How to Monetize your Website Content

Hey there sea changers… In a few of my recent “how to” posts we have discussed how to create an affiliate website, write posts and find affiliate programs. Today we are going to continue our journey into the world of affiliate marketing and discuss how to monetize your website content. Monetizing a website is essentially the process where you convert traffic into revenue. In short, you have people visiting your site and now you want to make some money out if their visit – which, in most cases is why you have set up the site in the first place.

Before we begin however it is important to keep in mind that you may not want, or need to set all of these up right now. Some may not be viable for your site and some may not be accessible if your site is new – but keep these options in mind as your site starts to grow.

As usual, grab a drink, a notebook and let's see how we can make some money…

Note: In a previous post we discussed some of the ways that you can earn money online. This post is assuming that you have created an affiliate marketing or sales website and are looking to generate income from within it. If you need assistance with the development of an affiliate marketing or online business website, click here.

Affiliate Marketing

We have discussed affiliate marketing a number of times within this site but for those of you new to the process, I will give you a quick rundown here. In short, Affiliate marketing is the process of earning commissions based on the promotion of other people's products. It is mainly undertaken via websites (usually blogging sites) and social media where you look at solving the problems of your readers and make product recommendations via:

• Product reviews
• ‘How to‘ posts and lists
• Products rankings and comparisons
• Process information outlines
• Tips, tricks, hints and other general information.

How is revenue earned?

Affiliate marketers earn money by placing affiliate links to merchant/vendor sales pages. If their website visitor then chooses to make a purchase, they click on the link for redirection to the vendor site which processes and manages the sale, delivery and customer service requirements.

Commission revenue is generally earned via a traditional cost-per-sale setup where the affiliate is paid for each sale made. Some others however also offer a cost-per-action arrangement where commissions can be earned when a referral customer visits the vendor site and undertakes particular actions such as downloading a catalogue or watching a video etc.

When to action

Affiliate links can be loaded to a website as soon as it has been setup or a post written. Some affiliate merchants however will not accept you into their programs until your site generates a certain amount of traffic. Others, such as Amazon, will accept you immediately but on a trial basis which is terminated if you do not drive at least 3 sales to their site within the first 180 days.

Placing ads on your site

Placing advertising on your website can be a good way of making some passive income if your website has some decent traffic. The trick here obviously is to have enough advertising on your site to make some income, but not so much that your site just becomes annoying or worse, unreadable.

There are a number of ways that you can make money from advertising on your page, including:

Pay per click ads

Pay per click ads are placed on your site via advertising companies based on the interests, internet use/search history and location of the reader. You, as the owner of the site can generally determine how many ads are incorporated and what they look like but not on what types of ads they are. You can also load these ads onto your YouTube channel for extra exposure and earning capacity. Companies that manage this form of advertising include:

• Google Adsence – Google's website ad product.
• Media.net – Bing and Yahoo service.
• Infolinks – Offers both website ads and in post ‘text' ads – these are where they place ads within your posts on relevant keywords – keyword ads are usually double underlined.

And once your traffic levels start to rise, you can also move up to higher paying options as well such as:

• Ezoic
• Mediavine
• Media.net
• Adpushup

Selling page space

These ads work in a similar fashion to pay per click ads however in these instances you are actually selling space on your site for more permanent advertising. These ads pay a higher commission but do not change based on the online behaviours of your readers. Companies offering this type of advertising include:

• Buy Sell Ads
• Blog Ads

How is revenue earned?

This one is simple – each time a reader clicks on your ad, you get paid. Payment options can be cost-per-click or cost-per-action. If I am being honest, these advertising processes are generally a set-and-forget type scenario as they really do not generate any real income until your site starts to generate serious traffic. As an example, I placed 3 ads from Google AdSense on my site once it reached abut 200 monthly viewers and made about $1 per month. Commonly reported expectations are set at about $6 per 1000 visitors to your site.

When to action

Generally, the advertising brokers will not accept your site unless there is some traffic generated to it. I started at 200 monthly viewers but it is really up to you when you start. My main recommendation however would be to really consider where you want to have ads placed on your site – especially if it is new and you are still tweaking the set out.

