Ever heard of the saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”? That principle applies to a number of things related to a small business or a blog be it marketing, revenue channels, or even something as simple as monetizing your website. And what’s more synonymous with website monetizing than Google AdSense?

However, as great as the almighty Google and it’s products are, we have to agree that it is not the complete solution either for promoting your business or earning revenue through ads from your website. Granted that they are the pioneers in online advertising, there are still a number of newer providers that have come along with much more flexible terms and conditions, better payout percentages, and even more targeted behavior in some cases. Here’s a short list:

Infolinks

This ad service is absolutely genius and a perfect replacement for Google AdSense for those people who don’t like banner ads on their websites. Infolinks scans your website for appropriate keywords and converts them into links. When a user clicks on those links, you get paid. It’s really that simple.

Consider the advantages of this approach: first, you don’t have to put those ugly or barely customizable ad units on your sidebars that could find better use with premium adverts; second, the hyperlinks on your text are quite unobtrusive and appear right when the reader is on the topic — and hovering above the related keyword — which means a higher chance of receiving a click; and third, there’s no formatting or any such customization hassle involved!

Moreover, even if you do want to use banners and other ad programs, Infolinks works just fine.

AdBrite

This service has been making some waves, and with good reason. They are currently the best overall alternative to Google AdSense and offer a number of different types of ads that help you maximize the earnings from your website. They also work well along with other providers and offer you 75% of the split from all the revenue earned through your clicks.

Another great aspect about AdBrite is that they allow you to choose which ads you would like to display on your website and which ads you’d like to prevent from appearing on it. This helps you ensure that you’re never displaying ads from your competitors.

Again, a highly recommended service that’s hassle-free and appears to be much less restrictive than Google.

Bidvertiser

This is another very interesting service that is worth considering. Here are some of the points that make it stand apart the other services on the market:

• Their minimum payout through PayPal is $10, which means even if you make very little money every month, there’s a good chance you’ll get paid
• They pay you not only for clicks on their ads, but also when someone actually makes a sale after clicking on those ads. In other words, you become their affiliate and earn even more
• They aim at displaying your ads only to the highest bidders to maximize your profits

Chitika

Another major player in the advertising scene, their concept behind the ads that show up on your website is more related to the search terms that visitors use to get to your website. This ensures that the visitors see ads only on the subject matter for which they were searching before they arrived at your website. Quite naturally, this is bound to lead to higher conversions.

Chitika also works well with other ad units and has much better display settings that make their ads look a lot better as compared to the standard AdSense units.

Their payout limit is also quite low at $10 for PayPal, which means you’re bound to get paid more often.

That was all about monetizing your website with some alternatives to Google AdSense. However, such services aren’t the only way you could earn money from your website. There are a number of ways that can be very effective in helping you not only earn money, but also create a great mailing list, which you can further use in order to boost your sales. Here are some of those methods:

• Organizing contests and giveaways: These are excellent hooks for bringing in a number of visitors in a short span of time. The best part about this kind of marketing is that your visitors obtain true value from your website, which they are bound to appreciate more
• Obtaining interviews from influential people in your field: People need good information, and if you can score an exclusive interview with someone who has a strong following, you’re bound to receive a lot of quality traffic from the people who’d go anywhere to listen to the views of your guest. More traffic obviously means more clicks and more people who are willing to buy space on your website to display their ads
• Creating eBooks and selling them or giving them away for free: If you have something really valuable to share with your visitors, why not create an eBook around that idea — assuming, of course that the idea can be converted to a good book? If you’re confident it would sell, go ahead and sell it; otherwise, simply give it away as a token of your appreciation for your visitors. While giving it away may not bring you direct revenue, it will definitely result in more clicks on the ads on your website
• Affiliate marketing: If your website already has good traffic and your visitors trust your word, why not pick some third party products from the market that can benefit your audience and recommend them? By doing this, not only are you providing your visitors with some useful suggestions, but also making money while at it
• Organizing surveys: If you’d like to know something about your visitors’ preferences, why not just ask them about it? If your survey is geared towards providing your viewers with something interesting, a number of them would be more than happy to provide their responses. You might even end up with a number of new visitors who are interested in what you have to offer

Any good Internet marketing professional would know about the stuff I’ve just covered, however, knowing about these options helps you understanding whether what your online marketing consultant says is true or whether he’s just trying to rip you off.

Furthermore, please note that you may not have the bandwidth to implement all the methods I’ve mentioned above at one time. The best approach, therefore, would be to look at a few monetizing options such as Chitika and Infolinks and optimize them, and then do the other stuff including contests, eBook sales, etc. in order to further boost your revenue.