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How Would You Monetise A Political Blog?

by Citizen1
27 replies
Hi warriors,

I'm in the process of starting a political blog so I'm looking for some good ways to monetize it. I know it's not that easy to monetize such kind of blogs, but I'm passionate about American politics so I'm going to give it a shot.
I've done some research and found that many on forums are talking about using native Ads when it comes to monetizing political blogs. If you take a look at some big political websites such as Breitbart and CNN you can see that they use this kind of advertising. But I'm just starting out with my blog, I certainly won't get that much traffic. So I'm wondering if this could be an effective way of monetization.
I thought of Adsense, but unless my blog gets a huge amount of traffic I don't think it's worth a try.
I also thought of creating a mailing list and promoting CPA offers to my subscribers. I might be wrong, but this would scare my subscribers away, since they're expecting political content from me and not some shady CPA offers. So, is there a way I can figure out what kind of offers/products they're into other than politics? that way I can promote stuff without damaging their trust in my blog.
I'd love to know your opinions/recommendations. Thanks in advance.
#blog #cpa #monetise #monetization #native ads #political
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  • Profile picture of the author myob
    The issues and undercurrents so typical in politics present very lucrative opportunities for marketing. Perhaps the best way to monetize these strong polarizing sentiments is through relevant topical books on Amazon.

    I have found that for maximum exploitation and conversion, it's best to focus on one side of any political issue. Being "objective" does not produce a connective following for long term continuity and profits.

    From a marketing perspective, what I do is have multiple websites accompanied by eponymous pseudonyms and characterizations for all of the major political issues and parties. What sells like hotcakes are books that support the preconceived opinions and notions of respective targeted audiences.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by myob View Post

      T Perhaps the best way to monetize these strong polarizing sentiments is through relevant topical books on Amazon.

      What sells like hotcakes are books that support the preconceived opinions and notions of respective targeted audiences.
      Yeah,I agree. I think that would be a good Market to Match for the kind of visitors that will be coming to a political blog. I think political junkies tend to gravitate towards books,as I'm just thinking about members in my own family and how they do this.


      - Robert Andrew
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    • Profile picture of the author Notright
      I'm sorry but I must chuckle a bit at this answer. Amazon books? Really?! Those things get like 5-10 cents per conversion!! I already know what you're gonna say....if they buy something else you get commission from that too but from my experience that doesn't work out. Remember Amazon's cookie only lasts 24 hours.

      If your blog is a left leaning blog maybe you can sell an organic food delivery service or a hemp clothing line.

      If your blog is to the right I suggest survival gear or home steak delivery or something along those lines
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      • Profile picture of the author agmccall
        Originally Posted by Notright View Post

        I'm sorry but I must chuckle a bit at this answer. Amazon books? Really?! Those things get like 5-10 cents per conversion!! I already know what you're gonna say....if they buy something else you get commission from that too but from my experience that doesn't work out. Remember Amazon's cookie only lasts 24 hours.

        If your blog is a left leaning blog maybe you can sell an organic food delivery service or a hemp clothing line.

        If your blog is to the right I suggest survival gear or home steak delivery or something along those lines
        Ever hear of goodreads. all they did was promote books, you know a measley 5 or 10 cents per book. Well they did it so well that amazon bought them. The figure was not disclosed but the speculation is it went for 150 million dollars.

        also if you knew anything about amazon, they are the masters of upselling. I have a kitchen an cooking site and there are lots of times I have sent someone to amazon through a link and they end up buying the $5.00 item I am promoting an then they buy much more

        al
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        • Profile picture of the author Notright
          That's good for you Al but from my experience even if they do buy more the measly commission they pay on all their stuff isn't worth it unless you get a ton of traffic. I do use amazon native ads on my political site. Those do convert pretty okay but still the amount of traffic needed turn any sort of profit is tremendous. In my case amazon is on par with google adsense insofar as revenue.

          Insofar as goodreads so what? That's one site.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikeyman120
    Like Myob mentioned maybe Amazon books would be a great fit. Also if you use CPA you might wantt o stick with Political type offers that some networks sometimes have like I'm sure there were some about Donald and Hillary. You can search for offers on offervault.com. You mentioned adsense which might also be a good fit so look into that also.
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  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    Quite a few are using native ads.

    al
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    "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

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  • Profile picture of the author sirtiman
    Sell some affiliate products about the politic figures related. Can be books, posters, anything related for their fans love to buy.
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  • Profile picture of the author SSSJames
    A political magazine with 100k+ monthly views we've worked with uses a combination of Adsense and on-click popunders from PropellerAds. Happily monetizing and apparently doing quite well for themselves.
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  • Profile picture of the author iamthore
    Try not to get to stressed about the monetisation before you create actual value on your website. Start spreading your message and see how your reads react to it.

    I can only agree to the previous comments that it's not much of a problem to monetize a political blog. Besides AdSense and selling related books via amazon you could also "rent out" part of your website through banner networks. That will obviously only be beneficial when your website reached a certain size.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    Oh, I have a great one...

    Do what this guy is doing (image below) only instead of religion use politics. So have a poll on your site with multiple donation links supporting each political dolt.