Selling e-books or other products

As your site grows and you start to create a decent amount of content, you can then start to monetise it via the on selling of your own products such as:

• E-books – This can be extra content, a collection of the best information from your best posts or a how to training guide etc. that you can sell at a severely reduced price. The main reason to do this is to gather an email list (which we will discuss next) but if you are working in a niche where you are an expert, then this can be a good means of generating some extra income.
• Books – As with e-books, if you have enough content or know how to write a book based on your niche, then this is another way to earn some good money online. You can also sell them on marketplace sites such as Amazon to drive more traffic back to your site for their affiliate sales etc.
• Merchandise – If you have built a good following that has turned your site into a well-known authority or brand within your niche, then maybe you can add some merchandise. This usually works best for hobby niche sites but others can be just as successful. Examples include T-Shirts, Phone covers, Stubby Coolers, Hats or just about anything else you can think of.
• Tools – Online tools are another great way to generate income to your site  – especially if you can offer subscriptions for ongoing use (as long as it is worth it).  Common tools include, template creators, calculators, plan creators etc.  Basically, if it is something that can help people work stuff out, then it is a tool.  Oh, and search engines LOVE tools  – they are great SEO juice!

How is revenue earned?

Revenue is earned by direct sales to the reader.

Note: This option will require some fairly significant (but not too difficult) changes to your website to allow for the display of products and processing of payments. Please comment below if you need any assistance in this area.

When to action

To be honest, I was about to write that you would probably want to have built a good and loyal following before you started to attempt these types of sales. But you know what? You can never tell what will prompt a person to purchase so I am now thinking that if you have your products ready and your site can handle it, then why not test it out?

You Are Reading This Because of Wealthy Affiliate

That's right! Wealthy Affiliate provided me with all of the tools and training I needed to get this post in front of my audience - a.k.a YOU!

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Email lists

Email lists are one of the most effective means of generating revenue for you and your website. This is because once you have the ability to send your readers a direct email, you are able to then promote products, promotions and special deals directly to them without the need for them to search and locate your site. In general, you will need to do the following (in extremely abbreviated steps):

1. Set up your email autoresponder and email list. Common Autoresponders include Aweber, iContact and Mailchimp.
2. Add an ‘optin' to your website with an incentive to join (many sites give away some of the products we discussed in the previous section for free in return for their email address).
3. Send emails to your list with extra information, bonuses and sales offers/promotions.

Note: It is critical that you only send emails to those who have ‘opted in' to your email list via your website or social media. Unsolicited emails are known as SPAM and generally not accepted or appreciated by those who receive them and can do your website and brand irreparable damage. Autoresponders will also cancel your service if they think that you are spamming.

Oh, and if you would like to join my email list, please click here.

How is revenue earned?

Revenue is not actually earned via the emails as such rather provide the opportunity for higher affiliate sales due to the ability to market directly to your reader list.

When to action

Most seasoned affiliate marketers will tell you to wait until you are generating a decent amount of traffic before setting up this type of marketing. This is usually for two reasons:

1. The cost of the autoresponder software – If you have a new site that is not earning any revenue then this might be a cost that you don't really need at this point. There are however some free ones out there with limited functionality.
2. You don't yet have anything to offer – With so many websites and social media platforms out there, readers are becoming more and more hesitant to give out their email address information for fear of receiving yet another raft of emails. Unless you have a pre-prepared product such as a book or training material you may not have the necessary means yet to lure someone to sign up.

That said, as with all other traffic reliant revenue raising methods here, if you feel your site is ready for it, give it a shot.

Offering coaching/assistance

Online coaching is a booming industry and one that you can certainly use to monetise your site once it is fully matured and making some good affiliate income. Online coaching is generally offered via website popups or your email lists and offers one on one or group coaching or mentoring.

How is revenue earned?

Revenue is earning by way of once-off training or recurring membership within your coaching program.

Note: This section refers to coaching and mentoring programs that you personally undertake with your readers and not affiliate marketing links that you may have to the coaching courses of others.

When to action

I once saw a post in an online Facebook marketing group that went like this:

“Hey guys, can anybody tell me how I could promote my new course on FaceBook marketing?”

I kid you not!!

Online coaching is all about credibility. Unless you are already and expert within your niche/field then it is probably not feasible to set up an online coaching course if you are just starting out in Affiliate Marketing or online business. You need to have good quality content, high levels of knowledge and the runs on the board. However if you do have that knowledge or are an expert in your niche (stock market, setting up a business etc.) then this could be what sets you apart from the rest.

Writing sponsored posts

Sponsored posts are ones that you write for other people on your own site as a way of promoting their product or service. They can look and feel like your own posts but will generally be required to overtly spruik the features and benefits that you are being paid to write about. You should always identify that the post is sponsored on your site and some people will click away as soon as they see those words as they no longer feel that the information that they are getting is unbiased.

