5 Real Ways To Make Money Posting Ads For Companies Online

It goes without saying, companies pay people to advertise for them online.

However, many of these “work at home ad posting jobs” are not real. Which leads people to a lot of confusion about how this stuff really works and how legitimate the whole thing is.

In this article, I’m going to show you the different ways you can (actually) make money posting ads online. And I’ll give you the heads up about some of the scams to avoid.

Sound good? Okay let’s dive right in…

Quick Summary

• Can you really make money posting ads online? Yes. But unless you get an actual job, nobody is paying you to just “place an ad”. Those who do make money online this way, earn from the sales their advertisements generate, not from just placing them.
• Can you get paid to post ads on Facebook, Craigslist or Google? You can post ads on social sites like Facebook, classified sites like Craigslist and search engines like Google. But again, you only earn revenue based on the actions people take after clicking on your ads (i.e. when they buy something).
• How much money can you make? How much you can earn posting ads depends entirely on the method you choose and how well you execute that method. If you choose to run affiliate advertisements and earn money when people click on your ad and buy a product you’re promoting, there’s no limit to what you can earn. I earn 6 figures per year doing just this, but it took me a while to get to that point.
• Which companies can you work with? Almost every company with a website has a free affiliate program (more on this shortly). Which means there are 100,000’s of legitimate companies, with millions of products and services, that you can promote.
• How much does it cost to get started? If you place ads on sites like Google, YouTube or Facebook for example, that costs money. But you can place ads on your own blog for free, and learn how to generate free traffic to get clicks on those ads, which absolutely works. And affiliate programs are free to join.
• Are there any scams to avoid? Yes, there are lots of scams in this space. Some claim that you can make easy money online just by placing online ads or links. Like WAH Program or Notion Cash that claims to pay you per click on your links for example. Or scams that oversimplify the process of earning revenue with affiliate advertisements, which are virtually everywhere.

5 Real Ways To Make Money Posting Ads Online

There are many ways you can get paid to post ads on the internet. But I’m going to focus on five main ways for the purpose of this article.

These are all very different strategies, and there’s no ‘one size fits all’ either. What works for you will depend on your circumstances and goals. How successful you’ll be depends on how much effort you put in.

Anyways, here’s five real ways you can earn money online by posting ads:

1. Apply For a JOB Within the ‘Online Advertising’ Space
2. Earn Money Posting Ads On Social Media
3. Place Advertisements On Your Own Blog
4. Pay Per Click Advertising In Search Engines
5. Affiliate Marketing (promote other companies products)

Read on to learn about these strategies in more detail, along with the pros and cons of each.

1) Apply For a JOB Within the ‘Online Advertising’ Space

This is a simple concept- get a real job with a real company that actually pays you a real wage. This is also what many websites portray themselves as, because it’s what many people want.

In any case, there are real companies offering real jobs within the online advertising space. They’re just a little harder to find and more difficult to land than many of the fake sites suggest.

Since these are real jobs, you will need real experience in some form of advertising.

At the very least, you need to understand the ‘landscape’ of these jobs. As in, what they entail and what these companies are looking for. This way you’ll know what skills these companies want so you can adapt your resume to suite.

Sites like Indeed.com are a good place to start your search.

I searched for ‘internet advertising’ and got loads of results for online marketing, sales and social media manager jobs. Obviously you would need to sift through the jobs that do not allow you to work from home.

Or apply for a regular job doing online advertising. And eventually negotiate set days where you can work at home with your employer.

Alternatively, sites like UpWork.com are worth checking out.

This is not a job, but it’s a similar concept. And it allows you to work from home (or wherever you like) from day 1. It also allows you to work with companies with verifiable track records. So you know you’ll get paid.

The idea is to apply for projects that you know you can handle. In return, you get paid on an hourly or a set amount ‘per project’. Over time you can build up your profile too, which means you can demand higher prices and win more work as you progress.

This approach does have its drawbacks. But it’s the best way to earn money posting ads without an investment.

2) Earn Money Posting Ads On Social Media

This is one of the most common methods I see people searching for- getting paid to post ads on social media. While it’s true you can earn this way- it’s not a job.

How does it really work? Well, some companies pay you to ‘access’ your audience (ie. social following). And other companies will pay you to send customers their way, through social media sites like Facebook.

Let me explain the differences (with examples)…

Social Media ‘Influencing’

If you have an audience within any given social channel, you can profit.

It’s no secret that some of the most successful ad campaigns work when the promotion doesn’t feel like a promotion at all. As in, it’s coming from someone the person knows and trusts.

