This article is the final part of a series on how to grow your website by Ezoic Publisher Ron Stefanski. Be sure to read the entire series (linked in article below) to get a comprehensive guide on how to start your blog and earn revenue now.
In this series of articles, we’ve looked at a wide range of topics to guide you in your path to becoming a successful online business owner.
This is the fifth and final article in our series. To catch up, you can check out the other four articles in the series by clicking the links below:
- Creating Your Website: Know Your Market
- Growing Your Website: Finding The Right Tech Stack
- 5 Important Steps to Complete before Launching Your Website
- How Every Blogger Can Gain More Traffic
But if you’re ready to just move forward and learn how to start making money from your website, then let’s get started
Below you’ll find a list of the most commonly used website monetization methods that you can choose from. The best strategy for implementing these to start with the one you think will make the most money. Then test it.
Once you’ve developed a sustainable revenue stream, implement a second strategy and then the third. After you’ve tested a few of these, you can do formal tests and comparisons to figure out the best way to make money on your blog.
1. Use Ezoic Display Ads
There are, of course, dozens of ad platforms to choose from. But, in my experience, no platform surpasses Ezoic in its ability to maximize your ad revenue.
Joining an ad network like Ezoic is a good idea for many reasons:
- Low Barrier to Entry: Even total newbies can use display ads to start making money from the website in a relatively short period of time.
- Avoid Common Problems: Avoid risking issues such as invalid clicks that you typically come across on ad platforms like Google Adsense. Ezoic has a built-in system to detect invalid click fraud so you can mitigate your risk of falling prey to such issues.
- Streamlined Processes: There are often problems with trying to implement ads on websites. By joining Ezoic, you no longer have to deal with sophisticated configurations because the platform streamlines the process to make your work easier.
Here is a quick look at some of the results I’ve gotten since I switched to Ezoic:
You can check out the rest of my income reports here.
To boost your earnings from display ads, you can adjust your content strategy to provide high-quality niche content so you can attract niche-specific advertisers who are more willing to spend premium amounts for optimum engagement spaces.
If you are still not convinced that Ezoic display ads are the best way to start making money online, then read this article I wrote on why display ads are the best business model in a changing digital ecosystem.
2. Sell Your Services
While ads are a simple way to monetize your website, there are many other techniques for making money from your website traffic without ads.
One such way is to sell your services. For instance, you can create a packaged consulting service for:
- Business Consulting
- Personal Coaching
- Public Relations
- Insurance/Tax Advice
… and so on.
One of the best things about this type of business is that it can be conducted using email programs, written documents, or over the phone.
The consulting services are easily replicable, and you can use them as an add-on to an existing business.
By selling your services in this way, you’ll be able to develop your skills and nurture your expertise while positioning yourself as an authority in your niche (which allows you to charge more money).
3. Sell Your Own Digital Products
Selling digital products like online courses, eBooks, etc., is arguably the best way to make money online.
The market for courses alone is set to reach a staggering $423 billion by 2023!
You only have to create the product once, and you can sell it to thousands or even millions of people across the globe.
This means that you have lower overhead costs, a low barrier to entry, higher profit margins, and easier management of your product. There are no middlemen and you have unlimited stock. Whether you sell your digital product to one person or a million people, your expenses remain more or less the same.
However, although this is a scalable and extremely lucrative monetization method, it does involve a bit of a steep learning curve to create a product that your audience wants and is willing to pay for.
There are also other things to consider, such as setting up payment systems, customer service, marketing strategies, affiliate programs, etc.
For this reason, it might be a good idea to save this one until after you have a few other monetization methods working for you, and then you can take the time to research, create, promote, and sell your own product online.
4. Offer Exclusive Content for Paying Members
Different techniques work for different types of websites. While ads and selling services may work for some sites, those monetization tactics may not be ideal for all websites.
So, something else you might try if you want to make money on your website without ads, or products, or services is to create exclusive content for paying members.
You obviously want to continue creating free content for your audience on your blog and social media.
Make sure this is high-quality content that will convince them of your expertise, knowledge, authority, etc. This way, your readers will be more likely to pay for your premium content with the expectation that it will be just as good or even better than the free content.
This can be among the simplest ways to monetize your website without having to put in a lot of extra work. There is also a ton of exclusive content you can create for brand ambassadors willing to pay for it:
- Premium blog articles are a great way to get people who love reading your free articles to become paid subscribers to your blog.
- Using podcast hosting platforms to create unique podcasts that expand on the content discussed in your blogs is another great way of creating exclusive content.
- Regularly released online courses can help to create a unique brand identity your brand ambassadors will love.
And this is just a small offering of the many, many ways to create exclusive content for paid subscribers to your blog.
Just make sure to keep your pricing competitive to ensure that it doesn’t alienate your visitors. Also, keep a good balance between your free content and paid offerings because if you offer too much free content, users might not feel the need to pay for the blog posts, videos, or online classes you charge for.
5. Generate Leads for Other Companies
Lead generation is a great way to start making money from your online business. All you have to do is attract the attention of strangers and convert them into prospects interested in a company’s products or services.
You can use the content on your own blog or website to attract leads and other businesses will pay you for it.
Businesses in different niches are always looking for ways to drive more leads, and if you are good at generating leads for them, you’ll never be short of people willing to pay you for your services.
But, while this may seem relatively easy to do, in my opinion, if you are going to put in the work to attract visitors to your website, it’s probably a good idea to focus on monetization methods that will actually bring in more revenue compared to what you get paid by these companies.
6. Accept Donations from Users
Not everyone will be open to using this as a blog monetization method, but it can be an effective way to generate revenue from your audience.
You’ll be able to bring in the money you need to keep your site running, and if you focus on creating and publishing high-quality content, you will be surprised by the number of grateful readers who want to chip in to help you keep your website online.
Over time, this can turn into a nice source of passive income for you. Although this method works best for good causes, charities, etc., there are plenty of blogs online that run on donations, and yours can, too.
An effective way to convince your visitors to provide funds for your website is to showcase how your site aligns with some of their most important values.
For example, some news websites use multiple calls to action (CTAs) on their web pages inviting visitors to donate – pairing them with emotion-evoking images of some of the top stories to grab the user’s attention.
You can use this tactic on your own website by showcasing the benefits of your content to readers.
7. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can be extremely lucrative. However, it can also be difficult to master, which is why I’ve left it for the last spot on our list of ways to start making money online.
They are many different ways to get started as an affiliate, including the following:
- Join Amazon Associates: This is the most common route that most beginner affiliates take, although I wouldn’t recommend it since the retailer recently reduced its affiliate commission rates.
- Niche Affiliate Marketplaces: Here you’ll be able to find a ton of lucrative affiliate programs in different niches by simply searching in Google for “Your Niche” + “Affiliate Programs”.
- Manufacturer’s Websites: You can conduct a search to find manufacturers of products that are relevant to your audience and then contact them to either set up a partner account or join their affiliate programs.
- Other Affiliate Networks: You can also join networks like Commission Junction, ShareASale, Avantlink, etc. where you will find a ton of high-paying affiliate programs for digital products, physical products (and sometimes both) in a wide range of niches.
Conclusion
You’ve worked very hard to create a website and build an audience for it. Now it’s time to start enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Implement any or all of the website monetization methods outlined here so you can begin generating a consistent income from your traffic starting right now.
Which of the traffic monetization methods outlined above are you going to implement first? Let us know in the comments section below!
