Making money with your website

photo: Steven Depolo / flickr

Let’s hear the bad news first: fact is that you’re probably not going to get rich through your blog or website.

But the good news is that depending on the quality of your content, it’s not totally impossible to generate money with your site. And there are a number of ways to do that.

The official term for making money from your site is website monetization. The most popular ways to monetize your site involve putting advertisements on it.

– Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, such as with Google AdSense. You earn money each time a user clicks on an ad on your site that Google put there. Other companies – such as Yahoo offer similar ad networks and business models.

– Affiliate programs, like Amazon.com’s Affiliates Program. Online retailers will pay you if a visitor to your site clicks through to their site.

– Selling ads yourself. Skip the middle man and sell ads directly to advertisers. It helps if you’ve built a reputation or can show that you have significant traffic to your site.

photo: images_of_money, flickr

– Paid content. Sites such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times charge readers to read or watch some things on their sites. This only works if you have very good content and a dedicated group of readers who want access to it.

– Sponsorships or grants. You might be able to convince an organization to sponsor your website or provide you with a grant to run it. This strategy requires that you convince a donor or organization of your site’s value.

This run-down on website monetization by the Online Journalism Review (a good site overall) lays out each strategy nicely.

There are a million and one websites devoted to making money on your site. Do a Google search for “monetizing your website” or “making money with your website” and you’ll find more information than you know what to do with.

Author: Kyle James