So companies are willing to pay you to share a ‘good word’ about them, with your audience. Even if there’s no ‘buy now’ link in the message, or any link at all.

A simple mention in a positive light is all it takes.

For example: Companies like Upfluence connect ‘influencers’ with companies who want to get the word out on Instagram. They act as the ‘middle person’ between the two parties and help facilitate payments.  You get paid an agreed amount for sharing a post. Depending on the company and the size and relevance of your audience, among other factors.

It’s quite common for companies (and online marketers) to pay people for a ‘shout out’ on IG. So if you have a large enough audience, don’t be surprised if someone reaches out!

Promoting Affiliate Products

This is where you post ads on a social channel like Facebook in the hopes it will result in a sale.

You can pitch your own products or leverage affiliate marketing. Since you’re reading about how to make money posting ads for other companies, I’m guessing the latter is of more interest to you.

The idea here is to create ads that resonate with a niche audience, and that (ultimately) leads to a sale.

For example: You create an ad that leads people to a post about “weight loss tips”. It’s good content people find useful, so they’ll click on the ad and land on your site. Within that page, you promote something as an affiliate. If that person buys, you earn a commission.

Obviously, there’s a LOT more that goes into this process. I think this goes without saying.

Some people run standard ads on Facebook. Some build up a Facebook group or page and promote stuff to their audience in that way. Others use Facebook ads to build their email list, and then promote products as an affiliate as part of their funnel.

In any case, you’ve got the basic idea. Post ads on Facebook in an attempt to earn affiliate commissions.

3) Place Advertisements On Your Own Blog

There’s some serious money to be made from placing ads on your blog. The ways you can go leverage a blog vary greatly though, so it depends on how you approach it.

The first two methods I share below are relatively easy, but won’t make you much. The third method I discuss, is how I make a full-time income online. It’s arguably the most profitable, but takes the longest to master.

There are other methods, but these are some of the most common strategies.

Anyways, let’s look into these in more detail…

3.1 ) Sell Ad Space

This is about selling ad space on your site. The advertiser agrees to pay you “x amount” upfront, or per month, for their ad to be shown on your site. In an agreed location within your blog.

You do want to be selective as to what you promote though. As it can have an impact on your site (ie. don’t promote crap to make a quick buck).

This is a simple way to earn cash with ads. But you’d need to sell a lot of high paying ad space to make anything worth speaking of.

3.2) Pay Per Click Ads

This is one of the most common methods of using ads on your site. It’s simple, it works, and it can be very profitable (rarely though).

The idea is to signup with a company like Google Adsense and (once approved) place ads on your site. When visitors come to your site and read your content, you’ll get an ‘ad impression’. In most cases this will pay you nothing or a very, very small amount. Like one cent per impression!

You make the ‘real money’ with this model when people actually click on your ads.

The company (advertisers) pays Google for clicks on their ads, who in turn pays you a portion of this. The amount you receive per click varies greatly depending on your niche, and other factors. In any case, the clicks you receive each month are tallied up automatically and you earn based on this.

This is a good way to earn some extra cash (a few extra hundred bucks) each month. If you’ve got some decent traffic. But if you want to make the big bucks you’ll need sh#t tons of traffic. Like 100,000’s of visitors per month minimum.

3.3) Affiliate Promotions

This is what I do myself, and it’s how I earn a full-time income online.

The idea is to promote stuff as an affiliate using a simple website. You can post banner ads, or text based affiliate links on your site for products you recommend. In doing so, you earn a commission from that company.

For example: Imagine you run a blog about crafts. You could promote any number of craft products, equipment or materials as an affiliate. You could even promote ‘how to’ courses on crafting. The people on your blog are into this stuff, so a good percentage will be interested in clicking though to buy. When they do, you earn a commission.

I’ll explain more about affiliate marketing shortly. But for now just know that it works and is (in my opinion) the most profitable route. It also requires a lot less traffic since your audience are already interested in what you’re promoting.

4) Pay Per Click Advertising In Search Engines

Creating successful ad campaigns within search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo is a very worthwhile skill to have. Which makes it highly sought after and potentially very profitable.

The idea is to craft compelling ads that result in sales- profitably.

Anyone can bang up a few ads and lead people to a sales page, but making these campaigns profitable is another story. But it is possible. And companies WILL pay you to do this for them.

Earlier, we discussed PPC marketing in terms of getting a job. But if you learn to master this form of marketing, you can charge companies for this service. Quite handsomely in some cases. You could sell your PPC services as a freelancer on a site like UpWork or use ‘go it alone’ if you know where/ how to find good clients to work with.

