Monetization Planner: Which Methods, Networks & Platforms Fit Your Property, Traffic and Niche
Tell the planner what you have (blog, newsletter, podcast, app...), how much traffic it gets and what niche it is in, and get a ranked mix of monetization methods with the networks and platforms that will actually accept you.
Your plan: 6 methods for a community / forum
Start with the first two; add the rest as the audience grows. Only providers that would accept a property of this size are shown.
Memberships & Paid Communities Medium
Readers pay monthly or yearly for access, extras and each other: the most reliable recurring revenue a small publisher can build.
A membership sells belonging and access rather than a product: a paid tier of your newsletter, a private community with you in it, early or ad-free access to episodes, members-only posts, a monthly call, a badge. It runs on a subscription platform that bills the… Read the guide →
Job Board Postings Medium
Employers pay to post roles to your audience; niche boards charge $100-500 per post and sell featured and subscription tiers.
A job board sells employers access to your audience of potential hires: a paid posting for 30 days, a featured or highlighted post, a bundle, or a monthly subscription for recruiters. It works when your readers are a specific kind of professional that companies struggle… Read the guide →
Featured & Sponsored Listings Medium
Businesses pay to be featured, verified or ranked first in a directory, marketplace or resource list.
A directory, comparison site, resource list or job of any kind that ranks or lists businesses can sell them a better spot: a featured placement at the top of a category, a verified or claimed badge with richer profile fields, a sponsored result marked as… Read the guide →
Paid Webinars, Workshops & Events Medium
Sell tickets to live sessions, workshops, summits and meetups, online or in person, and the recordings afterwards.
An event sells live access: a paid webinar or masterclass over Zoom, a half-day online workshop, a virtual summit with many speakers, a cohort of live sessions, an in-person meetup or conference. The ticket is the product; the recording, the slides and the sponsor placements… Read the guide →
Donations, Tips & Crowdfunding Easy
Let readers pay what they want: tip jars, Buy Me a Coffee, Ko-fi, Patreon-style support and one-off campaigns.
Donations and tips ask the audience to pay voluntarily: a "buy me a coffee" button, a Ko-fi page, a recurring "supporter" option, a GitHub Sponsors profile for open-source work, a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign for a specific project, a Patreon page with no locked content.… Read the guide →
Affiliate Marketing Medium
Recommend products with tracked links and earn a commission on every sale: the highest-earning method for review and comparison content.
Affiliate marketing is recommending someone else's product with a link that identifies you, and receiving a commission when a reader buys. A network or the merchant's own program provides the tracking link, records the sale through a cookie or a code, and pays you after… Read the guide →
How the planner works
Each method in the directory carries the property types it suits, the traffic it needs to be worth doing and how passive it is; each network carries the minimum traffic it accepts and the niches it allows. The planner scores every method against your answers, drops anything your traffic cannot support yet, and shows the providers of each kind that would take you today. It is a starting point, not a strategy: read the guides, run the calculator for numbers, then check the deals before you sign up.