly because it's easy to join the network and money starts coming in pretty fast.

Some webmasters have networks of hundreds or even thousands of sites that have Adsense as the base of their income simply because the network has a huge amount of advertisers, making it easy to cover any topic with related ads.

There are some downsides though: although for some sites Adsense is the only monetization method it's certainly not the only one, and for that matter, not the best one. Many webmasters use Adsense together with link selling and affiliate programs, and most of the times Adsense performs the worst. Also, many publishers don't like the fact that Google does not disclose what percentage of the click cost they pay to the publisher.

2. Text link ads (link selling)

Another way to make money, possibly even more money than with Adsense, is to sell links on your website. Text-link-ads.com (TLA) is one of the best places to put up your offer on and it will expose your site to many buyers. Although you can't set the price yourself (it's done through their own algorithm) you can deny which links appear on your site.

Depending on your traffic and other site details like theme and link popularity you can end up making more with TLA than with Adsense, and the best part is that you can use them both at the same time.

Integration of the script that displays the links is very easy - just copy some code into the page you want and then wait for clients. For webmasters with Wordpress blogs this is even easier, as TLA have made a custom plugin for it.

3. Adbrite (link selling)

Adbrite is another great option for publishers looking to monetize their site. Unlike Text-link-ads.com, with Adbrite you can use multiple ad types:

• Text ads
• Banner ads
• Active interstitials: these are full page ads that contain the advertisers landing page or branding message; they usually appear between a users second and third page load.
• Inline ads: you've probably seen these before - they appear in a popup balloon when you hover over a double underlined link.

If you choose to go with Adbrite you'll be in select company: Friendster, ImageVenue and MegaUpload among others.

4. AuctionAds (affiliate program) - Link (aff)

AuctionAds is a new program based on eBay's affiliate program. But what is exactly AuctionAds' purpose? If you look at eBay's payment levels the more referrals you make the more you earn. Based on that, AuctionAds pulls all of it's clients data together so they earn the maximum possible amount of money.

Fortunately AuctionAds can be run together with Adsense, increasing your income even more and respecting that old saying: "Don't keep all your eggs in the same basket!". It's a bright ideea, and Jeremy Shoemaker (or Shoemoney, as he's known on different forums) is to "blame" for it.

5. Commission Junction (affiliate program) - Link

Commission Junction is the biggest affiliate network, and for a good reason: they have a massive amount of advertisers and publishers. This gives you a lot of options when it comes to choosing an affiliate program, but it can also be a problem - not all programs perform very good, so it is important to monitor what works for your site and simply dump the ones that don't.

There are tons of creatives so you can promote merchants through a variety of text or image ads so test what works for your site before giving up with a certain program. Also, unlike with Google Adsense or other PPC (pay per click) programs you can attract attention to the ad as long as you don't offer incentives (this depends on each program's terms of use).

However, there are problems with Commission Junction and although they don't seem too widespread to affect the affiliate network's credibility they must be mentioned.

Some people report that their account doesn't register even one sale and they eventually have their account disabled, although other similar networks have pretty good results. Others are simply kicked out without no explanation even though (they say) they comply with all CJ regulations.

6. Shareasale (affiliate program)

Shareasale is an affiliate network just like CJ but has fewer advertisers and publishers. This is more than made up by the way they treat publishers - this is one company I've never heard a complaint about!

I also like the fact that they have an "advertiser status", where you can see if an advertiser has enough funds deposited to pay you. This way you can usually steer clear of companies with low funds on hand or are even offline because they haven't deposited any money.

This is by far my favourite affiliate network, and although not all webmasters will find suitable programs, I recommend them wholeheartedly!

7. Amazon (affiliate program) - Link

Oh dear, Amazon... Honestly I don't know anybody making more than change with them, but they are BIG and the inventory is big enough to supply you with products that you may not find anywhere else. Still, don't base your business model on Amazon products - the commission is really low and from my experience most people don't buy through off-site links.

Still, some of the products can be targeted very good so giving it a try won't hurt you.

Although these are not the only methods of monetizing a site it's a very good start. Coming shortly: an article in which I show you how to use these programs on your site. Stay tuned!