33 Ways To Monetize Your Website or a Blog Affiliate marketing? Amazon? Google AdSense?
There's
no doubt that blogging/running a website is one of the most popular
activities you can do online. You get to voice your ideas, thoughts, and
opinions and share them with the rest of the world, while also
improving your writing skills, and connecting with other, similar-minded
individuals. You get to write about what you love, and it doesn't get
any better than that.
Well, actually, it does get better if you can earn some money in the
process. However, while blogging is a lot fun, if you're going to turn
into a source of additional income, you're going to have your work cut
out for you.
The bad news is, only a small percentage of bloggers and website owners
earn huge amounts of money, and most of them are devoted to it and
consider it a full-time job. Also, there are those who generate enough
revenue for themselves while working part-time in addition to their day
jobs. In both cases, it's not something which can happen overnight. It
takes time, hard work, lots of trial and error, and patience.
The good news is that it is very much possible - this infographic from Website Setup outlines some of the most effective ways you can earn money from your website or blog.
Making money from your website isn’t a myth. It’s doable by everyone.
In fact, turning a part-time, hobby blog into an income generating asset is fairly common with a bit of luck and some hard work.
At
the very least, you should be able to make enough to cover your basic
expenses for a domain and hosting. You might even be able to replace
your income (and then some).
Keep in mind that the strategies
listed below range from easy and passive, to ones that require a TON of
on-going work (so make sure you pick something that suits your site and
lifestyle preferences).
There are 33 total tips in this guide, but let’s start with the ten most popular (and predictable) site monetization tips.
10 Most Common Ways to Make Money with Your Website
Making money from your website isn’t easy. But these ten tips are probably your best bet.
1. Affiliate Marketing (.. and affiliate links)
Example of a successful affiliate site: Booking.comAffiliate marketing is one of the most popular (not to mention quickest) ways to make money from your website or blog.
Start
by finding a product you like and would recommend. Then on your
website, you endorse the product and promote it to your website visitors
and email subscribers. If the product or service resonates with these
people, they’ll click on your affiliate link, purchasing the product (while you get a split of the sale price).
The
commission might be anywhere from 30% of the product or service price,
up to as high as 70%. So for example, if the split is 50% and you
promote an e-book that costs $100, you’ll get $50 for simply referring the buyer. Pretty sweet deal, huh?! Where can I find products to promote?
ShareASale – mostly clothes, accessories, and other offline goods.
Clickbank – high percentage payouts, but there’s a lack of GOOD products to promote.
2. Pay Per Click Advertising (Google Adsense)
Example of a successful Google Adsense site: Mashable.comAdWords are the advertisements that show up on the top of Google search result pages.
AdSense
is the reverse, allowing publishers (which includes bloggers and other
website owners like yourself) to tap into Google’s immense advertising
network so that other advertisers can run ads on their website.
The best part about this system is how simple everything is.
Once
you sign up, Google will place a simple code on your website that will
identify the content of your site and start displaying relevant
advertisements. For example, if your site is about pets (dogs &
cats), Google AdSense will start showing your visitors ads for cat food,
dog training and more.
You get paid each time someone clicks on the ad. (Yes, it’s really that easy!)
Your
cut might be anywhere from $0.50 to $5 per click. However, when your
site has enough traffic, you can make hundreds (if not thousands of
dollars) each month. How to apply for for Google Adsense?
Apply for AdSense – Before applying, make sure you keep up with their latest Terms Of Service, though. Google has very strict rules, so it’s hard to get (and stay) approved.
3. Sell Ad Space
Incorporating Google’s AdSense on your website is just one way to make money from online advertisements.
Another
is to simply sell your own ad space directly to companies looking to
sponsor different blogs. For example, you can come up with a price for
each space, like: “Sidebar banner ads will cost $xxx per month”.
You can get paid depending on how many visitors you get. Typically this is quoted as a dollar amount per one thousand impressions (or CPM).
So for example, you might see it as: $5 CPM. If the website gets
100,000 visits a month, that ad price translates into $500 bucks.
The
good thing about this approach is that if your site gets a ton of
traffic from different sources, your simple banner ad pricing can go up
to as high as $5000 per month! However, the obvious downside is that if
your site doesn’t get a lot of traffic, you can’t expect to earn as much
either.
The other common method when selling ad space directly from your website is a simple direct price.
