How to Make Money From Your Website
1. White labelling
White labeling is the term borrowed from the world of supermarket branding. The name derives from the image of a white label on the packaging which can be filled in with the marketer's trade dress. You've certainly seen Tesco's turkey fillets - these 'own branded' products are often made by the same companies that make branded goods but instead are given not branded packaging allowing supermarkets to add their own logos.
The principle is the same online. It's difficult to come up with a definition of white-label services -everyone has their own interpretation. But generally speaking it involves providing another company with your own specialist services in a tailored way that fits in with their business goals. So in our case, we have already built the content management system, a shopping tool and other online applications, there is earning potential in selling these systems to other clients.
Just about any site can be white labelled. www.WhitelabelDating.com supplies online dating service, while travel portal www.lastminute.com supplies access to its holidays database and holiday search facilities. Income potential to white label is high.
2. Affiliates
The other side of white labeling is affiliate marketing. Under this system you have a merchant that is willing to let other people (the affiliates) sell directly or indirectly its products and services, in exchange for a commission. Sometimes this type of advertising is also called CPA (cost per action) or CPL (cost per lead) based.
There are a few things you should consider when choosing an affiliate program. It's a good idea to have a look at your site and try to figure out who your regular visitors are and what they are interested in. If you add a program that's not appealing to your readers/visitors it
won't make you any money. It is crucial to choose the affiliate program that is the best fit.
In order to find suitable affiliate programs you can turn to individual companies and publishers like SEOBook, or join affiliate marketplaces and networks. List of popular affiliate marketplaces and networks can be found here. Some of them are listed below:
- Commission Junction
- ClickBank
- Azoogle Ads
Using affiliate program is very easy. Amazon is a good example. Simply sign up and you'll have an instant access to tools that enable you to create banners, text links and budges to any item. Commission Junction is one of the oldest affiliate programs. After joining Commission Junction, you can browse through available programs and choose appropriate ones for your website. You decide on the content of the ads you're displaying e.g. only insurance ads etc.
3. PPC Advertising Networks
Google AdSense is the most popular option under this category, but there are also others. Basically you need to sign up with the network and paste some code snippets on your website. The network will then serve contextual ads (either text or images) relevant to your website, and you will earn a certain amount of money for every click.
You will be able to customise the ads' colours to match the background, type and navigational colors of your site, too, to eliminate 'banner blindness' and maximize their visibility to your readers.
Keep an eye on your ads to make sure they remain relevant to your website. Remember - to your visitors ads are part of the content of your website. If an ad network fails to deliver consistently relevant ads, dump it and try something else. Respect your readers by not bombarding them with irrelevant advertising and they will respect you by continuing to read your site.
4. Direct Banner Advertising
Selling your own advertising space is one of the most lucrative methods. First and foremost because it enables you to cut out the middleman commissions and to determine your own rates.
5. Sponsors for Single Columns or Events
If your website has specific columns or events (e.g., a weekly podcast, an interview series, a monthly survey, a special project) you could find companies to sponsor them individually. This method increases the earning potential options for website owners, while giving advertisers the possibility to target a more specific audience and with a reduced commitment.
Mashable illustrates the case well. They have several advertising options on the site, including the possibility to sponsor specific columns and articles. Problogger also runs group writing projects occasionally, and before proceeding they publicly announce the project asking for sponsors.
6. Sponsored Reviews
PayPerPost pioneered this model, with much controversy on the beginning (related to the fact that they did not require disclosure on paid posts). Soon other companies followed, refining the process and expanding the paid blogging model. Joining one of the sponsored reviews marketplaces will give you the opportunity to write sponsored posts on a wide range of topics. Not all bloggers are willing to get paid to write about a specific product or website (because it might compromise the editorial credibility), but the ones who do are making good money out of it.
If your blog has a big audience you could also offer sponsored reviews directly, cutting off the commissions of the middleman. List of sponsored reviews and paid blogging networks we recommend:
- PayPerPost
- ReviewMe
- Sponsored Reviews
- BlogVertise
- Smorty
7. Marketplaces
Sitepoint is the online marketplace by excellence. Some websites and blogs, however, are trying to replicate that model on a smaller scale. You can see an example of a marketplace being used on Mashable.
Depending on your niche, a market place that allows your visitors to buy, sell and trade products could work well. Over the time you could start charging a small fee for new product listings. The problem with this method is that there are no standard software on the web, so you would need to hire a coder to get a marketplace integrated into your website.
8.In-text Adverting
In-text adverting networks will place sponsored links inside your text. These links come with a double underline to differentiate them from normal links, and once the user rolls the mouse over the link the advertising will pop. Should the user click on it the site owner will make some money.Some people make good money with this method, but others refrain from using it due to its intrusiveness. It is also interesting to note that very few mainstream websites have experimented with in-text advertising.
9.Premium content
Above all things, the most saleable aspect of your website will always be the content. If you produce the content that people want to read, download or use - you are 90 percent there. The subscription fee model for premium content can ask users for a subscription fee for an
access to articles, download the e-books etc. You'll find subscription charges on sites providing specific research information.You'll need to password lock files to protect your revenue.
Follow some of the methods we've outlined above and you could be generating cash from your clicks in no time at all. Good luck!
Sincerely,
HeadChannel Ltd
www.headchannel.co.uk
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