The million-pound question everyone wants the answer to: how do you make money from your website? While ads may seem like the obvious answer, we’ll offer some insight into why this isn’t always a great idea and some of the other options when it comes to monetising your online presence.
Just a watchword…
There are no tricks or shortcuts to gaining revenue from a website; all require investment in time, money or both. And not every way will be right for your business or you.
In summary: there are no quick wins here. But there are potentially longer-term strategies and future goals that you and your business may choose to work towards.
Social media is full of success stories of online entrepreneurs making millions from monetising their online presence, or ‘through their website’. So how do they do it?
Here are some of the ways to make money from your website.
Why not ads?
While it is entirely possible to make money from your website using ads – and there are lots of individuals and businesses doing just this – you need a hugely substantial number of followers for an ads strategy to work, and, more than that, a great deal of trust from those followers.
Ads can seriously undermine your credibility and have the opposite effect of attracting followers, by turning them off you and away from your website. Ads distract from your own website and can be significantly detrimental to your conversion and CTR (Click-Through-Rate).
Design quality and UX (User Experience) can all be undermined on your website through the use of ads and, overall, present you with less credibility.
Ecommerce
We’ll go with the most obvious first. You can make money from your website by making it into an ecommerce site selling products or services. If you have a viable product or service that’s in demand within an identified market, you have the potential to sell and make money through a website.
You’ll need investment in the website as your online platform for selling. Which means it needs to attract potential customers, be fully SEO optimised, capture leads, have a successful call to action to buy and provide a smooth and satisfying purchase experience for your customers.
You’ll also need a solid content marketing strategy to go with that website. And it will help to be conversant with all things digital marketing to really get in the right mindset for online selling.
Hosting online and in-person events
Communities are valuable; particularly since the pandemic where there is a renewed impetus and enthusiasm for connecting with like-minded people, both in the business world and personally for purely social purposes.
Holding online, or in-person events related to the theme of your website, bookable through your website, for the benefit of your followers, and charging for admission to those events is a way to make money from your website.
Again, as for an ecommerce website to be successful, you will need a following, an audience for your events and a functioning, a well-tested and thought-out marketing strategy to get the word out, promote the value and benefits of attending.
If your events are successful, this is the kind of thing where word-of-mouth gets around, leading to even more followers and attendees to the events you provide. Think networking, online classes, discussions, presentations, special guest speakers and Q&As.
Creating content for paying members
Often seen as the most obvious way of making money from your website, and often underestimated in terms of the time and effort it takes, creating exclusive content for paying members presents a range of opportunities.
Exclusive blogs, insider tips, pre-recorded presentations and classes, downloads and templates are all examples of content that followers, whose needs you are catering to, will pay to access. An online audience is often looking for help to do things themselves, so if you can present yourself as an expert in your field, there is potential for you to earn money this way. This could be through a paying membership, special one-off offers or a tiered subscription model.
Writing and creating content is a skill, so you’ll either need to be able to do this yourself or have the resources or partners to enable you to create the type of quality content and material your audience is looking for.
Donations and crowdfunding
If you provide quality content for free, you may be surprised how many of your followers and other visitors to your website may be happy to make a donation towards it. Particularly if your site and content relates to charity or a good cause, and if your values align with those of your followers.
If you are already a non-profit, asking for donations on your site, via an effective call to action (CTA) is highly recommended.
The same goes for crowdfunding for a project, or the resource to continue to provide valuable and useful resources.
Make sure your website is geared towards the functionality to promote and enable users to be able to easily donate through a variety of payment methods.
Conclusion
This is not an exhaustive list of the ways you can make money from your website, but some of the main ones. Don’t forget, whichever way you choose, try to ensure it aligns with your business and the values of your followers and customers, for best success.
If you need the functionality to enable you to make money from your website, get in touch with our expert web team.
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