7 ideas on how to make money from your website

One of these two ‘puzzling’ thoughts brought you here: 1. Do websites make money? 2. How to make money on my website?

You’ve created your website and the content is great. Readers keep coming back for more and this has made your site generate huge traffic. Not generating HUGE traffic to your website? This is a tool to help reverse that.

What next? What if I told you, you could turn that website into a money-making platform? Oh Yes! You’ve probably thought about it but didn’t know how to begin. It’s not rocket science, more like an art. By implementing some few strategies, you can be on your way to make money $$$ from your website. Here are seven ways to call the genie out of the bottle:

1. Offer your readers some premium content/tools

Make good use of the traffic your website is getting by offering premium content to your website visitors. Premium content is content that is 10x better than anything they’d get anywhere else on the internet. You don’t always have to give out ‘free’ content, sometimes it is okay to charge a little.

How do you do this? Create content or tools that your readers will find useful, do not just assume though, do in-depth research into your audience and buyer persona and proffer a solution to their needs, which they will be willing to pay for. In addition, create high-quality ‘introductory’ content which will incite the attention of readers for them to want to have full access to it. This way, you can get some money while satisfying your readers. However, don’t ask people to pay right away. Instead, stay focused on growing an audience and visitors first.

This is one strategic way to make money from your website. Hubspot is a great example. They deliver helpful content ranging from newsletters, case studies and eBooks and provide premium exclusive tools which marketers are more than willing to pay for because of how helpful it is.

2. Make money by selling Ad space on your website

Not only does it require less time and effort, but it is also a good source of recurring income. You could have a prepaid or post-paid package, this is where you’d realize that accounting and business class mattered after all.

For a prepaid package: do a survey of how much other websites/blogs charge per impression/traffic. This will give you a fair idea and enable you to charge appropriately based on your average traffic.

Another mode could be to create fixed prices for different sections and positions on the website page. For example, “Sidebar banner ads will cost $xxx per month/weekly/daily”.

For a post-paid package: set a charge for impression (CPM) or clicks (PPC). Keep stats of how much clicks these ads are getting or at least if it’s not a clickable ad make sure you know the traffic that page gets monthly, do a monthly report of this stats to give feedback to clients. And based on the impressions you calculate the charge.

The good thing about this approach is if your site gets a ton of traffic then you are on your way to rival Mark Zuckerberg, but the obvious downside is that if your site doesn’t get a lot of traffic, you can’t expect to earn as much.

Here’s how to get more traffic to your website.

3. Make money with Google AdSense

Have you paid attention to the ads that usually pop up on websites? Turn your passion into profit; AdSense is a free, simple way to make money online by placing ads on your website.

How does it work? When you sign up for AdSense, you are able to tap into Google’s wealth of ads. Tap into the largest network of online advertisers who are bidding for your ad space so you get the most for your ads. Only ads that are related to content on your website or the interest of your audience will be displayed. And you are in control, you can block ads you don’t like and choose which ads go appear.

The best part of 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 Fashion, Google AdSense will start showing your visitors ads for Clothing, fashion sales and more.

You get paid each time someone clicks on the ad. (Yes, it’s really that easy!)

This strategy works best for websites with high traffic. So, you want to constantly increase your traffic if using this strategy.

How to apply 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.

4. Email Marketing as an investment plan

How do I start? Collect emails from your website visitors by asking them to subscribe. If you give premium content, this is also a channel to collate real emails. PLEASE DO NOT go buy an email list, it’s spammy and also would be a waste of money as these emails do not usually convert. When you build your own native email list, they are your tailored target audience, therefore, the ROI is high with effective nurturing.

Not only does generating an email list to build your brand and draw readers back to your site, but it also helps you make money. Your email list contains your loyal and consistent readers. Research has shown that a good list monetization plan should result in revenues of $1 per month, per email list subscriber. However, not every email increases sales. Emails like direct promotional email and new arrival email help boost sales.  You can simply invite them to webinars or sell them more of what they like.

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 of 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 the reader’s trust and sabotage your long-term goals.

 5. Flip your website

Create a ‘profitable’ website – sell it – reinvest

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).

Where can I sell my site?

• Flippa – The most popular website market.
• We Buy Websites – Another popular marketplace.
• FEinternational – Mostly for high-end websites.

6. Offer your unique skills

Like we all learnt in the Wizard of Oz, all we want to be is within us. Use your skills to make money by being hired or teach your skills through paid webinars. Or offer consulting or freelance services, you can have a ‘hire me’ page where you showcase your skills and works done. Optimize these page such that your copy and quality of work is the best out there. Showcasing samples or evidence of past work will help greatly increase your chances of getting hired.

Do some marketing with Google ads or by posting your website link to LinkedIn groups.

While other strategies to make money with your website might take some time to build up, this is faster.

7. Display pop-up advertisements

Pop-ups can be extremely annoying if they are interruptive. However, they’re also another easy way to make some quick money. And because they are interruptive, if the copy and call-to-action are great, it’s a great way to place relevant ads on your website which would easily get attention from your audience.

Be really professional with whichever strategy you use, remember people address you the way you are ‘packaged’. Just like driving, you get better with practice and a picture of you in your dream car. When it gets tough or it seems like you are not progressing, take a breath and restrategize.

What other strategies have you tried using to make money from your website? What are you taking away from this blog? Share with us in the comment section below.