Building a website is a learning experience; it is a difficult undertaking, especially if you're looking to ultimately make money from your website, but it is also a very enjoyable one. For most of us, the first website that we build is a simple enough project, a way for us to express ourselves and indulge our passions. Taking it to the next level, where we begin to focus on our SEO score and start tracking how many new visitors we are able to bring in each day, is like making the move from snapping holiday shots on a disposable camera, to shooting weddings with a DSLR.
Monetizing a website has never been easier. There are now many more options than there ever have been before and the process of adding these elements to a website is now a nice and streamlined affair. They key to monetization though is, as it always has been, generating sufficient traffic to justify the venture. It costs money to maintain a website, so if you want your website to start making you money then you need to at least be covering these costs.
In this article we take a look at the most common forms of monetization that are likely to help you in turning a meaningful profit.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular, and fastest, ways of monetizing your website or blog. All you need to do is find a product or service that you like and would be happy to write positively about, then you need to approach the manufacturer or provider for an affiliate link.
Write your piece about the product and include the affiliate link for those who are convinced enough to buy it. If they make a purchase after clicking the affiliate link, then you will get a cut of the sale. This cut can range anywhere from 30% to 70%.
Pay Per Click Advertising
As the name suggests, these are adverts which you agree to place on your site or blog. You will receive a small amount of money for every click on each advert. Pay per click advertising has been around for ages, but the introduction of Google's AdSense has made implementing pay per click advertising easier than ever before. After signing up, Google does the heavy lifting. A simple piece of code will be added to your website and will begin to automatically display adverts relevant to your site.
Sell Ad Space
Selling space on your website to advertisers follows the same principle as selling advertising space in the real world, it is one of the oldest ways of monetizing a website and has proven to be very effective. Obviously, the more traffic your website is generating, the more valuable the space on it will be to advertisers. If you plan on going down this route, you should make sure you have accurate statistics about your website or blogs traffic to show to potential advertisers. It is important that you are able to demonstrate value to advertisers, not just in terms of traffic but also content. For example, a website with the latest market news for the tech sector should approach tech advertisers to ensure relevance.
Monetizing your website successfully takes a little finesse and forethought, but it is now easier to do than ever before and the potential rewards are huge.
