Here’s How You Can Get Paid to Post Ads Online

Advertising is everywhere. 

We are constantly surrounded by ads for products and services that have incredible power to influence our buying decisions. Companies advertise their products in TV commercials, on the internet, in radio advertisements, through celebrity endorsements, even paying people to watch ads, and in countless other ways.

Advertising is big business, and the United States is the largest advertising market in the world. In 2016, for example, over $190 billion was spent on advertising in the United States alone. 

As big as the market is for advertising, you may have wondered whether this is something you can do to make money – and if so, how. 

Your intuition is correct – you can definitely earn a side income outside of your 9-5 job by posting ads in various places. You can either do this as a side hustle, or you can do it your full-time. The choice is yours. 

The earnings potential for posting ads is essentially unlimited. You can either earn a little in your spare time or you can master the techniques to explode your income.

Let’s take a look at how to get paid for posting ads so you can see what it’s all about and how you can get started.

Two Approaches

There are two main ways that you can earn money for posting ads – as an affiliate and as a freelance ads manager for a company.

Affiliate marketing, as it is commonly known, is when you promote other company’s products through ads you post in various places. If someone clicks one of your ads and purchases the product you are promoting, you earn a commission.

Some companies will also pay you a commission if someone signs up for an email list or requests information on the products or services they are selling.

Affiliate marketing

It depends on the company and the product. Some affiliate commissions are very small. There are many money-making apps, for example, that pay $5 for each person who signs up. There are other affiliate programs that pay quite a bit. Many online courses that sell for hundreds of dollars pay 40% – 50% of the purchase price. So, if someone buys a $500 course through one of your ads and the course pays an affiliate commission of 40%, you’ll earn $200 for that sale.

It’s not hard to see how you can make a lot of money online by making just a few sales like that a day, is it? There are several affiliate networks you can join that act as intermediaries between companies that are looking for affiliates to market their products and services and those who are interested in promoting them. Some companies also operate their own affiliate programs. If you don’t see a particular company listed in an affiliate network, check their website. Often, you’ll find affiliate information in the menu at the bottom of the home page.

Freelancer

The other approach to earning money by posting ads is to work as a freelance ad manager for other companies. There are countless small businesses that need advertising experts to help them promote their businesses on social media platforms. Most of these business owners, to your advantage, don’t know anything about marketing.

You may able to sell your ad management services to these companies to earn a very nice income. We’ll touch a little more on how you can make money posting ads for companies later in this article, but for now, let’s take a look at the different ways you can get paid by posting ads for yourself.

Proven Ways to Make Money Posting Ads Online

It’s pretty cool to think that you can get paid just for posting ads online. Let’s discover some ways to make money posting ads online.

1. Facebook Advertising

Facebook is, in my opinion, currently the best social media platform for advertising.

There are two reasons for this. First, Facebook has marketing down to a science.

It’s possible to use the platform to zero in on those people who are most likely to purchase whatever it is you are selling. 

To give you a general idea of how it works, let’s say you are selling an online course on how to start an eCommerce business for people who want to work from home.

Through Facebook’s ad management system, you can specifically target those people who have been searching for similar information.

The power of Facebook’s targeted advertising shouldn’t be taken lightly. By only targeting specific people who are already interested in the product you are promoting, the amount of sales you make is greatly increased. You’ll also save money by excluding those people who don’t have any interest in online stores. 

The other great benefit of Facebook advertising is that ads on the platform are relatively affordable.

Some Facebook marketers have reported buying ads for as little as $0.05 per click, although clicks for such a low price may not be around forever. The price of Facebook ads does appear to be steadily increasing.

Using affiliate programs 

One example of how you can make money posting ads on Facebook is to write a post on your blog about a product you want to promote as an affiliate. You can then use Facebook to drive highly-targeted traffic to that post.

With a conversion rate of 1-3%, you can still be profitable if you choose a product to promote that has a high commission. You can usually find these products on popular affiliate programs.

