A common question small business owners and creatives ask is how can I make more money from my website?
Aside from other benefits like expanding your digital footprint, generating leads and gaining recognition that can happen as a result of owning a website, making money from your website is also a benefit.
Website monetization is simply generating money from your website, it’s not a new way of making money for small businesses and creatives, but there are diverse ways that this blog seeks to explain.
This blog post discusses how small business owners and creatives can monetize their websites by explaining website monetization strategies that can become another source of revenue for you as a creative or business owner.
1. Service-Based Bookings
For most creatives, this is how they make money from their websites, by displaying their expertise and selling or providing their services to those who need them. It is the most common way you can make money from your website as a creative as people who need your services book and pay you to get the service.
One thing to note however is to make your booking process seamless and quick, nobody wants to spend so much time reaching out to you when they can get the same services elsewhere with a less strenuous booking process.
2. E-Commerce Provision
Product retail on the internet is known as E-commerce, simply taking pictures of the physical product, including the product description and specification on a website.
A buyer then goes through it and selects the items they want, pays and then has them shipped.
This is another common way money is made from websites, however, you can only implement this strategy when you sell physical products.
3. Advertising
Displaying products and services for not just your business but other businesses that share the same target audience as your own business.
This is not the same as displaying a competitor’s product or service. An example is a child photographer running an advertisement for a vendor who sells children’s outfits.
There are different forms of advertisement, some of which includes:
- Sponsored posts: A paid blog about the product or service usually with the aim of generating leads for the business.
- Display ads: A paid form of ads that allows agencies like google ads, bing ads posts advertisement on your website and you get paid for it. There are criteria you must meet before applying for these types of ads. You need over 10,000 monthly visitors for platforms like google ads.
Affiliate links: A form of ads where embedded links are placed on your website and these links redirect your target to the site. When a purchase is made by the lead redirected from your site you get paid a certain commission.
4. Donations
This is another way to generate money for your website, by offering premium content and asking for your audience’s support in the form of a donation.
Popular sites like Wikipedia, and Pexels use this monetization model, however, it is only sustainable when you provide value and have an audience that truly enjoys what you do.
5. Membership Access
A site where you offer people access to premium content that is helpful to them. It also entails access to digital products. The frequency of membership varies as it can be annually, bi-annually or monthly. You need high-quality content to increase the number of signups, usually by explaining how access to membership can help them improve their lives or businesses.
Conclusion
There are various monetization strategies for websites, however, as a small business owner or creative, it is important to select a monetization method that is sustainable and within the scope of your business.
The monetization method can be determined based on:
- Scope of your business
- The purpose of your website
- The amount of monthly traffic you get
Know the options you have available and the ones that you as a business owner or creative can maintain in the long run.
Key Takeaways
- There are various monetization strategies on how to earn more money from your website.
- Determining the monetization strategy is important as this can determine the sustainability of the revenue generation method.
