Earning money from a website, or even a social media account, is not as difficult as it seems. Whether you dedicate a few minutes of your time for some extra cash or go full time, a few guidelines can help you increase your earnings.
1. Ads
If your website has high traffic, it should be no problem to host ads. A few pop-ups or banners should not deter dedicated readers from visiting your site. Ads can be direct, pay-per-click (PPC), pay-per-view(PPV), pay-per-sale (PPS), or-pay-per-lead (PPL). Direct ads are similar to banner placements in a football game; the company pays to have space in a particular site. These ads are usually reserved for the most popular sites with compatible markets with the advertiser. PPC ads require them to be clicked to earn money, while PPV ads require the page to be visited.
A PPV ad can earn your site around $2 per 1,000 views, and PPC ads can earn significantly more. PPS is commission-based, dependent on the advertiser making a sale through its ad on your site. Commissions vary on the price of products sold, but you can increase your site’s sales by actively promoting the product in your posts. PPL ads are similar to PPS, although they require something other than cash purchases like downloading an app or signing up for a weekly newsletter.
Commercial sites have even made systems increase clicks and views (called click-baiting) by sectioning stories or pages and requiring the reader to click the next button to navigate. Clickbait sites are fairly rampant, often with Top 10 lists or partitioned narratives.
2. Products
Affiliate marketing is fairly common on most successful niche websites. Travel blogs can be particularly lucrative as commissions for flight tickets, accommodations, tour packages, and car rentals can go for 3 to15 percent of purchases. Travel-related purchases can be on the expensive side, with payouts ranging from $20 to $70. Sales affiliates for Amazon and other e-commerce sites typically earn 4-8 percent of a product’s purchase price but can require a certain threshold before a payout. Smaller items may earn smaller commissions, but they are also the most likely to be sold and in larger amounts. Affiliate marketing works best when partnering with businesses related to your site’s content.
If you’re running a site on carpentry, you can affiliate with hardware stores or particular brands that you actually use. Affiliate marketers will often have banners or links to their endorsed products. Instagram influencers and YouTube creators will often promote products directly, via a post or short segment within their post.
3. Membership
Most popular online news sites will require membership for perusal. While this system may not work for all sites, it is quite popular in niche sites with large followings. Membership can entail access to extra content or additional features. It can be as simple as getting to use emojis on comments or having a title on one’s username. Video streaming sites like YouTube will often have content creators who offer membership with little to no perks, merely offering their viewers a way to support their channel.
Membership platforms like Patreon and SubscribeStar allow content creators to receive money directly from their supporters. The biggest earners are earning millions a month, making it more than a viable source of income. Podcasts, comics, and fitness-related content are quite popular, but even niche content can sustain significant earnings. The earnings from membership platforms are monthly, making them more stable than ad revenue earnings.
Visibility
The first step towards real earnings is visibility. Your site won’t get views if your target market isn’t even aware of it. A good SEO solution should help your site rank higher on search lists, particularly using the right keywords and topics. Regular updates are also essential in making your site more visible. Subscriptions and notifications are great, but not if you’re only making two or three updates a month.
Earning through a site requires a constant stream of content. The most successful ones often post 3 or more updates in a week to remain visible and cultivate stronger ties with their followers. Of course, actual visibility is important — and the appearance of your site can be critical to whether you retain visitors or not. Make your site easy to navigate and add a search box for easy access. Keep your color patterns restrained and opt for simple over extravagant.
Depending on how much traffic you can attract, a website can be a way to make a little money on the side — or provide an actual income. Milk your site for all its worth, but make sure your readers have reasons to come back for more.
