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5 golden tips on how to monetize a website
For a starter I have great news – making money from your website is doable. In fact you can turn your part-time job, hobby blog or website into an income-generating business. You only need a bit of luck and some hard work😉
Below you can read about some strategies how to start making money from you start-up blog/website. You can find there easy and passive ways to do that, but also ones which require a ton of non-stopping work (but they are worth it 😉). Make sure that you will pick something that suits your site and lifestyle preferences.
1. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular and the quickest way to monetize your website or blog. So what it is and how it works?
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s or company’ products. You need to start by finding a product you like and would like to recommend on your web. If chosen product or service resonates with your audience, they’ll click on your affiliate link, purchase the product and in the effect you get a split of the sale price. The commission depends on your agreement with product supplier and their policy, it might be anywhere from 20% of the product/service price, up to as high as 70%.
The example of a successful affiliate site is booking.com. Their whole business model is based on affiliate marketing.
2. Sell your own digital product
Selling your own digital product is an excellent monetization method. That’s because there’s no middle-man between you and the buyer that’s taking a 'cut’ from the possible income. This approach seems to be fairly straightforward, unfortunately, it’s not that simple in reality. Creating good product require a ton of time and additional resources (like design, content, etc.). There’s a lot of ‘hidden costs’ as payment gateways, shipping, and taxes.
Now, when you know how theoretically it should look like, it is worth to figure out what you can sell. It can be audiobook, eBook – choose what are you capable to create and it’s related with your site. Please also keep in mind your audience and give them content which they need and would like to pay for.
3. Sell sponsored posts
One of the most common way to make more money from your website is by sponsored posts and articles. Once you’ve done the hard work of building steady traffic to your site with an engaged community, you can try to contact with companies which may be interested in posting some sponsored content on your website. You can also review the products from a company related with your website. For example, if your website is all about the latest iOS games, the creator of one of those games would really love to have you review their game to your fans.
When it will be done right, this can create a win-win scenario, however – done poorly can cause more damage, so be sure to publish posts on a relevant topic for your subscribers and choose products which you know and feel comfortable to talk about.
4. Start a paid membership website
The idea is to set up a private thematic area on your website and fill it with extra value to justify the price tag. Membership websites let you add content behind a locked gate so you can earn money by making people pay for access. To do that you need to create a place where passionate, like-minded people get together to learn, share and interact with each other – it may sound easy, but you have to find a topic that will interest people enough to pay for the access.
5. Monetize your expertise
This idea combines second and forth strategies, described above, to monetize your website, in one, and it comes to unleash your potential. You can use your website as a portfolio to promote your skills and services online. Find thing in which you are good about and what you love and make money from it. Maybe you love to create things from wood, or you paint beautiful landscapes, maybe you find yourself as ideal virtual assistant, or creative copywriter, or you know how to recruit people. Find your passion and make business from it 😊
To summarize I will say that earning money from managing a site, for sure can be an exciting experience. However, monetizing a website needs time, dedication and most importantly – traffic. Keep in mind that it is important to take into account the nature of your site as well as your target audience. With enough time, effort and patience, you can start making money from your website by doing what you love and are passion about.
Best of luck!
