Launching and monetizing a website has never been so easy as it is today: in the past, it was rather difficult, and often reserved for people who knew how to code, because the development of a site could cost very dear!
But today, it is possible to create a site, for example on WordPress, for very little investment, and to monetize it after only a few months.
But just because it has become easier to make money with your website that it means that all bloggers earn money.
The best ways to monetize a website
If you start it may seem difficult, but once you have thrown yourself in the water, swimming will become very simple.
If many think that blogging is dead, know that of course, that's wrong! If you manage to capture a certain traffic, you can monetize this audience using several strategies, which you will take care to adapt to your case.
Obviously, this is not done in a day. You need constant work, first to obtain enough regular visitors, and it can be difficult to bring traffic to your site.
But let's start from the principle that your website receives sufficient traffic to justify its existence, and that the value of its content is recognized, so it is the right time to start monetizing.
We will therefore see what the most effective monetization strategies are to earn money.
1. Monetize your site with advertisements
It may be the oldest, and the simplest way to monetize your website and start generating passive income: the dissemination of advertisements. Obviously, the more traffic you have, the more advertisers are likely to want to disseminate their advertising in your home. But if you start, there are many options!
Start by registering for the Google Adsense program, which will place Google ads in the strategic places of your website. As always with Google, the registration is free, the engine takes care of everything you only have to receive payment.
Other companies, such as Mediavine or Adthrive, work specifically with bloggers to help them broadcast ads on their websites. Choose the one that suits you best!
2. Affiliation marketing
THE affiliation marketing is a slightly more recent means monetize a sitebut quickly became the most popular. When you are affiliated with a brand or a site, you publish and share information on its products and when someone buy a product thanks to you, you receive a commission.
Depending on the affiliation program, you can receive between 10 and 50 % commission, but it all depends on the programs for which you have registered and traffic, once again. The affiliation marketing is a relevant solution especially if your site is positioned on a precise niche.
There are several thousand brands that adhere to affiliation programs, it's up to you to find those that suit you and register.
You can also register for the program of a web giant: Amazon Associate, whose announcements have products that you use or wish to promote.
3. Sell sponsored items
Do you want to be able to earn money with your website but you don't like to impose advertisements on your pages on your visitors? It is also possible, thanks to this method of monetization which allows you to get rid of all the advertisements sometimes deemed to be unsightly on your site, so that it is as “clean” as possible.
Again dependent on your traffic, sponsored posts can bring a lot of money to their author, especially if they are combined with contextual advertisements or links to affiliated products on your site.
It is very simple: someone has a product or service that he wants to sell as many people as possible, he does his research and finds a lot of sites which the subject corresponds to his product, and in the results are your site.
They contact you to ask you if you agree to write an article praising his product or service: in return, he pays you a sum of money. He can also offer to send you the product in question so that you write an article in which you give your opinion on the product. Then this product belongs to you, free to keep it, to resell it, or why not use it in a competition, which will be a new source of traffic and will make your site grow.
4. Direct sale of advertising spaces
No, it is not the same as the advertising contextual ads mentioned above. This monetization method allows you to earn money by placing the banners of advertisers on your website, but by directly selling the advertising space in question.
You do not have to go through an advertising network like Google Adsense or another, to have to account for them by remaining in the rules they impose on you, all to be paid for the amount they decide, and receive your Money when they decide.
Read also: 6 alternatives to Google Adsense to monetize your site
Why would a company not pay you directly to place its banner on your website?
In this way, you delete the intervention of the advertising management and deal with the other party directly, and very often for more money.
5. Monetization based on donations
If your content is perceived as value for your audience, and you need financial support to develop your site, why not ask for donations? If it is very unlikely that each visitor makes a donation, if a small portion of a traffic of several thousand monthly readers the fact you may be surprised to consult your account at the end of each month!
It is very simple to create donation call buttons on your site which allow users to make a donation directly through payment processors, such as Paypal, Stripe or Fundly.
Create widgets from your favorite platform and place them where you want on your site, ensuring their visibility so that readers can find them easily.
6. Premium members system
Not convinced by the previous solution? Here is an improved donation method, for which it is a question of requesting a contribution from visitors to open access to certain information from your site.
We know all the famous ” paywall Used by all major information sites, or readers must pay to access certain content on these sites.
If you produce content type and think that people are ready to pay to consult it, you can turn to this monetization solution. There are several ways to do so:
- Classic subscription: users pay a certain sum, per month or per year, to access the “premium” content of a website or take advantage of various advantages.
- Unique transaction: A way to monetize by the sale of very specific content and identified as a tutorial video, an audio download or training courses.
- The “Paywall”: the content is available for free to a certain point agreed beyond which the reader will have to pay a certain amount to continue reading.
If you have a WordPress site, there are plugins that respond to each of its options.
Read also: 8 WordPress plugins to collect donations
7. Sell ebooks
Ebooks are a simple way to make profits from your website, because the only cost is spent writing, a single time, a book.
Of course for it to work, you will sell a product directly related to the content of your blog.
Ebooks are profitable, constantly growing, and that is why it becomes difficult not to come across a site that offers it.
Not to mention that it is easy to promote a book on your entire site by creating a CTA in a footprint or in the main menu, to encourage people to buy it.
And this is something that you can also promote directly on social networks, it is easier to say “look I wrote a great book” than “come quickly on my site I placed google advertisements” .
8. Sell lessons
Another effective way to earn money with a website. If you are able to develop useful courses, in a skills area where you are authoritative, of course!
The courses work very well in a wide range of subjects and skills (niche or not), let us quote pell-mell the web development, digital promotion, graphics, starting a business of dropshippingthe growth of an Instagram account, the implementation of a salt water aquarium …
Find the subject in which you excel before building your program, and remember to do a search upstream: if the subject is already covered by others, be sure to offer something better.
There are specialized platforms, on which you can also sell your lessons, perhaps affecting a wider audience than that of your only website.
Can we monetize all websites?
Monetizing a website is not necessarily done in the same way depending on the type of website you have.
Indeed, if you have an e-commerce site, it already allows you to generate income thanks to the sale of your products or services. Conversely, a thematic blog does not bring in default money. It is then possible to monetize it thanks to various methods.
But keep in mind that an e-commerce website can also generate income outside the sale of products, as with the sponsorship of blog articles for example.
Monetize a blog
The blog is certainly the type of site (or the part of the site) that it is the easiest to monetize. You can place affiliation links, offer paid guest items or sell sponsored spaces (text blocks or advertising inserts).
Monetize an e-commerce site
Here you will have to be more vigilant! The monetization of your e-commerce site should not serve your main activity, namely the sale of products or services.
Monetize a showcase site
If you have a showcase site or an institutional site, it is rare to seek to monetize it. It must be a showcase of your business or your activity. The monetization could then degrade your brand image.
Our tip to monetize your website
Whatever the solution that will best match your site, to help you set up the monetization system of your site, Call on a freelance !