There are many webmasters, who have small sites and often complain that these sites are not making money or are making next to nothing. While it can’t be expected that a small site will always make big money, there are many cases when small sites do pay well.
In that aspect what matters more is not if the site is small or big but if it is getting a lot of targeted traffic. Small niche sites can be high traffic sites and as a result, it is possible to make money from them. However, not every small niche site can become a high traffic one.
But does this mean that a small low traffic site should be abolished? Not at all – there are ways to monetize small low traffic sites. Sure, the options to make money from a small site are more limited but they do exist.
CPM Ads Work for Small Low Traffic Sites
It is true that the most lucrative offers for CPM (cost per thousand) ads are reserved for high traffic sites but there are many CPM ad networks, which don’t have impossibly high traffic requirements. Many (relatively good) CPM networks don’t have traffic requirements at all, so it is not a problem for a small niche site to be accepted.
Pay Per Click Can Work Great on Small Niche Sites
In addition to CPM networks, Pay Per Click Networks (and above all Google Adsense) are a great way to monetize a low traffic web site. What is more, for a small niche web site, Google Adsense and the other Pay Per Click ad networks could be a much better option than CPM.
If the site is well positioned in its niche, chances are that the ads served will be well targeted. In such cases the click rates are usually higher and the small niche site is making much more money than when displaying CPM banners.
Affiliate Programs Might Be the Best Way to Monetize a Low Traffic Web Site
Many webmasters are skeptical about CPM and Pay Per Click as viable ways to monetize a low traffic site and put all their efforts in the direction of affiliate programs. For many webmasters affiliate programs are a huge disappointment because when there are no conversions, webmasters don’t get paid and in this case even CPM with their notoriously low rates are a better alternative.
However, it is not fair to say that affiliate programs don’t work as a way to monetize a small niche site. The key here is to pick high converting offers and to put them in a place, where visitors can see them. In such cases affiliate programs can be the best way to monetize a small low traffic site and they can really make a lot of money for the webmaster.
