Publishers who make their living from selling links on their sites had a warning shot delivered to them last month with the Google PageRank update and its anti-paid linking initiative. This targeting of high profile sites is meant to discourage sites with paid links and had led to some publishers scratching their heads as to how to continue earning revenue online.

Don’t fret just yet however, the paid link business is still rather lucrative and if you are selling relative link advertising which drives results and possibly conversions, your site should be fine. On the other hand, you do not want to have your business at the mercy of Google PageRank (although there are other search engines out there too), and publishers should look at the whole picture, especially providing products or services which generate sound revenue.

Here is a look at various ways to earn revenue on your site without selling links. It’s not an alternative to selling link advertising, but instead, should serve as a complimentary strategy.

1. Contextual Ads : Contextual advertising, one of the most effective ways to advertise, is geared for effective audience targeting. Advertisers are constantly seeking websites that share their targeted audience. In order to capitalize upon this market, you will need to join a contextual advertising provider like AdSense, Chitika or Yahoo Publisher Network. When you join, your website will automatically update with ads that are related to your content and target audience’s interests, and you get paid each time a user clicks through the ad.
2. Lead Generation : Lead generation is similar to affiliate marketing in the essence that you get paid per action, but by selling leads to different companies to then act upon, you can make much more revenue than just having someone click on an ad or get 5% of an affiliate sale. Start off with some lead networks like Hydra Media or Service Magic, then find what’s best for your niche. Furthermore, once you begin driving more leads to sales divisions of various companies that convert, you can then negotiate better pay per lead prices and recurring revenue from those leads.

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