One of the main reasons that many people decide to build and maintain a website is to try and make some money from the venture. You may be a member of the minority and simply want to create a platform from which to express your ideas and viewpoints, but most website owners would like to show a profit from their efforts. The big question is how to go about it and use your website to generate enough income that you can use some of it to pay down your current debt.
It is a natural progression from learning how to build a website to investigating ways to monetize your site. After all, you have spent a bunch of time creating your site, and as we have all heard, time is money. You would like to be able to show that the investment in your time was well spent by witnessing some financial return.
There are many success stories of websites that have enabled their owners to generate a substantial income from their site. Let’s investigate 5 methods that you can use to make money from your website. Hopefully, you too can be a success and can earn enough to use some of the proceeds to minimize your debts.
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most common methods that website owners employ to try and make money from their site. Essentially you are promoting someone else’s product on your site and get a percentage if a sale is made through the ad that you are running. A quick search around the web will turn up many claims of the untold riches that can be accumulated with an affiliate marketing program.
According to thebalancesmb.com, affiliate marketing shouldn’t be seen as a get-rich-quick scheme, but rather as a means to make money that can be lucrative if you go about it the right way and have realistic expectations related to your earning potential.
Some of the pros and cons of affiliate marketing are:
Pros
- Low startup costs as most affiliate marketing programs are free to join.
- No product or service needs to be developed.
- No stocking or shipping of products is required.
- Can be added to a current home business as an alternate income stream.
Cons
- It takes time to obtain traffic levels that result in substantial income.
- Affiliate hijacking can occur where you do not get credit for your referral.
- No control over the product or service sold.
2. Blogging
A popular blog can be an income generating website that can earn you some real money. The key is in the word popular. You need to drive traffic to your blog in order to be successful. This entails finding a profitable niche, creating a good domain name, and delivering plenty of great content that interests your target audience and entices them to become return visitors.
Once you begin to attract traffic to your site, you can take advantage of the exposure to make money in a number of ways. Additional website users mean more potential to be successful with affiliate marketing or the soon to be discussed Google AdSense. These income generating programs thrive on heavy traffic as only a small portion of your visitors will actually be clicking through and making purchases. Growing your blog’s popularity is the path to increased profits.
3. Google AdSense
Google AdSense is a program that is somewhat similar to affiliate marketing in that you can earn passive income by allowing advertisements to be placed on your website. According to nichepursuits.com, the first step is to embed a Javascript that Google provides and show ads that are relevant to the content on your site.
You have control over the type of ads presented and can choose from text, animated images, rich media, and other formats. You get paid based on the number of clicks that the ads generate, and can earn more when purchases are made directly from your ads. The amount you earn fluctuates based on the popularity of your site when compared to others in the same niche.
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing is a proven way to make money with a website. By generating a list of prospective customers for your product or service you can send targeted emails that will appeal to your audience. Your goal should not be just to get as many subscribers as you can but to develop a relationship with them that results in building trust between you and your audience.
Consider pop-up subscription lists on your website to make it easy for users to join your email list. Once you have accumulated an audience that trusts you and believes that you are offering them value and are not constantly bombarding them with spam, you can use your list to earn money in a number of ways. Your list can be the basis of affiliate offers, help drive customers to your own products or you can run sponsored ads that appear as part of your emails.
5. Sell Your Own Product
Of course, one of the primary ways that we think about making money with a website is to sell our own product or service. The availability of plugins such as WooCommerce that you can insert into your website make entering the world of e-commerce a much more attainable goal than in the past. Details like shipping and processing credit card payments are handled by the plugin, letting you concentrate on the actual product or service that you are offering.
You need to be prepared to service your customers, and you will want to start with a reasonable amount of stock if you are selling a physical product. Digital products such as informative guides and ebooks are another potential money-maker and should not be ignored when deciding on what you will sell on your site.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the ways you can use the digital world and your website to generate some income that will help you pay off your debts. Good luck in finding your niche and reaping the rewards of your hard work.
Was this article helpful and informative? Leave us a comment with your thoughts in the section below.
Good thing we talk about finance because there is a man, named Phillipe Ballesio, who has multiple finance companies, but the reality is that these companies are fraudulent; They do not even have the necessary permission to administer funds, so they are dedicated to stealing and cheating.
I just started my debt blog. For now, I simply want to educate people (including myself!) and keep track of the real numbers. I don’t know if I want to monetize it yet. I have visited several debt blogs that are heavily monetized, and I’m like, where are your posts? I would like to coach young people in the 16-25 age range about how to be successful without college, an I’m hoping my blog will help provide me with feedback about that. I helped my little cousin and his wife succeed without college. I hope to help others do the same, but it’s bound to be a controversial endeavor.