Savvy Affiliate

Online Advertising has a recent post about the 7 levels of monetization for a blog

In it they rank the 7 levels of monetization, (with 1 being the worst), as

1) Adsense - Which they call they dregs

2) Affiliate Programs- A step above adsense, but barely

3) Ad networks - Now you are starting to make a decent amount of money

4) Automated Text Link Ads - Highly Automated, which is really nice

5) Fixed Text Link Ads - More work, you must sell them yourself

6) Graphical Banner Ads - Name Your own price

7) Fixed Monthly Sponsors - The Holy Grail.

I don’t entirely agree with what Online Advertising thinks.  For one I believe that they have too harsh a ranking of adsense.  They think that adsense pays only around $1 CPM, whereas I say that if you are getting less than $5 CPM with your adsense you need to do some Adsense optimization

I would rank that Worst Method of Advertising as Ad Networks- Ads networks give you the same disadvantages as Google Adsense, but without the benefits of customized ads to fit your site.  Next I would switch Fixed Text Link Ads with Automated Text Link Ads.  Although fixed text link ads can yield you a little bit more money, the shear time savings that automated text link ads can net you is well worth it.  The time savings can translate into more posts, which will make more money.

Other than that I agree with their levels of advertising.  As your site becomes more popular, consider trying to move up the scale.