    Which politician supporters care about this site the most?
    1. Trump 27%
    2. Clinton 21%
    3. Sanders 13%
    4. Ronald McDonald 39%








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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Here's another way to approach it...

    Listen to Rush Limbaugh. What products does he endorse? Are they all political?

    It's been a few years since I was an EIB listener, but as I recall, Rush promoted all manner of things, from fancy beds to his own political stuff.

    What kind of products do they advertise during Rachel Maddow's shows? Bill O'Reilly's?

    Just because you have a political blog doesn't mean that every promotion has to be political in nature. Make the content political, but promote stuff people want to buy.

    The master, even though he wasn't blatantly political, was the late Paul Harvey. He promoted a bunch of different things, and people bought them because Paul recommended them, not because they matched the content of his shows.
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    Blog ads is an awesome company. They have a lot of political blogs and you set your own price. Look at what other political blogs in your niche are charging to get an idea of your income.

    I found myself advertising political T-shirts last year.

    Not sure what would be a good product or service now. Best of luck to you.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      Originally Posted by seobro View Post

      Not sure what would be a good product or service now. Best of luck to you.
      These books have been selling by the hundreds in recent weeks from my website:

      "Unprecedented: The Election that Changed Everything"

      "Crippled America"

      "Why Trump Won"

      "How The Hell Did This Happen? The Election of 2016

      "The Making of the President 2016: How Donald Trump Orchestrated a Revolution"

      Besides these books (all on Amazon) there is a ravenous frenzy of this demographic for other books and products due to Amazon's incredibly ingenious suggestion algorithm.

      Until recently, there was a similar response for supporters of Hillary Clinton on my other websites targeting diametrically opposite issues.
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  • Profile picture of the author AffiliatePrograms
    I was going to say Adsense too but SSSJames made a better post. Had not heard of PropellerAds before.

    It might help to know which way you intend your blog to lean.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rahman Colson
    You can promote books that are related to the political thinking you are subscribing to. Google automatically delivers ads that are targeted to your content, get adsense on your site. Politics is really about the individual and kind of hard to monetize at first, mostly because it is personality driven. If you can become popular enough, you can write books, do speaking engagements, start a podcast with the goal of eventually finding sponsors. But like anything else on the internet, if you have enough traffic coming in, there is a way to capitalize off of it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    The master, even though he wasn't blatantly political, was the late Paul Harvey. He promoted a bunch of different things, and people bought them because Paul recommended them, not because they matched the content of his shows.
    Stand by for news...

    He sold a lot of Bose wave radios.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Good call on political sites

    I just started one and its pretty easy to get traffic from social media

    For monetization, I suggest you use a GEOIP filter on your site and depending on your demographics, offer CPA that is targeted towards certain age groups or Amazon books

    Demographic profiling is crucial. It determines the types of ads you should run.

    Check out Google News regarding recent program announcements regarding Adsense use for certain types of 'news' sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author mdallen
    It may also make a difference if you feel your site will be conservative or liberal. With humans I don't believe there is any "fair or unbiased" so you may as well be honest with yourself. Each side has stuff that they are more likely to buy generally. I.E. My republican parents love guns and the Bible and my Democrat family loves affordable healthcare and education products. These are just examples and some market research will help you a lot. Hope it goes well no matter what
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by mdallen View Post

      It may also make a difference if you feel your site will be conservative or liberal. With humans I don't believe there is any "fair or unbiased" so you may as well be honest with yourself. Each side has stuff that they are more likely to buy generally. I.E. My republican parents love guns and the Bible and my Democrat family loves affordable healthcare and education products. These are just examples and some market research will help you a lot. Hope it goes well no matter what
      Of course there is.

      If you agree with me, you're obviously being fair and unbiased.

      If you disagree, you're crooked and biased.

      "We distort, you decide..."
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  • Profile picture of the author Notright
    Political blogs are tough to monetize dude. I have a buddy he has 15,000 followers and his blog yet he still has to e-beg for cash. If you really wanna make money I suggest starting a blog on another niche that makes money and use your political blog to drive traffic to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    We know someone who started off his eCommerce journey with a political blog and he said he was monetizing around political books on Amazon and various political items from clickbank (mugs, t-shirts. masks, etc).

    That said, you're not going to make much from a political bog. That's why he moved onto dropshipping.
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  • Profile picture of the author Killua7
    At first you still need to get more traffic to your site. You can sell some things like books or poster about Donald Trump, Barack Obama, etc. But you shouldn't focus on profits soon. With the new site fresh content and SEO are very important.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tyler Choiniere
    Hey Citizen1
    I work for Revcontent and some of our most successful publishers are Political Based. They do tend to have their ebbs and flows but on the whole they fit very well with our wealth of Political Advertisements on the network
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  • Profile picture of the author crackhouse
    During campaign season, you can run ads for candidates
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    I sell backlinks on some of the most lucrative editorial websites in the world.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Personally, I recommend starting the site and letting it grow before trying to monetize. Once you have a solid visitor base, then look at making money.

    Native ads is how I would start.
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