Pro-tip: If you don’t have a blog — discover how to start a blog in under 20 minutes.

Selling your own products through Facebook ads

Another way to make money posting ads on Facebook is to sell a product you have developed yourself. Yes, you can potentially make a lot of money by marketing other people’s products as an affiliate, but it’s possible to make a lot more money by selling your own products.

Online courses are very popular these days, and they are very easy to create. A good quality microphone can be purchased for under $100 on Amazon, and you don’t need to film yourself at all (unless you just want to).

You can simply create PowerPoint slides and record your audio lectures right on your computer using inexpensive screen capture software like Screen-Cast-O-Matic.

Once you have finished creating your course, you can host it on a platform like Teachable or Thinkific. These platforms also allow you to accept payments from customers and issue refunds.

Selling ebooks through Facebook ads

Another popular way to make money posting ads on Facebook is by selling ebooks that you have written on various subjects.

The profits on ebooks are usually much higher than what you would earn by going through a traditional book publisher. Many ebooks, for example, sell for $20 – $50 each. 

The great thing about selling digital products is that you can set up systems that automate the entire process.

Your Facebook advertising can be automated, and when you sell a product, buyers automatically receive an email with instructions on how they can access their online course or ebook.

The only thing you would have to do is respond to customer service inquiries. 

2. Pinterest Advertising

Advertising through Pinterest, I believe, is the second-best option to make money posting ads online. 

There’s often some confusion about what Pinterest is among those who don’t use the platform.

First, it’s important to understand what Pinterest isn’t. Pinterest is not a social media platform. In fact, the company goes so far as to state that it has nothing to do with social media. 

If Pinterest isn’t a social media platform, then what is it?

Pinterest is a visual search engine.

The main difference between Pinterest and traditional search engines like Google and Bing is that when you enter a search phrase, you get search results that show you images you can click on instead of links to websites. 

How do you get paid to post ads on Pinterest?

Pinterest has a native paid advertising platform that the company refers to as promoted pins.

In many ways, advertising on Pinterest is very similar to advertising on Facebook.

The primary difference is that you will have to create great-looking pins (images that attract people and make them want to click and visit your website). 

Pinterest pin design is an art, and it takes a lot of practice to really get good at it. You can speed up the process by hiring someone to create them for you on freelancing sites like Fiverr.

When you create an ad on Pinterest, the company places your pin near the top of the search results for whatever keyword or phrase you are targeting.

This means people will have a much greater chance of seeing your advertisement (pin) than if you had posted it without using a paid promotion. 

The great thing about Pinterest ads is that you only pay when someone clicks on your pins. How much you pay per click depends on how much you bid, but some have reported clicks as low as $0.10 each. 

Like with Facebook advertising, you can link your pins to a blog post and promote affiliate products, or you can advertise your own products.

3. YouTube Advertising

YouTube is another great place to get paid to post ads. Like Google and Pinterest, YouTube is another popular search engine.

In fact, it’s the second most popular search engine, right behind Google. You can search the platform to find videos on whatever topic you would like to learn more about.

There are two ways you can get paid by posting ads on YouTube: by purchasing ads on the platform and by starting your own YouTube channel.

Posting YouTube ads

Purchasing YouTube ads is the easiest way to make money with this platform. If you have a product or service you want to advertise, for example, you can purchase ads that lead directly to a landing page on your website when people click on them. The ads are embedded directly in the videos. 

When someone makes a purchase, you earn money from the sale of the product or service. Because it does cost money to purchase YouTube ads, you do want to make sure the product or service you are offering is priced high enough to cover the cost of the ads and leave you with a comfortable profit.

Starting your own YouTube channel

The second approach to getting paid to post ads on YouTube is to start your own channel.

Did you know there are many people who earn full-time incomes with their YouTube channels? It’s absolutely true. Not only that, but many channels earn six-figure incomes. 

