When we speak about websites that make money, we immediately gravitate towards eCommerce sites. Since they seem to be the only ones raking massive revenues. Yes, it is true. But, the fact that any website can generate income also stands true.
The trick? It’s in the right monetization model. Believe it or not, there are many monetization methods for your website for you to choose from. If done right, you’ll be receiving a good amount of profit, in no time.
However, before we reveal some of the common ways you to monetize your site, you should have a well-built and functional website in the first place. If your site hasn’t been updated for a long time and is not even mobile-friendly, all these money-making strategies won’t work for you.
First, understand what is the main difference between a mobile app and a mobile-responsive website and then hire a custom web development company to make a kick-ass site for you from scratch.
Trust us, in an online space where there are millions of websites competing for the best rank on Google and trying to provide a better user experience – you need a great website that is built with the latest technology and best practices included if you want to beat your competition.
Once a fantastic looking site up and running, you can consider the following methods of website monetization.
1) Selling Ad Space
Yes, let’s get the obvious yet one of the simplest strategies out of the way. Displaying ads on your site (that are not annoying or inappropriate) is a great way to make money. Now, there are different models you can choose from, but the most common way to sell ad space is through pay-per-click (PPC) model.
What is PPC?
PPC stands for pay-per-click. It is a model of internet marketing where advertisers pay a certain fee every time one of their ads is clicked on. Now imagining this in a website setting, the website owners charge a fee for running these ads on their web page.
There are two ways to go about advertisements on your website.
- Google AdSense: In this method, Google embeds a code on your website for advertisement. Moreover, this code also reads about your page to make sure the ads displayed are relevant to your content.
- Selling to Companies: The other option is to sell your web page’s ad space to companies, brands, and businesses. You will need to strike a mutually beneficial deal in order to reap good money off of each click.
Ads work best if your website is a high-traffic site. Since then, you have enough daily visitors that ‘may’ click on the ad. Otherwise, you are looking at a very small return.
2) Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing has grown into a powerful marketing tool that is more relevant than ever in 2020. According to Business Insider, a whopping 15% of the digital media industry revenue is generated through affiliate marketing. In addition, the industry of this style of marketing is also thriving, with its annual spending projected to hit $6.8 Billion mark.
What is affiliate marketing?
It is an agreement made between your website and a company, where you gain profit by directing your traffic or potential customers to the company’s site.
There are two ways you can gain profits through affiliate marketing:
- CPC (cost-per-click): Cost per click is the money you make every time someone clicks on the link that sends them to the affiliate’s web page.
- CPA (cost-per-acquisition): This is the money you make when those visitors actually convert. Meaning, when they purchase the affiliate’s product(s) or sign up for their service. Since this is more than just browsing and includes conversions, the CPA cost is higher than CPC’s.
Affiliate marketing is more effective and meaningful than ads. Because the affiliate’s link merges naturally with your content. So if I am reading about a hair hack and there is a link to purchase an effective hair product – it makes sense. Moreover, I am more likely to click on it than an ad.
Just like in the case of selling ad space, for this scenario to be fruitful, you would need high traffic to your site for visitors to actually click on the link. Since not every visitor will engage with an affiliate link. So more the traffic, the more chances for conversions.
3) Sponsored Posts
If you are familiar with the term ‘influencers’ and ‘bloggers’, then you must know about the rise of sponsored posts as well. This is when an influencer with a large number of followers would promote a brand in return for a negotiated amount of cash.
Similarly, a website can do the same. The websites with good traffic and popularity can get approached by brands that want to broaden their reach and visibility. They would want your website to promote their brand.
However, a word of caution would be to only promote brands that are in line with your visitors’ interests. Otherwise, be sure to be labeled as a ‘sell-out.’
4) An Online Store
The obvious way for any website to make money is by selling products. eCommerce sites are the most abundant when it comes to generating revenue. There are more than 650,000 eCommerce sites generating more than 1000 dollars in annual revenue. So can you.
One of the best bits about eCommerce stores is the available website building platforms. These platforms, such as Shopify, have made it possible for any non-techie person to create a site of their own with simple drag and drop methods.
Of course, for a more customized site on a great platform like WordPress, you would need a team of expert web developers to create one from scratch.
Either way, an eCommerce site when built right and marketed properly is bound to make money. Moreover, the website is scalable as the business expands and grows. Just make sure you are rising above the competition and have something unique to offer.
5) Accept Donations
A lot of the time, the website may not be the most popular or a high-traffic site but with the purpose it serves or what it stands for – it may have a generous and strong community.
So, for sites that are just starting out or struggling in some form or way, they can ask for donations. The community members who feel strongly connected with your content or the agenda you serve would gladly give donations to keep your website going.
PayPal already comes with a donation button that you can add to your website. Besides, this payment gateway is globally used, so it is more convenient for your site as well.
It is very easy to set up and of course, every website can customize it by changing the button text and adding donation details. However, remember, this works best if you have a loyal community of followers who derive value from the content you produced (regularly!).
Lastly,
It is best to first understand your own website, the target audience (their behavior and interest within your site), the long-term goals, and THEN decide on which monetization method will work best for you.
However, it cannot be stressed enough that in order for your website to have high traffic in order for monetization methods to work, it is important that it is developed well with impeccable user experience.
If your visitors are not happy with what they see and experience, then you can say goodbye to all these strategies to gain profits and start worrying about generating steady traffic first.
