I earn income on my websites with both ads and affiliate links. And one question I often receive from readers is:
Which is best?
I wouldn’t say there’s a clear winner, but in this article I’ll share the pros and cons of earning income in both ways.
Earning Income with Affiliate Links
Pros:
1. Higher individual payouts.
One obvious benefit of earning income with affiliate links is that you can earn $50-$100 commissions with a single sale of certain products and services. For example, the Personal Capital links that I use on Four Pillar Freedom pay $100 when someone actually signs up for Personal Capital using my link and connects at least $100k to their account via their investment accounts.
2. Can be used in emails.
If you decide to start an email list for your site, most merchants (not Amazon) allow you to place affiliate links directly in emails, which means you can earn commissions even if someone isn’t directly on your site.
3. Can be used on social media.
Many merchants also allow you to place their affiliate links on your social media channels, which is another way that you can earn commissions without someone being directly on your site.
Cons:
1. Lumpy income.
Although earning commissions with affiliate links is a thrill, it often results in lumpy income. In one week I make 5 commissions while the next week I might make zero. It’s fairly unpredictable and my affiliate income can vary wildly from one month to the next.
2. Commission drops.
This is one of the biggest disadvantages of using affiliate links: Merchants can slash their payouts without warning. Amazon has done this several times, which results in a rapid and unforeseen income drop for people who only using affiliate links as their income source on websites.
3. Boring content.
It’s also quite boring to write about “The best personal finance apps” or “Best credit cards” or “Best products for X, Y, Z” which means the topics you’ll likely write about to earn affiliate commissions will be bland. If you can crank out these types of articles, that’s great. But most people find it horribly boring and it can lead to burnout if these are the only types of articles you write.
Earning Income with Ads
Pros:
1. Consistent income.
Unlike affiliate commissions, ads offer a much more stable path of income. From one month to the next, I can predict fairly accurately how much I’ll make with Mediavine display ads. Best of all, as my traffic increases on each of my sites over time I can reliably know that my ad income will keep increasing over time. Unlike affiliate income, I rarely wonder if this will be a “good” or “bad” month with ads. It’s much more consistent.
2. No commission drops.
Unlike earning income with affiliate links, ad rates rarely get slashed or drop off entirely. Granted, there is some seasonality with ads but I never have to worry about extreme drops.
3. Interesting content.
By using ads, I can write about whatever content I find interesting (as long as people are searching for it on Google) and simply monetize with ads. I don’t have to worry about trying to push a product or service just to earn a commission.
Cons:
1. Lower individual payouts.
Obviously you’ll never earn $100 from a single visitor with ads, which means you need a decent amount of visitors to come to your site each day to earn good money with ads.
Related: How Much Money Can You Actually Earn with Ads?
2. Can’t use in email.
If you have an email list, you can’t earn income by placing ads within your emails. You can only earn income with ads if readers come directly to your site.
3. Can’t use on social media.
Similarly, you can’t just throw ads on a social media page and earn income in that matter. Again, readers must be on your site for you to earn income with ads.
Conclusion
If possible, you should use both affiliate links and display ads on your site. This is the best way to maximize your potential income.
I personally like to use a mix of both income sources because I enjoy writing interesting content and monetizing it with ads, but I also occasionally write content designed to sell a product or service with affiliate links.
Experiment with both types of revenue sources and find what works for you.
Full Disclosure: Nothing on this site should ever be considered to be advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell any securities, please see my Terms & Conditions page for a full disclaimer.