There are two ways you can make money from ads on your YouTube channel. The first is to participate in YouTube’s native ads. The second is through affiliate product recommendations.

After you have qualified for YouTube ads, you can then can opt in to have advertisements placed on your videos. Some of these advertisements are pay-per-view, meaning you earn a small commission when someone watches a short video. The others are pay-per-click, meaning you earn a small commission when someone clicks on an ad.

To promote affiliate products in your videos, place your affiliate links in the text box below the video. Be sure to mention the link in the video so people will know where to find it.

If you decide to start a YouTube channel, it’s important to keep in mind that it can take a while for a new channel to get some traction.

It can be discouraging at first when you make a lot of videos and the channel subscribers and video views are slow to materialize. But if you keep at it, your channel will grow.

4. Instagram Advertising

Instagram is another popular social media platform you can use to get paid for posting ads.

The platform is a popular place to peruse different photos and follow people you find interesting.

Shelcy Joseph is an example of someone who makes money through Instagram advertising.

Like YouTube, there are two ways you can earn money on Instagram.

You can either purchase ads on the platform or you can start your own Instagram account and become an Influencer.

Purchasing ads on Instagram

Purchasing ads on Instagram is very similar to purchasing ads on Facebook.

In fact, Instagram is owned by Facebook, and there are some similarities in the two platforms’ ad management systems.

Ads can be purchased that lead directly to a landing page or sales funnel on your website for something you are selling. 

Becoming an Instagram influencer

Becoming an Instagram Influencer is the second way to make money posting ads for companies.

After your Instagram account has grown to a certain point, companies will contact you with offers to promote their products.

They will pay you to make sponsored posts on your account that show you using and enjoying their products. 

5. Start a Blog

One of the most effective ways to get paid for posting ads is to start a blog.

When most people think of blogs, they imagine them as being little more than places where people post random musings about various things and that few people ever read them. But that isn’t the case at all –  blogging is big business.

Did you know there are many bloggers who earn full-time livings from their blogging efforts? Not only that, but there are many bloggers who earn six-figure incomes. A handful of popular blogs earn over $1 million annually.

There are three ways that blogs typically earn money: from ads, from affiliate product recommendations, and from selling digital products.

Ads

For ads, Google Adsense is one of the most popular options. There are also ad networks you can join that pay much more like MediaVine and AdThrive.

When you sign up with an ad network, they take care of installing the ads on your website.

This frees your time to continue creating new content to attract more readers to your blog.

Sponsored posts

Another way to get paid to post ads for companies online is through sponsored posts. A sponsored post is when a company pays you a flat-fee to write about their products or services.

How much you can earn per sponsored post depends on how much traffic your blog gets, but it’s not uncommon for the range to go from $1,000 – $5,000 per post (and sometimes higher).

We’ve already covered how you can earn money from affiliate product recommendations and from selling digital products, but it’s important to point out that having a blog is one of the best ways to make money with these methods.

If your blog ranks in the search engines for certain words and phrases that people are searching for, they will find your articles in the search engines and a certain percentage of them will make purchases through your links. This means your blog can become a 24/7 money making machine.

If you decide to start a blog, it’s important to have realistic expectations. Blogging is a long game – it’s not a path to instant wealth. Most blogs earn very little (and sometimes nothing) in their first couple of years.

It takes a while for your blog posts to rank well in the search engines. While there are other methods of obtaining blog traffic, like being active on Pinterest, it can also take some time to gain traction with these methods.

6. Be a Social Media Manager

As previously mentioned, being a freelance social media manager for companies is a great way to get paid to post ads. 

Advertising on social media is a very cost effective way to attract customers, and many businesses know it – they don’t know how to do it.

Learning how to use Facebook ads isn’t difficult, but there is a bit of a learning curve in the beginning.

Once you learn how to advertise on the platform, you can then market your new skills to businesses that need someone to promote their products and services.

What kind of companies need the services of social media managers?

Just about any company you can think of that has a product or service to sell can benefit from advertising on Facebook.