How is revenue earned?

The sponsors of these posts can pay you in the number of ways including:

• A set fee for hosting the post
• Number of views the page attracts
• Number of clicks on purchase links
• Number of purchases.

When to action

Essentially a company will contact you about sponsored posts once your site is generating high amounts of traffic and has built a good following. Often they will want access to your email list as well so that the post can be sent directly to all who have registered with you.

Many affiliate marketing experts recommend steering clear of these types of posts, but in some niches there can be merit if you have a loyal following who believe that you would only sponsor products that you feel are right for them.

FAQ

Conclusion

So there it is. Some fairly solid methods that you can utilise to monetize your site at any, and various stages of its maturity. As always, keep in mind that making money online is a long term process so just because you have some of these revenue earners on your site, it doesn't mean that you will see any immediate income. As always, patience is the key.

Have you tried any of the above methods? What worked well for you? What didn't work so well? Please share below.

Do you need some extra assistance with the right ways to monetise your site or do you need help in creating your very own affiliate marketing website?

If you are looking for a comprehensive training platform that can give you step by step tuition with the tools to develop and host your very own website, help to identify a good niche, content or keywords, assistance with managing affiliate programs, 24/7 support and access to some of the best affiliate marketing minds on the planet, then click here for more information in regards to Wealthy Affiliate.

Until next time

Have fun

Paul

Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price. This may include sales made via Wealthy Affiliate or Ezoic.

Introducing Wealthy Affiliate, My #1 Recommendation for Setting Up Your Own Online Business

When I started, I knew I wanted to work online, but had absolutely no idea where to begin! You see I had watched friends of mine run a sales party to sell essential oils and someone asked if they could just sell them online?

Then, as I sat on the bus heading into my office job, I started to wonder if I could do just that, sell essential oils online.

Anything to stop having to catch this bus to and from work every day right!

The trouble was, as I mentioned above, I had no idea how to even start.

So of course I started to look around online and found all these courses! They all promised me riches then took my money but left me with no riches!

Then I stumbled across the program that didn’t promise me riches, but told me it could help me get started even with no experience!

So I did that, joined Wealthy Affiliate that was it, and the rest as they say, is history!

But it doesn’t come without work!

That is the key here! I began on their starter membership and did the training! I then joined as a member and did some more training!

Each night after work, I would do a little more, then a little more.

And to cut a long story short, after 10 months I realized I didn’t really like writing about essential oils, so I sold the site for about $2000. But I had learned so much that I started another – about fishing and camping!

Then, after 18 months (by which time it had earned me close to $10k), I was offered $17k for the site, so I sold it too.

Now, through my travel blog, I’ve been able to fund my passion for travel and explore different places around the world.

In the past few months, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to some amazing destinations, including Bali, Los Angeles, Dallas, Vancouver and Las Vegas.

The success of my travel blog has allowed me to fully fund my travels and explore new destinations with my family.

Try the Wealthy Affiliate as a Starter Member and Build your First Hub!

As you start your journey, Wealthy Affiliate is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And as I have mentioned, I have used a few in my professional career trust me.

To get you started, Wealthy Affiliate has recently introduced the Hub.

The Hub

The hub is an AI based niche and website creation tool that will get you up and running with the foundation of your OWN business in just a few minutes. This includes:

• Your website – hosted and inclusive of a WordPress editor
• Your brand
• Your ‘done-for-you’ research
• Your blueprint
• A task list that is going to help you drive the creation and growth of your business moving forward.

The hub makes the website creation process simple which allows you to get started on the training with a solid base and understanding of the processes.

All you need to do is choose your subject – which is known as your ‘niche’ – and follow the steps on the screen.

Oh, and as you run through the training below you may realize that what you created above is not exactly what you want. That’s ok, you can just create a new hub!

Access All the Tools You Need to Start Your Online Business Here

Wealthy Affiliate Training

Then as you continue your journey, the Wealthy Affiliate Hub is there for you with the most comprehensive training package I have ever seen – And I have used a few in my professional career trust me.

Above we discussed the use of the Hub to set up a website. Once you have done this, you will be able to access the “Step-by-Step Core Training”.

This is available to all members including starter members and will give you everything you need to know to continue to create your online business.

Member Training

There are also Live weekly classes taught by REAL industry experts on a range of topics like artificial intelligence (AI), SEO, YouTube, WordPress, PPC marketing and more.

Great, What Else Does Wealthy Affiliate Have To Help You?

