It is estimated that the internet is worth a whopping 19 trillion US dollars. This means that there is enough money to go round.In today’s world, websites are increasingly becoming sources of revenues, with each blogger or business optimizing their website to earn them revenue.
The best thing about this is that anyone can dip into this pool. As long as you have a website that receives good traffic every month, you can earn passive income from it.
Here are the top 5 ways that websites make money. You can use one method or integrate several. It depends on you and what your website is about.
1. Selling Advertising Space
Selling ad space is the leading method that websites employ to make money. There are several ways of doing this such as PPC (Paid Per Click) advertising, PPTF (Paid Per Time Frame) advertising, Paid Per 1000 Views, and more.
However, when it comes to advertising, Google adsense (which is an example of Paid Per Click) is the most common and owns a big share of the market. But this does not mean that it is the only player in the industry. Google adsense is the most popular because it is the easiest to add to your website. Other Advertising networks include these:
- Media.net
- chitika.com
- infolinks.com
- Bidvertiser.com
- Buysellads.com
Each ad-network varies in their business model, modes of advertisements supported and their terms.
You need a significant consistent traffic to your website before you can start seeing a significant advertisement income. For example, if your website is in the entertainment niche and you are getting 1000 visitors per day (30000 visitors per month) your monthly advertising revenue will only be in the range $60 to $80. On the other hand, if your website is in the Fitness niche, your Ad revenue alone with the same traffic can be more than $700 per month.
A disadvantage of selling ad space is that many people can identify an advert and intentionally avoid clicking on them. If not used properly, ads can make your website look cluttered and ugly. It is therefore, better to find advertisers yourself who you can build a great working relationship with.
The biggest advantage is that it is a passive income. You only set it up once and forget about it. As long as you keep adding content to your website and traffic keeps increasing, you will keep making money from your website.
2. Affiliate Marketing
In affiliate marketing, a website markets a company’s products and services and then gets paid for every customer that buys from the referral. In many cases, a website receives commission as long as a client makes a purchase from the referral link without necessarily purchasing the product that was being marketed.
It is the most lucrative way that a website can make money; just match a potential client to a product or service and get paid when the customer makes a purchase.
Several compensation methods exist with some companies offering a fixed rate while other offers a percentage of the sale.
Some advantages of affiliate marketing include the high income that can be earned from it, and generally higher converts when compared to selling advertisement space and email marketing. Additionally, it is very easy to become an affiliate since most companies do not have requirements becoming an affiliate.
3. Creating and selling digital products or services
Selling digital is becoming increasingly popular all over the world as a result of people searching for information on specific niches. Professionals in these niches then take the opportunity to create digital products that provide information and then sell them.
Digital Products include:
- Ebooks
- Video Courses
- Software Tools
- Templates/Check lists etc
- Audio books
- Private(membership) access to better content, forum etc
This is a great way of making money because after you grow your business, you can have affiliates to help you market your products. When you get to this point, you begin getting passive income because you will not be doing a lot of lifting.
4. Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is a great way of adding quality content to a website while earning from it at the same time.
Advertisers usually write content that covers the site’s topic and use it to advertise their company or products. They then pay to have the content on the website.
Depending on the amount of traffic a website gets, a single post could fetch the website owner anywhere from $100 to thousands of dollars.
5. Email Marketing
This is one of the most diverse ways that a website can earn money from. A website owner can run direct email promotions, deliver free reports that can be monetized, or drive traffic back to their site where they can make money from other methods. Of course, several methods can be used together .
To do this successfully, an email list is needed and this is why the most profitable websites on the internet have subscription forms.