Do you have a website or blog that you wish was making you money? Maybe you don’t have a website yet, but you have seen thousands of “bloggers” making money from websites. Wouldn’t it be nice to supplement your full-time income or even replace it with revenue generated from your own website?
Although this idea may seem far-fetched, you may be surprised to learn how many people make a respectable living simply from websites about topics that interest them. How to Get Your Blog to Pay Your Bills is an excellent example of how to implement this fun and profitable strategy.
Traffic, Lots of it
The most important part of any website monetization
strategy is traffic. Without traffic, your website could have the best
content in the world that nobody knows about. Most website owners spend
more time figuring out new ways to generate traffic than any other
activity related to the site.
If you are not familiar with website traffic, it simply refers to the
number of unique visitors a website receives. Typically, this is
determined on a monthly basis although many tools allow website owners
to view daily statistics. This is helpful when you post new content and
want to monitor how many people view your recent postings.
Once you have created a website, how do you actually generate traffic to your website?
Although there are numerous effective methods, the most popular traffic generation methods include:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO refers to optimizing your website for major search
engines such as Google. A large percentage of website traffic (sometimes
as much as 75%) will come from Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other popular
search engines.
To successfully earn revenue from your website, you need to
tailor your website to search engines. This allows readers to find your
content amidst thousands or even millions of other websites.
Proper SEO is a tricky and dynamic component. Many websites
could care less about their readers; instead focusing on search engine
optimization only. Google and other search providers periodically change
their search algorithms to penalize these websites and award those
websites providing genuine information to Internet users.
Basic SEO best practices include a website that is easily
navigable, content that is fresh and valuable, and a healthy community
of readers who actively participate in group discussions on your
website.
Social Media
The popularity of social media sites such as Facebook and
Twitter has made an active social media presence a necessity for driving
new traffic to your website. Not only should your website have easily
accessible links that allow readers to “share” content via Facebook, but
your website should also have an active Facebook page that is appealing
to readers and promotes engagement from other social media users.
YouTube
Many successful websites have also realized the power of
marketing on the popular video sharing website YouTube. As a website
owner, you can create interesting and helpful videos that potential
readers can watch and share with others. The goal is to entice these
readers to visit your website based on the content you have shared via
YouTube.
Making Money from All This Traffic
Once you have successfully started driving traffic to your
website, you can actually begin to make money. Advertising is by far the
best way to generate revenue from your website. Some advertising
campaigns pay you just for the number of visitors coming to your site
while others require that the visitor perform some action (such as make a
purchase or click on a link) for you to get paid.
Google AdSense
As the biggest name in search engines, Google is a great
place to start earning money from your website. The AdSense campaign is
free to join and places advertisements on your website based on the type
of content you provide.
For instance, if you own a website about traveling to
Europe, Google AdSense will automatically place ads related to
traveling. When users click on these links, you are paid. This is known
as a pay-per-click or PPC campaign. Although the amount you get paid for
each click may only be a few cents, if you have a large amount of
traffic coming to your website, these clicks quickly add up to a
respectable paycheck.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you advertise specific products
on your website and receive a commission each time they sell. This
model works well for informational products such as e-books as well as
physical products from major retailers.
When you’re first starting out, there are a variety of
sites that allow you to offer affiliate products without directly
contacting the company selling the products. As your website grows in
popularity and you become more experienced, you may decide to reach out
to major retailers directly for affiliate opportunities.
Selling Your Own Informational Products
You may realize that you have built a strong reader base
who is genuinely interested in what you have to say. If so, consider
creating your own informational product. E-books are a great way to
generate passive income from your website and can represent a sizable
portion of your monthly revenue.
Of course, creating your own informational product requires
detailed knowledge of the topic and some degree of writing skills.
Alternatively, you can outsource the writing to an experienced writer
for better results.
For a small one-time fee, visitors are able to
purchase and download your informational product and you immediately
reap the benefits of this income stream. Learn more
There are
hundreds of other ways to make money from your website. Millions of
websites generate revenue every day using the techniques described above
as well as a variety of others. Remember that the key to successfully
monetizing your website is traffic.The more website traffic you have,
the more income opportunities will be presented to you. Focus on
creating unique, valuable content and traffic will follow.Once you begin making money from your website, you will wonder why you didn’t think of this sooner. So get out there and join the millions of other people making a living from their websites!
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