How websites actually make money
Six models, wildly different traffic requirements, and almost no honest published benchmarks. This is where our monetization research lives — what each model needs, who it suits, and how to read it off sites that are already working.
Most monetization advice is written by someone selling one model. Ad networks explain why display wins; affiliate courses explain why affiliate wins. Both are answering a question you have not asked yet, which is which model your traffic can actually carry.
That question has a factual answer, and it depends on two things: what your readers came to do, and how many of them there are. Get those two right and the model follows.
The six models, and what each one needs
Nearly every content site earns through one or more of these. They are not equally available, and they are not equally suited to any given audience.
| Model | Best suited to | Traffic needed | Typical ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display advertising | Informational readers, high volume | High — tens of thousands monthly | Modest per visitor, scales with volume |
| Affiliate commissions | People choosing what to buy | Moderate | Good, capped by merchant rates |
| Lead generation | High-value professional enquiries | Low — hundreds can suffice | Very high per visitor |
| Own product or course | An audience that trusts you | Low to moderate | Highest, and the hardest to reach |
| Subscriptions | Repeat readers with a recurring need | Moderate, but loyalty matters more | High and predictable |
| Sponsorship | A defined, nameable audience | Low, if the niche is specific | Varies enormously |
The full reasoning behind each row — including why intent matters more than volume, and why most sites should run two models rather than one — is in the six models of website monetization.
Display advertising, and the gate nobody mentions
Display is the model people reach for first and qualify for last. Every ad network sets an entry threshold, and those thresholds move, so the number you read in a two-year-old blog post is probably wrong. What does not move is the shape of the decision: the network you can join is rarely the network that pays best, and switching has real costs.
Comparing ad networks on the numbers that matter works through which variables actually move earnings, why your own data beats any published benchmark, and the density trap that costs more in lost readers than it earns in impressions.
Affiliate, and where the open niches are
Affiliate rewards purchase intent rather than volume, which is why a site with a tenth of the traffic can out-earn a display site in the same niche. The difficulty is finding a niche where low-authority sites still rank and the commission rate is worth the work — those two conditions are rarer together than either is alone.
Finding low-competition affiliate niches sets out the two filters, and how to study affiliate sites that work covers what to look for once you have a shortlist — including the disclosure detail most people get wrong.
Reading monetization off sites that already work
The most reliable guide to what a niche can earn is what the sites already in it have chosen to do. A niche where every established site runs display is telling you something about its intent. A niche where they all run affiliate is telling you something else.
That is the query this index exists to answer. Filter by niche, look at the monetization column, and the pattern is usually obvious within a dozen rows. Revenue figures are estimates and directional — useful for comparing sites against each other, not for forecasting your own.
Google’s own Search Essentials is the primary source on what it expects from monetised content, and it is worth reading before you scale ad density on a site you depend on.
Where to go next
If you do not yet know which model fits, start with the six models. If you have the traffic and need the network, compare the networks. If you are still choosing a niche, validate it in an afternoon before you commit to a monetization model at all.
More monetization research is published in the monetization category.
Every site in the index carries its monetization model
Filter by niche and ad network, sort by estimated revenue, and see what the sites already winning your niche have chosen to run.