A WordPress site can drive steady traffic yet barely earn without the right monetization strategy. This article shows how to quickly turn WordPress into a revenue source through smart ad integration and proven monetization methods. Inside, you’ll find clear steps for verification, ad setup, and four ways to monetize WordPress in 2026.
WordPress is an excellent platform for creating your website. Even if you don’t have programming skills, you can easily make a site with WordPress. Additionally, you’ll have a platform with significant potential for monetization, especially if you integrate it into an ad network.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of creating your personal website, adding it to an ad network, and exploring ways to monetize WordPress.
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General Information About WordPress
WordPress is an open-source and free software that started as a tool to publish blogs, but since then evolved into a program that supports almost everything: from traditional websites and Internet forums to management systems and online stores.
WordPress is a versatile tool that can cover almost any need, whether from a business perspective or not. It is your best option if you want to have your own website but haven’t decided on the host. Extensive customizing tools, serious protection from attacks, and ease of use provide a great field for work and personal needs, paving the way for WordPress monetization. And if you fear that it will hold you back in terms of growth, fear not, because even giants like Meta, Samsung, Time, and many more use WordPress platforms for their business.
Check out the case study of our publisher who earned $1,600 with a single MultiTag Banner:
Monetize WordPress website with HilltopAds
HilltopAds is one of the highest-paying ad networks for publishers and WordPress monetization, offering high CPM rates, a 100% fill rate, and weekly payouts starting from $20. With over 273 billion ad impressions per month worldwide and Popunder, In-Page Push, Video, Banner, and MultiTag formats, HilltopAds helps website owners maximize revenue from their traffic regardless of GEO or content type. Thanks to advanced real-time analytics, anti-fraud technologies, and a dedicated account manager, you get top rates, flexible settings, and full control over monetizing your WordPress project.
To start monetizing your WordPress website with HilltopAds, you first need to verify website ownership. This step is required for any type of website monetization and unlocks full access to platform features, including site and zone management.
Here’s how to add and verify your WordPress website in HilltopAds:
- Login to your HilltopAds account
- From the account, go to the “Manage Site & Zones” section
- Click on the “Add Site” button, specify the website domain, whether it has a mainstream or non-mainstream category, and copy a meta tag
Sign up with HilltopAds today and get:
- Highest CPM rates
- Personal manager support
- Weekly payouts
- Customization options
After that, you need to verify a website using the meta tag we just mentioned. We recommend utilizing WordPress plugins, as this is the easiest and fastest way to add it to the head section. Here’s how to do it with the Head and Footer plugin:
- Go to the “Head and Footer” tab in the “Settings” section in the admin panel
- Here you need to look for the “<HEAD> page section injection” block
- The left block has a code that needs to be displayed on all pages of the website, and in the right one, it will be displayed only on the homepage, so paste the aforementioned meta tag into the right block
- Get back to your HilltopAds account and click on the “Verify” button
If everything is set up correctly, verification will happen automatically. If it doesn’t, check the following:
- Wrong tag placement. You need to insert the tag in the HTML code of the main page of your site before the </head> tag.
- The code is incomplete. Simply copy the whole code and paste it again.
- Technical issues. If the two previous points are not your case, contact your manager to see if there are any technical problems.
Once your website is verified, you can start monetizing your WordPress traffic with HilltopAds and take advantage of high CPM rates, powerful features, and full control over your monetization strategy. For more details, check out our dedicated guide on verifying WordPress websites.
Get inspired by the case study where a publisher earned over $38,000 monetizing their website with HilltopAds:
4 Methods of Monetizing Your WordPress Website
Let’s figure out how to monetize a blog or any other website on WordPress. We already mentioned that you can work with ad networks, however, there are a lot more options. Choose what you like most and combine different methods – your imagination is the only limit!
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a primary way of how to monetize a WordPress blog, considering our line of work. You can sell ad space, pick offers, and engage with viewers through sponsored product reviews.
But adding ads to a website isn’t the only option of making money on WordPress, you can make reviews about things that correlate with the idea of your website. People tend to believe other people more than “faceless” corporations. A couple of good photos and proper wording will change the minds of people, who didn’t intend to buy anything at first.
From a technical point of view, you can either implement a piece of code into your website or use direct links to add ads to your website. Direct links are a premium ad format that uses a special URL that redirects users to dedicated landing pages. This is a great way of generating passive income on websites.
When using a direct link, you will be paid for views (CPM) or target actions made by a user (CPA). Algorithms in the links match offers with the preferences of the audience and can be presented in a variety of ways including full-page tabs, push notifications, and back button offers. To know more, read our dedicated article about direct links.
Start monetizing your website traffic with HilltopAds
and earn like never before.
Selling Your Goods and Services
But what if you developed a product and need to sell it? In that case, you have two options: placing an offer for someone to pick it up, or take care of advertising by yourself.
For placing an offer, you can use the HilltopAds advertising network, doing it with us is simple and effective. Another option, if you want to advertise by yourself, is to use Blaze – the ad platform for promoting your website across Tumblr and WordPress.com. With it, you can monitor the performance of your campaigns and control the budget, appearance, and audience of your ad.
Or, if you’re a beginner in the business world and your budget is tight, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is your way to go. Here’s what you need to know:
- Use keywords. When making content for your website, think about what words a potential user would enter and use them, this will help your site to be on the top searches. Please note that the excessive use of keywords will result in “keyword stuffing” that will hurt your ranking.
- Consistency. Create a schedule for new content releases. With regular updates, you will not only retain your usual audience but also attract new people.
- Spread the word. Manage social media, ask your friends and relatives to read your website, or connect with other content creators via Reader – a platform supported by WordPress.
- Be patient. Don’t be discouraged by the low numbers at the start, because with hard and consistent work you will achieve your goals.
While taking care of SEO is especially important at the start, making sure that your website meets the standards isn’t a done-and-gone thing and requires regular updates and research.
Subscriptions
In this and the next section, we will explore cases where your users directly help you with financial growth.
One way is to make premium content for users to justify the subscription. Besides generating revenue, you will gain stronger loyalty and engagement with the dedicated audience, who are willing to invest in your content. It will help you in the long run and contribute to your reputation, positioning yourself as a person who cares about their users.
Donations
Don’t underestimate human generosity, because if you believe you make something worthy, there will be people willing to reward you for your work.
There are already many platforms where you can collect donations: Patreon, PayPal, Ko-fi, and so on. Don’t think of it as pitiful begging, by donating money users show appreciation for your work and encourage you to do more. While nobody is obliged to donate money, you can tip the scales in your favor by revealing explicitly what you are going to use the money for.
Also, check out our recent article on how to increase revenue from your website:
Final Words
In this article, we explored not only the ways of WordPress monetization, but also how to become a part of an ad network. With this knowledge, you can combine different methods and make the most out of your website. Just remember to not overdo it, know the difference between smart advertising that won’t ruin the user experience and a cluster of ad banners.
Digital marketing has endless possibilities, and if you want to know more, HilltopAds Blog has everything you need whether you’re a publisher or an affiliate marketer. Not only that, our network will help you on your business journey, because HilltopAds is here for you.