Blog is up! Wordpress is...well wordpressing...

Wordpress seemed like the quicker way/more professional than learning php and coding it all by myself. Unfortunately I still have an issue!!

Not sure what to do with advertisements...

I have Adsense, amazon associates, and ******. I could use any variation of these but I would like to hear your guys/gals thought's on how I should do this on a blog.

Are you asking how you should monetize your site? If so, then I say, depending on the niche, you should do adsense, clickbank, or amazon affiliate program. All 3 are good, but the uses of them really depend on the niche. For instance, if you have a weight loss site, a combination of adsense and clickbank would be great. But if you have a "Top 10 mountain bikes" site, then amazon affiliates and adsense is right for you. You can never go wrong with adsense.

Yeah I was thinking of going strictly with adsense because of how more appealing it is compared to other adverts like ******.

Only problem I'm having is I don't know where to put the banners because the coding for wordpress in my FTP is really confusing. I was trying to put it at the bottom of the header and on top of the footer but I could not find those files anywhere.

Install an adsense friendly theme like CTR theme. It will conveniently give you the option to enter ad codes. CTR theme is not free although there might be a few free themes out there as well. You will probably have to install some adsense plugins as well. When choosing those, make sure that you disable revenue sharing. Some plugins are very sneaky and will automatically set revenue sharing in such a way that the creator of the plugin gets a small share.

As for choosing between Amazon, Clickbank and adsense, the best way to decide on it would be to split test all three and see what kind of ROI you get. Give them all about 10-15 days of a test run. Don't do just 1-2 days as sales can fluctuate quite a bit over just 48 hours.

Monetizing your site would depend entirely on a few key factors. What type of Wordpress blog did you create (what is your purpose)? Who is your audience (how are you going to target your traffic)? Are you writing to share your thoughts/ideas on life in general or do you want to share your knowledge on a specific niche or subject? Are you a recognized authority in your niche?

You should start by maximizing your unique content. This will be critical to any money methods you choose. If you are in an information only niche, then Adsense would make you some change. If your traffic is trying to fix a problem, then offering a product that you have reviewed and recommend would be a way to go. Define your purpose for creating the blog. Then, if you have something of value to say, people will follow you in time. Then you can sell to this targeted audience that you have built trust in. Become an authority on what you say and seek products and services that you can recommend for your audience.

Most important: Be active and engage your readers. Ask questions, poll your traffic, and give a survey to them once in a while. Show that you're just as interested in why they're there and deliver to them.

I really appreciate the tips everyone is pitching in. I installed a theme that supports google adsense banners but for some reason when I save the code in the theme it doesn't show it on the home page!

I will start with google adsense instead of the others because it seems easier and I'm not actually selling anything for my niche other than my knowledge.

edit: I'm not actually 'selling' my knowledge, that was a bad way to put it...lol