You might have set up your blog or website as a simple hobby, for the joy and happiness you get out of writing and sharing your thoughts and feelings with the world. You probably never imagined that it could actually end up making your money.
It can do though and the best thing about monetizing your website is that it is extremely straightforward. There are several different ways in which you can use it earn income and you can pick one that is as easy or as difficult as you like, depending on how much time you can afford to dedicate to it.
Here are five ways to monetize your website.
Affiliate marketing
One of the quickest ways to make money from your website is affiliate marketing. You find a product you like which you then review and recommend. If your readers agree, they can click through to buy that product for themselves using an affiliate link that is unique to you and you get a share of the profits, ranging anywhere between 30 percent of the sale right up to 70 percent.
Pay per click
Google Adsense is the easiest PPC advertising program to use. Once you’ve been approved, Google will provide you with code to insert into your website wherever you want an advert to appear. These adverts will take the form of display or text ads and you get paid every time somebody clicks an advert. Your cut could be anywhere between $0.50 and $5.00 per click, meaning that if you have a website that reaches hundreds of thousands of people a month, you could soon be raking it in. Don’t try and cheat the system though – Google has sophisticated Click Fraud Software that will detect if you or your friends are clicking away to increase your revenue.
Sell advertising space
You don’t need Google to supply you with adverts – go out and get them yourself. Offer business and companies an advertising space on your site for a flat yearly fee. The more visitors you can show them you get, the more you can charge.
Accept donations
More and more websites seem to be doing this now. At the footer of your site or at the bottom of a blog post, you can add a simple PayPal donation button which allows visitors who appreciate the time and effort you’ve put into producing content the chance to donate some money. You won’t get rich that way but hey, every little helps – even if it just covering your hosting fees.
Accept sponsored posts
If your website has built up a steady following, then companies may soon start approaching you for sponsored posts through native advertising. If you run a popular health and beauty blog, then it might be in the interests of a makeup company to get their product or website featured on your website. Native advertising is where they will produce a post written in a similar style to yours but featuring a link to their site and then they will pay you to post it. You will literally be being paid to post an article written by someone else.
Leave a Comment