The other way you can leverage this is by running your own ads.

Within your ad campaigns you can promote other companies products as an affiliate. So in this case you are ‘getting paid to post ads’ online. Although obviously it’s not that simple.

The cool thing about this is that it can lead to passive income. Once you get a profitable campaign running, it’s relatively easy to scale it up. You know what works, so the idea is to increase your ad budget.

The drawback is you can burn a massive hole in your wallet before lunch! This is for people with a serious budget and it pays to start small and scale up gradually.

5) Affiliate Marketing (promote other companies products)

We’ve touched on affiliate marketing several times throughout this article. But now I’m going to dig into this method a little deeper.

It’s true I’ve ‘saved the best till last’ with this one. I believe this is one of the most powerful ways to make money with ads going.

In short, affiliate marketing allows you to promote pretty much anything you could think of for almost any company in business. The company pays affiliate’s a commission for bringing sales their way. So the company is only paying for results (actual sales). Everything is tracked automatically once you’ve got it setup, so that part is easy.

In fact, most aspects of this business are easy since you’re essentially just the ‘middle person’ between the customer and vendor. The hard part is getting people in front of the offers you’re promoting in the first place.

And there’s TONS of ways you can go about doing affiliate marketing. Some affiliate’s use social media to promote affiliate products, some use a blog, some use PPC marketing, others use sites like YouTube. To name a few.

Affiliate marketing does involve ‘posting ads’ and making money promoting other companies stuff. Yes. But this model is less about selling and more about helping the people.

Whatever strategy you run with, your aim is to build up an audience and recommend stuff you know they’ll like. When you go about this process in the right way, it’s a win win for all involved.

Your audience finds products they love, you make money as an affiliate, and the company you promote gets more sales.

Again, it takes time and effort. You certainly won’t just start doing this and make money in your first week or two. Maybe not even in your first couple months. But if you take the time to learn and apply, this can be a very profitable strategy.

You can learn how to get started with affiliate marketing for free here.

Avoiding Fake “Ad Posting Job” Scams

Now that we’ve looked at five legit ways to make money with ads, I want to point out what’s not so legit. Specifically, there are two main ‘traps’ I want to give you some insight on.

This will help you work out what’s real and what’s not going forward…

Scam Affiliate Promotions

What I’ve seen a lot (especially on YouTube) is some affiliates promoting a program by saying you can “make money posting ads”. As if it’s THAT push button simple.

It’s not. Here’s what they’re really doing…

These people are affiliates for “company x”. They post ads on social media platforms (like Facebook) and earn money promoting that opportunity as an affiliate. So when people join that company through their referral link, they get paid.

Good for them. The problem is, some of these affiliates are pretending like you get paid to actually place those ads. Like it’s a job. Which is simply not the case.

The process involved in creating money making ads is not that simple.

This real process is affiliate marketing, or in some cases it’s MLM (multilevel marketing). Which is similar but a lot more about recruiting instead of selling tangible products.

In any case, what they’re saying is a tad misleading. It’s like me saying to you that “all I do to make money on this site is post ads”. Which would be a half (more like a quarter) truth.

Yes, I do make money this way, but what about everything else that goes into this process!?

Fake Work From Home Job Sites

There’s no getting around it- a lot of work at home jobs in this space aren’t real. In many cases, the sites claiming to pay you to post ads are really just trying to sell you something. Or they pay you next to nothing.

Unfortunately, fake ‘work from home’ sites are very common. So chances are you’ve seen one. A prime example of what I’m talking about are link posting sites.

These sites pretend like people will just sign up and get paid “x amount per link posted”. Which is absolutely NOT the case at all. They’re making their money off of you, when you buy their course.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with selling courses online. But if you trick people into thinking it’s a job, or lure them in under false pretences, there is.

The golden rule- you should never have to pay to get a job. Period.

Conclusion

You can make money posting ads online for companies. It’s just (probably) not what you thought, or what you’ve been led to believe by some sites.

It’s not as simple as “posting ads” and watching the money roll in. The amount of money you can make, how long it will take, and the process involved, varies according to many factors. Such as the method you choose, where you learn how to leverage that method and the work you put into it.

If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing, which is the proper way to promote other companies products online, check out my full review of Wealthy Affiliate. It’s a platform that shows you how to get started for free.

In any case, hopefully this article has given you some insight into all of this. By learning what works, and avoiding the scams, you can make money advertising for companies.