Ways to monetize your blog or website
Tags: Monetize, Enticing, Headlines, Website, Blog

Small businesses spend time and money building websites and blogs to advertise. Why not also monetise that website or blog?

These are not quick fix ‘make money fast’ ideas, uncovered. Monetising a website does take dedication, but it is achievable.

Often people make money out of hobbies by supplying information online. They start for fun, and expand into money making websites. Depending on how you go about it, income could be earned whilst you sleep.

This post includes some ideas on where to start and how to earn money from a website, whether it is a small business product or service, or you would like to earn through advertising.

First, get the website into shape

To start with, you need a good website. It is not so hard to build your own website. The important thing to remember is that Google will not reward a SPAMMY looking website that has no content or structure.

Google penalises websites that are full of links, as this is the behaviour of SPAM websites. If you go for affiliate marketing make sure you build a good website first, that is full of good content.

SEO the website

Before trying any of the following ways to monetise a website, hard work should go in to making the website interesting for the user and great for search engines.

If the site is not encouraging traffic there is not a lot of point trying to monetise it. Local advertisers will want proof of visits. Display advertising will not convert if there is no one visiting the site.

A website should be well structured, well written, have plenty of valuable content, easy to get around and fast to download. Each page should be optimised for search engines.

When page rank is climbing and the site has a good following a website can be monetised.

Good page rank does not equate to the site ranking number one for every keyword on your list. Small business sites do much better when targeting long-tail key terms, which have a high search volume but low competition.

I recommend finding a niche and provide for that niche.

Do be aware that building a good website takes time and effort unless of course there are unlimited resources. Be prepared to work. It will be worth it.

SEO for beginners >

Improve search engine visibility with a blog

Most small businesses ‘get online’ to sell a product or service. Getting online is easy, doing well is much harder. Once a website is live it must be supported, and analysed.

A blog is a fantastic tool, providing the support a website needs. When the right key terms are targeted the right audience is captured. Blog useful tips and information around those key terms, and become an authoritative voice.

Being an expert an industry will help to sell the product and get the site ranked well.

If you intend to monetise your website, consistently blog. Create great content for visitors. Analyse that content, and continuously make it better and better. Repeat!

How to rank higher on Google >

Use social media to spread the word

Use social media to spread the word and engage an audience. Google looks for signals from social media accounts to ensure a business is genuine. Natural retweets and shares that are earned go towards building a positive online presence.

It’s easy for small businesses to lose energy, as instant benefits are not always apparent with social media.

Know that social signals are important, and will help to succeed in monetising a website.

Users are quick to leave a website, but activity on social media reminds followers about the business. If you strike often, you can strike at the right time.

E-newsletters to keep in touch

Cover every angle, as people use the net in different ways. As the website builds an audience, include an opt-in form to an e-newsletter.

To encourage sign-ups offer something for nothing. This could be access to a white paper, ebook, webinar or something else that your audience is looking for.

Regular newsletters to your list help to engage a community that have already shown interest in a product.

How to monetise a website

E-commerce website

Selling a product through an eCommerce website is a common way to earn money online.

If the business is not fully established, start with a small number of items. Test what works and what doesn’t.

WordPress and WooCommerce are a great combination to set up an eCommerce website.

PayPal Payments Standard is a payment system that is really useful for startups.

PayPal does take a hefty commission, but the system is free to use, as oppose to paying for a gateway, at the outset. A payment gateway securely processes card transactions.

When the site is established then set up a payment gateway with a payment service provider, and pay a smaller commission.

Using both systems the company can take payments online as well as off line.

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