So, let’s keep this short, Wealthy Affiliate is a one-stop-shop platform that provides:

• The Hub – this is the starting point and uses AI processes to assist you in determining your niche and creating your brand.
• Complete training programs to assist with the development of your own affiliate marketing website in your own niche.
• Website creation and publishing tools including access to WordPress editors and themes.
• AI Content article design and content creation
• Domain name purchasing (you get a free domain when you upgrade to the Premium membership).
• Website hosting, security and backup.
• Online help and chat forums.
• Weekly live training events.
• 24/7 support.
• Keyword access tools.
• SEO assistance.

The platform has been active for over 15 years with the original developers and owners, Kyle and Carson, still extremely active in its day to day operations – especially as they rollout their AI capabilities.

You Can Try it Yourself For Free

Now of course I can tell you all about how Wealthy Affiliate works (because it does) until I am blue in the face. But every other program out there – including the shams and scams – will tell you the same thing!

So how about you just try it for free yourself. The Wealthy Affiliate Starter membership is free to join and gives you access to everything you need to get started – all without the need to spend a cent!

With the starter membership, you get:

• 1 Limited Business Hub
• 1,500 AI Word Credits
• Try the AI Author Platform (BETA)
• 1 Practice Website
• Jaaxy Starter
• Limited Help & Support
• Core Niche Training (8 Classes)

And of course I will be there to help you every step of the way as well!

Look, in the interest of transparency, whilst Wealthy Affiliate does offer a free starter membership, this is designed to give you a look around, have a practice and see if it is worthwhile for you – which is a really great option.

However, as with all new businesses, you will need to make some investment so if you are serious about making money online , you will need to upgrade to a premium membership as this will give you access to all the tools you need in the one spot to succeed!

Afterall, every business needs tools to grow!

Access All the Tools You Need to Start Your Online Business Here

So How Much Does This Really Cost?

Wealthy Affiliate does not use upsells once you join – but as I mentioned in the video, to succeed here you will need to invest in a membership. There are a couple of options that provide access to all the tools, training and assistance that you could need – and a free domain as well.

Wealthy Affiliate offers a trio of membership tiers, as detailed on their pricing page.

You can opt for the Starter membership at no cost, the Premium membership for $49 per month or the Premium Plus+ membership for $99 per month. That’s the full extent of it – and you can absolutely build your website without having to spend another cent.

You won’t encounter any unexpected additional charges or covert fees and as a Premium member, you’re equipped with all the essentials to initiate, develop and expand a thriving online enterprise.

Those who opt for the Premium membership are provided with

• Hosting for their websites
• A complimentary domain name
• Access to hundreds of hours of current expert tutorials
• Various marketing and research tools
• Personal guidance from seasoned professionals in the field
• And much much more

And for those of you who want to make a serious investment into your future, there are some yearly options as well below to give you peace of mind that you have a whole year ahead of you to get stuff done!

Access All the Tools You Need to Start Your Online Business Here

And Don’t Forget the Personal Coaching

Once you join, not only do you get plenty of assistance from me, but you also have access to expert coaching, support and mentorship from real industry experts.

I mean, you can have access to all of the top-tier affiliate marketing training in the world, but inevitably, questions arise, particularly during the initial stages.

With an exceptionally dynamic and engaged community that boasts over 2.7 million members, Wealthy Affiliate offers an environment where you, as a member, can fully immerse and leverage this network.

You’re never alone; you have the collective wisdom of an entire community at your fingertips, ready to assist at any moment.

Plus, there’s always-on, rapid-response website support to handle any technical queries you may encounter.

Wealthy Affiliate Works: Real Results From Real People

As I have mentioned a number of times, Wealthy Affiliate has helped me make real money online though its training and tools.

I have made money each month as well as a sale for $17,000.

But again, those promoting other programs will tell you the same thing!

So let’s get away from me and see what others are saying:

To start with, Wealthy Affiliate has a 4.9 out of 5 Star TrustPilot rating, which is a remarkable accomplishment in any industry, let alone the online business industry.

And here are some of those reviews:

And this is what people are saying within Wealthy Affiliate as well:

So, Let’s Make a Decision!

Let’s be frank, you have read this far so why not go all in, click on the button below to get started on the way to your very online business.

Access All the Tools You Need to Start Your Online Business Here

And once you are in and have had a play around with the hub, look for the little envelope on the top right and there will be a message from me. It is of course automated so respond to let me know you are there and we can start this journey together.

(oh, and the profile is mine so you can find me that way as well)

See you there

Paul