Here you simply name a price (based on what you think it’s worth,
relative to what the competition might be charging), and get paid
upfront at the beginning of each month. This pricing is also generally a
simple flat fee, not tied to a Cost Per Click like AdSense. Where can I let others know that my website is selling ad space?
– The most popular one.
AdvertiseSpace – I haven’t tried it, but it should be a good alternative.
4. Sell Your Own Digital Product (Ebook for Example)
You have the potential to make the most money on a per sale basis when you can sell your own directly.
That’s because there’s no middle-man or person in between you and the buyer that’s taking a ‘cut’ from the money earned.
This
approach seems fairly straightforward because you can simply sell these
products directly through your website and get paid immediately.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple in reality.
Creating good
products that are well made and polished require a ton of time and
additional resources (like design, content, etc.). So there’s a lot of
‘hidden costs’ in both time spent or contractors to collaborate with.
Selling your own products on your site also bring up problematic issues
like payment gateways (how are you going to collect payment?), shipping
(how are you going to mail or distribute the products?) and taxes (oh
man, don’t get me started).
And if that doesn’t sound like enough
work already, you’ll also need a well designed, persuasive landing page
to make sure your product has a strong conversion rate. Additional resources: How to sell products on your website. How to set up a PayPal “Buy Now” button on WordPress
5. Accept Donations from visitors
Don’t have a ton of monthly visits, but you do have a strong, engaged community? Simply ask your readers to donate!
Accepting
one-off donations isn’t a fast road to wealth, however, it can help you
cover expenses in the short-term if people like what you have to say
and want to support your journey.
For example, PayPal offers
little donation buttons that only take about ten minutes to add to your
website, offering you a quick way to recoup what you might be spending
on hosting, new product creation, research, and all of the other costs
to maintain a healthy, active blog.
For example, web.archive.org makes a lot of money from donations (most likely due to their millions of visitors per month). How to set up donation buttons?
6. Accept sponsored posts & articles (…but use nofollow tag)
One of the common ways to making more money from your website means getting those visitor numbers UP.
Once you’ve done the hard work of building steady traffic to your site with an engaged community, there are a few different ways to monetize your hard work.
For example, many companies go out of their way to look for blogs that will feature their sponsored content. ‘Native advertising‘ like this works well because it still lines up with your site’s primary content, so it comes across relevant and transparent.
You
can also review the products from a company in an ‘advertorial’ that’s
part content, part advertisement. For example, if your website is all
about the latest iOS games for iPhones and iPads, the creator of one of
those ads would LOVE to have you review and feature their app to your
fans.
When done right, this can create a win/win scenario. However
done poorly, with irrelevant or inauthentic site content, and it can
erode all of the reader’s goodwill you’ve worked so hard to create in
the first place. For further reading:
Businesses thrive off new leads coming in their door to inquire about their products or services.
It’s no surprise then that they’re always on the lookout, searching for creative ways to find new sources of leads to help them grow.
For example:
Let’s
say you have a website about teaching math skills. Your reader’s
information (like their email address or phone number) would be of great
value to different online schools who’re looking to sell their courses
to eager, proactive students.
Basically, you’re connecting the
dots; playing the matchmaker by introducing two parties who can benefit
one another. While it’s similar to how affiliate marketing works, in
this case it doesn’t actually matter if your reader ends up purchasing
their product or not. They’re just looking for an introduction at this
point. Where can I find such offers?
Spend any amount of time reading blog growth tips, and you’re sure to come across people saying “the money’s in the list“.
They’re
referring to your email list, which comprises your most loyal readers.
The objective is to convert as many strangers who visit your site for
the first time into passionate followers who want to stay up-to-date on
your latest work or content.
Admittedly this is a long term
strategy (and you definitely won’t get rich overnight). But it’s one of
the best, long-term methods to profitably growing your blog into a
full-fledged, money making enterprise.
Never lose sight of the
importance in creating relationships with your followers, however.
Offering great information or free help is a perfect way to start.
Spamming people with unsolicited offers is one of the fastest ways to
abuse reader’s trust and sabotage your long-term goals. How exactly does it EXACTLY work?
Listbuilding 101 – Probably the best introduction on the internet.
9. Set up an e-commerce site (hard work is required)
Websites don’t have to be just content. They can be centered around tools or products in an online store.
Be forewarned, though:
There
are literally hundreds of thousands of eCommerce websites or online
stores. Make sure that yours is filling a unique niche, with a detailed
strategy and the latest marketing techniques to stand out from the crowd. How do I create a successful online store/shop?
