When scrolling through huge gaming blogs such as IGN, GameSpot, or PC Gamer, you can only wonder how these huge networks are able to generate enough revenue to hire their writers and maintain their websites. Since creating a gaming blog myself, I have been researching many ways to monetize it.
After doing plenty of research, the main ways that gaming blogs/websites make money are through advertisement and affiliate marketing.
Advertisement
Advertisement revenue usually comes in the form of display ads, which are automatically placed on websites via an ad vendor such as Google Adsense, Ezoic, or Mediavine. When readers scroll through a blog, they will see these ads in between headings and paragraphs and likely on the sidebar of the website.
Display Ads
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click (PPC): Advertisers pay the website owner every time a user clicks on an ad.
Cost Per Impression (CPM)
Cost Per Impression (CPM): Advertisers pay the website owner every time an ad is displayed.
Cost Per Action (CPA)
CPA (cost per action): Advertisers pay the website owner when users do something, such as signing up for a job, or making a purchase.
The revenue generated from these ads is dependent on the amount of money readers are willing to spend when they come across the ads. If you are looking to purchase gardening tools while reading a blog, the ads will generate high revenue. If you are reading the best class to pick in your game, buyer intent will be low and the ads will generate low revenue.
Sponsors Ads
There may be situations where a game developer or gaming studio will approach you with a game that they want to advertise. With the natural traffic a website gaming can accrue, this can be a great opportunity for the gaming blog to display an advertisement of the game.
The agreement for payment can either be a one-off charge, let’s say £500 for a month of advertisement, or the blog will be paid a set amount of money for each unique user that clicks on a link to the game.
Game Download Referrals
Certain networks such as Bluestacks have referral programs where the user must download a game and play it, then the blog can earn some money in return. The network will pay you for every unique user that clicks the link embedded on your site.
The requirement can vary depending on which program you sign up for. It can be as easy as installing the game via the link provided, or you may have to play the game up to a certain level to fulfill the program requirements.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a method used to generate money on almost every website you can imagine. If you see any website that recommends a product leading to an amazon site, or any website with a checkout system, the blog you clicked the link from will most certainly receive a commission from the sale as long as the user will purchase the product.
Struggle With Gaming Blogs and Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing only works well for blogs in the gaming niche if the blog talks about hardware and accessories such as computers, chairs, headsets, etc. because there are very few opportunities to be an affiliate for a game. If steam had an affiliate program, this would change absolutely everything for gaming blogs.
Most gaming blogs want to review games or make guides, but with few opportunities to receive income from the game itself by promoting it and selling it, the blog is only able to make money from ad revenue. As mentioned earlier, making game guides and reviews do not generate much ad revenue because people are not looking to spend money, so neither are advertisers.
