Wine is a luxury item that more and more people are starting to order online. In the past it was very difficult to monetize a Wine blog because it wasn't a terribly online commercial product. The game is starting to change a bit as wineries, wine retailers, and other wine related businesses are moving to online means of advertising. Online wine clubs are starting to become more of a trend these days with companies offering great monthly package deals on boutique selections. There's also every type of wine gadget, wine books, wine education courses, and home winemaking kits being sold online.

Now that there is such a strong market online for wine and wine related items, it's up to the wine blogger to successfully monetize the traffic they are receiving without alienating there readership. When choosing the ads you place on your site or the products you plan on promoting, it's vital to provide things that will enrich the lives of each reader. Adding value to your content with products that can help your audience is the best approach to monetizing a wine blog. Below are a few tips on what programs may be in your best interest in your wine blog monetization efforts.

- Google Adsense is a no brainer when getting started with monetization on any blog. As long as you don't pepper that blog with tooooooo many ads than is a nice way to make a few extra dollars. The way to be effective with Adsense is to blog about commercially viable subjects. Advertisers may pay $3.00 per click on certain keywords that will convert a high-dollar sale such as "first growth Bordeaux", but maybe only a few pennies for a keyword like "wine key".  Focusing on having great pillar articles for high-paying keywords is great for contextual advertising.

- If your wine blog gets tons of traffic per month then I believe you could be successful implementing the affiliate program with Wine-Searcher. Here's a link to their site that explains the program.

- I've never been to successful with wine affiliate programs such as Wine.com through Linkshare. I've been a affiliate with them for around 10 years and have only made a few small checks. This may be because I don't implement their ads on every single post and all over my site, but even the times where I tried that I wasn't very successful. I'd say that you should only seek out these "get paid to sell" programs if you are an experienced affiliate marketer and are focusing on converting sales of a specific product.

- Direct advert sales. This can be a great way to make some quality cash with your wine blog. I recommend formulating a pre-set email which explains in detail the rates for a set advert on your homepage for a specific amount of time. Inform the potential client of your website stats; including demographics, click through ratios, and keywords to convince them of the marketing power of your blog. A per-month or per-year price for a 300x250 or 468x60 pixel banner is a way to start.

- Amazon Associates is a great program to sell wine gadgets, books, and accessories with. People trust amazon. They have great contextual ads and non-intrusive links that you can place in your posts to help your readership find goods of value. An example would be selling the great wine book "wine bible"

- Sponsored posts are something to definitely look into if they can ad value to your blog. Always inform your readership and be 100% transparent that the post is sponsored and never sell out by posting something completely unrelated to your niche. Search companies like linqia, weave made media, pollinate media, collective bias/social fabric.