10. Flip Your Websites (Create -> Sell -> Reinvest)
Believe it or not, there’s almost always a market out there for your website.
That
means if you’ve built up a following (or possibly even sold a few
products or included advertising on your site), you might be able to
sell it to someone else and make a quick buck.
To be
honest, I typically don’t suggest people plan on flipping their website
or blog. (I’m a bigger fan of creating something for the long term.)
But
you can’t deny how lucrative it can be. For example, if your website is
making $500 per/month through selling ad space, you might be able to
sell the site for $5,000 – $10,000 (which is about 12x – 22x monthly income).
Another interesting option is to sell ready-made sites, These are MUCH cheaper, but there’s still some money to be made. Where can I sell my site?
We’ve counted down some of the most popular ways to earn money from your website.
However, we’re only just scratching the surface.
Below are another 23 ways to make money with your website.
(Keep in mind that some of them are slightly connected with the ones above yet they are little ‘out of the box’.)
Another 23 ways to monetize your website
11.Sell text-link ads – There’s still a demand for text-links ads (believe it or not). But please keep in mind that these violate Google’s Terms of Service (which means you run the risk of getting penalized).
To avoid it, simply keep the ‘nofollow‘. 12. Set up “infolinks” – Infolinks
are a great alternative to AdSense advertisements, that are very easy
to setup. However, the downside is that they aren’t high converting, and
the payouts (on a per click basis) are also quite small. 13. Use monetization widgets – These are also very similar to Google Adsense, so they’re worth trying out as an alternative. 14.Set up RSS feed ads. – Exactly what they sound like. Ad space for sale in-line with content from an RSS feed. 15.Give away premium content for extra $$$ – If you are producing mind-blowing,
awesome content that visitors can’t get enough of… you can always try
asking them to pay for some of it! (Crazy concept, huh?!) I’m personally
fine with paying for premium content. However, don’t ask people to pay right away. Instead, stay focused on growing an audience and visitors first. 16.Start a private forum or coaching class(es)
– Most of us have unique skills that others can benefit from. Setting
up a simple forum or classes is an easy way to (a) help others and (b)
generate recurring income at the same time. 17. Create a job board–
Setting up a job board on your website is another simple, easy way to
collect additional money when people accepting different job offers from
various companies or individuals. 18.Offer consulting – Offering
consulting gigs and providing services can help you bring in decent
sums of money while other forms of ‘passive’ revenue take a little time
to build up. You can offer these services via email, forum and or even
Skype. 19.Add “hire me” page on your website
– Your new website or blog is also a perfect place to feature your
freelancing services. Showcasing samples or evidence of past work will
help greatly increase your chances of getting hired. 20.Sell or rent internal pages – These aren’t very common, however, you might be surprised at what people would be willing to rent or spend money on! 21.Display pop-ups advertisements – Pop-ups can be extremely annoying. However, they’re also another easy way to make some quick money. 22. Use content lockers – ‘Content
locking’ is similar to hiding or protecting pieces of content until a
visitor takes some action to redeem it. For example, maybe you want them
to pay a small amount, or perhaps click on an advertisement. 23. Display audio ads –
These are relatively new and are becoming increasingly more common.
Personally, I haven’t tried it. But I have read some articles and it
definitely looks promising. 24. Sell an e-book – This one is a no-brainer. Many people sell e-books through their site. Some examples:
If you have a website about recipes and cooking, you can easily create
and sell your own recipe book. The same applies in almost every single
other niche. 25.Create a conference around your website – Lots of work, but a huge potential payoff as well. 26.Set up a teaching program – Kinda like a cross between selling your own content and offering consulting or services. 27.Host paid webinars – Similar to the last tip, which is largely a mix of consulting through content. 28.Create a membership site – Yet another tier on the ‘info-business’ model that has the added benefit of bringing in recurring revenue. 29.Offer coupons
(with affiliate links) – People are eagerly looking for discount &
promo codes for everything from clothes to travel vacations. If you can
(find and) offer a valid one, you can also get a cut of the revenue too. 30. Host polls on your website– Hard to believe, but easy to do! 31.Offer writing gigs
– You can easily make $20 – $30 per 500-word articles writing for other
companies or individuals. There’s also a huge potential for fluent
speakers of different languages, as many companies want their websites
translated by those who speak the native language. 32.Create a paid directory/business page – You charge people for listing or submissions to the page. 33.Just copy what others are doing – My personal favourite!
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