How Do Websites Make Money?

Are you trying to figure out how do websites make money? There are several successful ways in which websites can make money. But it all boils down to the hard work, dedication, persistence and investment the website owner is willing to put in.

Experienced website owners and bloggers keep adding more revenue streams to their blogs & websites with time. The more authoritative a website grows, the better the chances it gets to make more money.

Running a website, is like running any other business. If you’re assuming its easy money. It’s not.

How Do Websites Make Money?

These methods of making money from websites are the mainstream examples that are known to everyone. Many a times, as a website owner, you can spot opportunities within you audience that no one else has spoken about.

There are websites that make money with ads and there are websites that make money without ads. How do websites make money without ads? You’ll read more below understand how others are doing it.

The key is to be creative, and seek out monetization opportunities that don’t annoy your visitors.

1. Advertising Sales

Many websites sell advertising banners to companies who are interested to reaching out to the type of audience that your website gets. The websites visitors you get may be of value to other businesses seeking potential customers.

However, you can only generate a sizeable income from website advertising sales when your website starts getting thousands of visitors every month.

How can a website owner sell advertising space?

1. Sell it directly to business owners by working on a media kit – approaching potential buyers and tell them why your website is a good fit for them to advertise.
2. Join ad-networks to automatically display ads on your website and monetize traffic. Examples of ad networks include Google Adsense, Unruly, Exponential, Media.net, etc.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Another way to make money through websites is by marketing and selling other companies products. Many websites write product reviews and recommend products that pay them if their visitors purchase the product from their reference. Bloggers & website owners make money through:

• Affiliate Sales
• Affiliate Reviews

Think of affiliate marketing as referring products to your website visitors. This is another strategy that works really well. However, the best way to make money through affiliate marketing is by becoming an authority website in a specific niche or category.

Once your visitors start seeing you as an authority, they will trust you enough to follow your recommendation.

3. Job Boards

When websites become an authority in a specific niche, they can introduce a job board and start charging for job placements from employers.

Mashable is a good mainstream example. They started off as a social media blog, and later they introduced a job section on their website because they were known to attract a lot of social media and tech talent.

4. Sell Services

A blog or a website sharing inspiration around interior designing, may start offering interior design consultancy to their visitors for a fee.

That’s why, its best to start a website or a blog on a topic that interests you.

5. Sell Products

There are websites that are built to sell stuff online – such as Amazon, Ebay, etc. Then there are other websites who turn themselves into an e-commerce platform.

A website that shares inspiring quotations and facts, can start selling merchandise; and eventually turn itself into a social e-commerce store.

It’s about how you identify an opportunity and where you want to take your website as a business.

6. Premium Content

Some websites charge for premium content, and ask their visitors to subscribe if they are interested in more in-depth information. Websites like Adage, Emarketer, and Warc are good examples.

7. Conduct Researches

Identify an important research gap and conduct a research in your website’s niche. This can not only help the website establish itself as an authority, but can also boost the income stream by selling the findings to whoever is interested.

8. Influencer Program / Content Solutions

If your visitors trust you, and you’ve amassed a big following for yourself or your website, you can start getting into deeper discussions with marketers to offer tailored content solutions.

Clubbing a deal with social media posts, endorsements and content creation often helps to lock big revenue numbers.

9. Webinars & Workshops

Conducting and charging for webinars is also possible, but the website / blogger has to have enough trust, credibility and authority on a subject for getting people to sign up and pay.

Oftentimes a series of free webinars followed by a paid webinar can boost credibility and authority.

Another area through which a website can make money, is by conducting training and workshops. If you’re a travel blogger conduct workshops and teach people tips & tricks that you’ve learnt from experience.

10. Email Marketing

Email marketing is usually combined affiliate marketing, product, or service offering. Through email marketing, websites aim at making money by driving conversions for product sales.

If you have a website, it is recommended to grow your list by encouraging your visitors to sign up to your newsletter. It is said to be one of the most powerful revenue generating tools.

11. Email Lists

If you have a large email list, you can approach advertisers interested in your niche by offering them sponsorship opportunities of your email newsletters.

There is a thin line between email spam and the legit way of using email lists. If done well, it can work wonders for brands. You’ll be surprised at how many companies still use email marketing, and buy off email shots in order to reach the right mailboxes.

12. Tutorials & E-books

A website can put up paid tutorials and e-books for sale in order to bring more revenue to the table. Smashing Magazine, a popular web design blog, is a good example.

Check how they have created a separate section for e-books and tutorials in their menu.

13. Online Courses

Offering online courses to your online visitors can attract an engaged audience, and help a website to create more value for its target audience.

Websites like Udemy offer a great opportunity for anyone to create their own course.

Websites can make money in tons of ways. The digital economy has grown a lot, and with that, it has opened numerous possibilities for website owners, bloggers, or anyone else, to earn a living from home.

However many people assume that an online business would be easy to do. It takes a lot of effort and persistence to establish your positive credentials in whatever you decide to do. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.