If you’re looking to work for yourself or bulk up your savings, consider how to monetize your website. That way, you can increase your income without necessarily working more.
For better or worse, there are multiple ways to make money from your site. Keep reading for my top five picks.
But first, this post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy to learn more.
1. Use Display Ads
One of the simplest ways to monetize your website is with display ads. You can use a variety of ad networks, from Google AdSense to Mediavine and more.
Whenever someone visits your site and clicks on an ad, you’ll make a few cents. You might even make a little for each ad impression, even if someone doesn’t click on an ad.
How To
To get started with ads, you’ll need to publish quality content on your site. I’d recommend posting at least a couple of blog posts per week for a few months.
After you’ve built up a library of content, you can apply to an ad network. Google AdSense is the easiest to apply to since there’s no minimum traffic requirement.
Otherwise, you’ll also need to get enough monthly page views to apply to an ad network. That can take time, but publishing quality content will help.
Pros
- Relatively easy to start. You can get started with ads without needing a ton of traffic, and you can do it on a newer website.
- One-time setup. Once you set up ads on your site, you don’t have to do much to maintain them, so you can focus on creating better content.
- Multiple ad networks. You can research different ad networks to see which might be the best fit for you and your content.
Cons
- Takes a lot to earn a lot. Unless you’re getting tens of thousands of page views per month, you’re not going to make a ton from ads alone.
- Can be intrusive. If you’re trying to make money selling your own stuff, ads can distract people, so you may lose out on traffic and sales.
- Google AdSense rejection hurts. Be careful when you apply to Google AdSense because your status with them can affect your status with other ad networks.
2. Share Affiliate Links
The first way I was able to monetize my website directly is with affiliate marketing. This is where you partner with different companies or brands, and you’ll get trackable links to add to blog posts.
When someone clicks on your unique link and buys, you’ll get a cut of that sale. It’s a relatively passive and scalable way to make money online.
There are tons of different affiliate programs you can join based on your niche and content. That can make it easier to earn more money.
How To
To get started with affiliate marketing, you’ll want to join a few programs for vendors or products you use and love already. Apply to a few programs to start, and add more later.
Once you get into a program, go into your affiliate dashboard to grab your trackable links. Place them naturally in your blog posts and on a resources page on your site.
I’d suggest writing product reviews, comparisons, and best of lists to get more link clicks. Then, promote those posts and pages to get traffic.
Pros
- No traffic requirements. You can start affiliate marketing even with a new website that has 0 views, though some programs require a bit of traffic.
- Higher-paying than ads. You’ll typically earn more when you make an affiliate sale versus when you drive an ad click.
- No product creation. You don’t have to create your own product to start making money from selling products on your website.
Cons
- Strict rules. Some affiliate programs, such as Amazon Associates, have a long list of rules you have to follow to stay in the program, and it’s easier to break the rules than you may think.
- No control over commission rates. You don’t get to choose the commission rates or when the merchant decides to decrease your commission rate.
- Long payout delays. Some affiliate programs pay a couple of months after you make the sale, so you won’t see that money for a while.
3. Sell Digital Products
Another fantastic way to monetize your website is to sell your own digital products. You can create anything from a worksheet to an eBook to a full online course.
Once the product is ready to go, you can launch it and get multiple sales. Unlike physical products, you don’t have to remake the item every time you get an order.
How To
Think about a problem your target audience has and how you can solve that. Maybe your students struggle to practice their instruments efficiently.
So you could create and sell a digital practice planner that they can download and print off. Use a tool like Canva to design the product and make it look good.
Upload the product to your website with a plugin like Easy Digital Downloads. Then, when it’s ready to go, you can publish the product and promote it to your followers.
Pros
- Higher profit margin. You can make more per sale of your own digital products, so you don’t need to sell as much to make a living wage.
- More control. When you create your own products, you control the pricing, content, discounts, and other aspects.
- Variety of options. You can start with a smaller digital product, like a worksheet or eBook, and work your way up to something larger, like an online course.
Cons
- Takes upfront work. Of course, you have to put in the time and effort to create the digital product before you can make money with it.
- No guarantee of sales. You need to do some market research to validate your product idea, or you may spend hours making something only to get no sales.
- Can cost a lot to start. You can create a digital product for free, but you may want to pay for a designer or editor to make sure everything looks good.
4. Get Sponsorships
If you get a lot of traffic, you may want to monetize your website with sponsorships. This is where you partner with a brand to pay you to advertise directly within your content.
You can pitch specific blog post ideas for a company to sponsor. Then within the blog post, you’ll mention the sponsor and encourage your readers to check out the company.
How To
You’ll need to develop a loyal, engaged audience to get a sponsorship. For a blog, you’ll also probably need a larger audience since not every reader will want to read every blog post.
If you want to do more sponsorships, I’d suggest focusing more on Instagram or YouTube. Sponsorships are much more popular on those platforms these days.
Once you get an interested sponsor, discuss the project and sign a contract. Then, complete the work and bill the sponsor based on the rate you set in the contract.
Pros
- Get paid to create content. You can create a new blog post or social post and get paid for the time you spend on it.
- Build long-term relationships. As you work with a sponsor, you can build a relationship to get recurring projects and earn more money.
- Set your own rates. You can set your rates for sponsored posts, so you can earn what you deserve based on your content and audience.
Cons
- Active work. You have to create new content to get paid from a sponsorship, so you can’t earn more over time from the same post.
- One-off gigs. While you can get repeat sponsors, you may not get those very often, which means you’ll have to keep pitching yourself to get those partnerships.
- Non-compete clauses. Before signing a contract, consider if a sponsor prohibits you from working with similar brands in future sponsorships or as an affiliate.
5. Offer Services
If you want to monetize your website fast, you may want to offer services. Now, this isn’t directly monetizing your site because you’re doing work for someone else.
However, you can offer your services on your website and use the site to market yourself. Then, you can get clients who will pay you to complete projects for them.
Pros
- Get paid faster. You can make more money faster from offering a service compared to other monetization methods.
- Offer multiple services. You can experiment with different services to see which options work the best for you and your schedule.
- Set your own rates. As long as you get individual clients and don’t go through an agency, you can set your rates for projects to make more money.
Cons
- Limited work hours. You only have so many hours in a day where you can complete client projects, so you can limit your income.
- Clients can drop you. Client work may seem pretty stable, but a client can quit working with you at almost any point, so you don’t have that much stability.
- Hard to balance with a day job. If you have a full-time job, you have even less time to focus on your content, especially if you add clients to the mix.
How Will You Monetize Your Website?
If you want to make extra cash or your full income online, you need to monetize your website. You can do so in a lot of ways, from ads to affiliate marketing to services.
Be sure to consider the pros and cons of different options. That way, you can decide the best way for you to monetize your website.
And if you want to do that with affiliate marketing, enroll in Affiliate Marketing Superstars.
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