If you’re the owner of a website or blog, you know how much work goes into those all-important page views. Dedicated individuals create new and engaging content on a regular basis, carefully curate photos, and utilize social media channels to draw in visitors.
Unfortunately, for many of these website owners and bloggers all of this hard work elicits little in the way of income. However, you’re also likely very familiar with the royalty of bloggers who are pulling in six figures per year, and others who make enough of a profit to offset the amount of work they put into their sites each month.
How do they do it? There are several ways to monetize a blog or website, and while a great deal of your ability to do so depends on qualifiers such as Domain Authority and the amount of engagement you have with your readers, some ways of making a profit require very little work on the part of the blogger.
If you’d like to start making money from your site or blog these are four great ways to get started. However, a great way to kick off this strategy is to look at your site as a business and as yourself as the boss. If it works out well, you could find your blog becoming your main job, enough you apply for a business credit card. Might seem far-fetched now, but it could happen.
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a relatively easy way to generate income from your website, especially if you have a history or product reviews or you recommend products to your readers. Essentially, your site acts as a go-between for the merchant and the buyer and you receive a percentage of the purchase prices.
Amazon is one of the most popular merchants who utilize this method. As a blog owner you’ll place a sidebar ad on your site, and when your readers click through and make a purchase, you get paid. There are several ways to maximize this option, such as working with a niche retailer if your site is a good fit; and as passive income this type is very attractive.
2. Google Adsense
Working with Google Adsense is very straightforward. You simply go through their registration process and add the provided code to your website. In many cases you choose the types of companies whose ads will appear on your site, and in the case of a high-traffic site, businesses may even bid to have their ads show up on your site. Some accounts work by page views alone, and some accounts require that your readers actually click through the ads.
The downside to this method is that it can take months to see any revenue generated, and even when you are paid, it may only be a few dollars. However, some bloggers can make several hundred dollars per month, and the key to this is increasing your page views.
3. Sponsored Posts
If you’re a blogger with a reasonable number of page views per month and a solid social media engagement, you could be contacted about hosting sponsored content on your site. Sponsored content usually consists of a blog post that contains one or more links to a specific company. The content is generally geared toward your niche so it appeals to your readers.
The amount paid for sponsored content varies widely and is usually related to the stats of your site. Content marketing companies may be the ones requesting a sponsored post or the request could come from the company itself. Regardless, it’s best to be sure that the content is a good fit with the overall niche of your site.
4. Market Your Own Services
If you’ve built up a solid reputation as a writer or other skill that you’ve mastered via your website or blog, why not use your site as a virtual resume? Many writers, web developers, and social media specialists have honed their skills through their websites, and now offer these services to others.
By adding a tab to your site that details your experience and references you could find yourself getting paid to do the things you’re already doing on a daily basis. Of course, it’s not always that simple. Unless you already have a large following who might take notice of your new strategy, you’ll need to do some self-promotion.
More and more people are making a great income from their websites, and with a few of these simple strategies you could be one of them. Take some time to learn more about these options and how they might best fit with your site, and then get started on your way to a more profitable website.