There are tons of reasons people choose to set up a website and one strong reason is to make money. So you have decided to set up a website because you have learned about how it can help your business or brand development. But now you are stuck not knowing how your website can generate income and letting it sit on the web and not generate income.

Owning a website is one way to establish an online presence, reach more people who are far away, and show that you can be trusted. A website should be able to generate income for businesses and individuals who are putting in content and offering products and/or services. It should not be just to establish an online presence for your brand, get readers for your blog content, or show that you can be trusted – it should be able to do more!

So, if you are concerned about what way your website can be able to generate income, we have listed 5 ways a website can generate income for businesses and individuals.

1. Ads

One good way a website can generate income is through integrated Ads. You are paid for any ad your web visitors click through. These days, it can be hard to visit a website or blog post and not have ads screaming at you. Nah, we don’t mean you should pump your web pages with aggressive ads because it can be a total turn-off to web visitors. Unfortunately, pushing interrupting and aggressive ads is one hideous trick most blogs and small websites use to generate fast income.

To get ads on your website, you will have to register on an ad platform like Google Adsense, Adsterra, PropellerAds, Media.net, Ezoic, etc. Registering your website is usually swift but you will have to wait for the ad platform to scrutinize your website to know if your website meets their requirements. This can take up to 2 weeks. If your website is approved, the ad platform will give you a list of instructions to get your ads up and running on your website. The payment date and structure vary between one ad platform and another.

2. Affiliate Marketing

If you own a small website or blog and not selling your own branded products or services, then you can take advantage of affiliate marketing to generate income. Affiliate marketing is all about marketing other people’s products using your platform. You will be paid a certain commission if people click through the link that points to the sellers’ shop and buys the product. When compared to ads, web visitors have to buy the product or subscribe to the service before they can be paid.

To use your website to start affiliate marketing, you will have to look for some of the best affiliate networks and platforms that are supported in your country. Some of the best affiliate networks and platforms include Clickbank, ShareASale, Awin, Amazon Associates, etc. The registration process is easy. After registration, you head over to the marketplace and search for the kind of product that is in line with what your website stands for.  Select the product, generate and copy your affiliate link and embed it in your blog posts. You can always track your commissions using the inbuilt analytics.

3. Sell your products or service

You can start making your website generate income by selling your products or offering paid services. You can do this by creating attractive products that will convert web visitors into customers or construct a service that can either be sold over the internet (digital products) or shipped to the buyers’ location. An easy way to sell your products online is by creating content around it which could include copywriting, blog posts, videos, or podcasts. 

You can set up payment gateways like PayPal, Square, Apple Pay, Stripe, etc, or use a direct bank wire to receive money from customers. Social media and email providers are some ways you can communicate with web visitors that have subscribed for service.

4. Sell an ad space

If you have a website that is getting so much traffic from web visitors and is becoming popular, you can start selling ad spaces to individuals or businesses who want to advertise their products or service. You can start by putting out a notice that you now sell ad spaces on your website. Other ways you can tell people are through word-of-mouth and social media. When you get clients, things to discuss are banner size, graphics design, advert duration, and pricing. 

5. Donations and contributions

If you offer good content on your website that has been impactful to the lives of many people but would also need funding, you can ask for donations or contributions. You can choose between putting up the request for donations or contributions as a permanent banner or asking your web visitors to donate or contribute once in a while when the need arises. 

Conclusion

Owning a website means owning a piece of land on the web. You use that space to promote your hobbies for free or turn that space into a shop where your hobbies can generate income. Apart from all the other benefits, a website offers, generating income is one important thing everybody would love their website to do. And all that can be achieved if you try out one or more of the above-listed ways.

If you don’t know how to implement any of those means on your website, reach us and we will help you set up. Meanwhile, don’t forget to leave a comment below and share this article if you have found it helpful.