Just a few examples include chiropractors, car lots, pest control companies, real estate firms, restaurants, salons, pizzerias, and many others.

How much can social media managers earn?

The industry standard for this type of work is between $1k – $2k per client a month. With rates like this, you only need a few clients who give you repeat business each month to earn a full-time income. Some social media managers have scaled their businesses into the six-figure range. 

It’s important to point out that the money you spend to buy advertisements is passed on to your clients. It is not deducted from your monthly earnings. 

The great thing about this type of work is that once you set up an ad campaign, it requires very little of your time to maintain it.

It’s a business that is mostly hands-off, thus giving you an incredibly flexible schedule and plenty of free time to enjoy life.

Easy Ways to Make Money Posting Ads Offline

So far, all of the opportunities mentioned to make money posting ads have been online. But there are some very clever ways you can earn money offline, too. Let’s take a look at them…

7. Get Paid to Advertise with Your Car

If you live in certain cities and you drive an average of at least 30 miles a day, it’s possible to earn money with ads on your car or other lucrative ways.

Carvertise is a company that acts as an intermediary between companies that would like to advertise on cars and people with cars who want to earn money. It doesn’t cost anything to sign up. After you create an account, Carvertise will then try to find a company that likes the area you drive in. If approved for advertising, Carvertise will take care of having the vinyl wrap placed on your car and having it removed when you are ready to move on.

The great thing about this opportunity is that it may be possible to earn enough to pay for all of your monthly car payment. This means a company could pay for your car for you – and all you have to do is drive around like you normally do.

8. Participate in a Race or Other Competition

Do you like to run marathons or play a sport of some kind? If so, it may be possible to land a sponsorship from a local company.

With a sponsorship, you’ll be paid to have the company’s name and logo placed on the shirt you wear during the event. Companies may be more willing to promote you if you have a track record of winning.

Other events that may qualify for sponsorships include dances, festivals, car and motorcycle races, rodeos, and many others. A little creativity can go a long way with this one. 

9. Get a Temporary Tattoo

I know it may be hard to believe, but getting a tattoo of a company’s name and logo and getting paid for it is now something that people do.

One of the best ways to do this is if you are an Instagram Influencer with a sizable following.

A company may pay you very well to have a temporary tattoo applied and then have your picture taken in a way that highlights the tattoo and puts a positive spin on the company.

Experiment with Different Opportunities 

If you are interested in learning how to get paid to post ads, it’s a good idea to try different advertising platforms to see which ones you like best. They are all a little different, and each one has its pros and cons. 

Another possibility is to combine opportunities. For example, you could start a blog and start earning money through advertisements placed on your website through one of the ad networks. You could then create blog posts promoting certain affiliate products and promote those posts through paid Pinterest and Facebook ads. 

Finally, you could then create your own digital product and promote it through paid ads that link to either a landing page or sales funnel. This is the strategy that most bloggers use to break through the six-figure ceiling.

How to Get Paid for Posting Ads – Final Thoughts

Did you realize there were so many ways to make money posting ads online? Among the many work from home jobs, this is one of the best. It is an incredible opportunity to earn a living for yourself that doesn’t require you to answer to a boss, deal with a long commute, or work on someone else’s schedule.

In other words, this is an opportunity that lets you be your own boss, a business owner. It’s also an opportunity that is location independent, meaning as long as you have a laptop and an internet connection, you can work from anywhere in the world. 

Ultimately, this is a strategy to make money online that could result in not just your financial freedom, but your freedom for the soul-sucking job that you hate. It’s about living life on your own terms.

Learning how to make money posting ads isn’t difficult, but you do have to take action to see results. With practice and experience, the potential is definitely there to start and grow your own advertising empire. 

The sky is the limit.

Author: Cyrus Vanover is a freelance business writer who helps marketing managers position their companies for success. Based in Virginia, he enjoys hiking the local trails, exploring new restaurants, and live theater when not writing.