How To Monetize Your Website

It is important to have a monetization strategy as you build your blog or website.Sure you want to be giving away great free content  put at some point there has to be a buy button on your site.That or some other form of monetization such as advertising.So let’s look at what’s out there.?

Most people start with Google Adsense as it is easy to install and you can forget about it once it’s on your site.Adsense is  the other side of Adwords.Google will place ads on your site that are related to your site’s niche.These advertisers pay each time one clicks through from your site to their’s.Google keep about 75% of the charge and give 25% to you.

You cannot rely on this strategy alone for your internet lifestyle income as initially the traffic to your site will not be enough to earn anything substantial.Only sites that get massive traffic do well from Adsense.

The other problem with Adsense is that people will click away from your site to another which may be a competitor of yours.So even though you get an income from that click you may be helping a competitor more than yourself.

On the plus side the ads that appear on your site will give you ideas on future topics to write about.It’s also useful to go these sites and see who is linking to these sites.Backlinks as we know are important in improving your ranking.

You can find out who links to any website by going to Alexa.com.Type in the name of the website you want details on,then click on the “sites linking in ” tab.

This will list all the sites.You can then contact the site owners and see if they will link to you.

Affiliate links

Depending what your site is about you can promote digital affiliate products or physical products.

For the former go to Clickbank or Pay dot Com and for physical go to Commission Junction or Amazon who sell a whole range of products not just books.At Clickbank you browse products in your niche then you either grab a banner ad of the product you select or just use a text link.

Private advertising

This is where companies approach you to advertise on your site.This will only happen once you start to rank highly on Google.

So have a message on your navigation bar that invites people to advertise with you.This will lead to a page you create which allows the visitor to leave their contact details.

You then contact them a do a deal.

As to the price well that’s up to you but think of a figure a double it and see what reaction you get.They may say yes.

One way of estimating demand is to use the Google Keyword tool to see what Google are charging for the keyword that relates to you potential advertise.

If say it’s $2 per click and you’re getting say 5000 visits a day to your site,well assume a 5% click through on the ad.Your advertiser would be paying $500 per month if they an Adsense ad on your site.

So negotiate something a bit below this figure.

These are just a few ways of generating income on your site.I’ll be looking at some more in future posts.

Selling your own products

When starting your own online business you will probably not have your own product so the next best thing to do is sell a product made by others.If you sell you get a commission.This is affiliate marketing.

As you build your list of email subscribers you can then move to Private Lable Rights or PLR products which are information products that someone else has written but which you can change and then sell as if you had written them.

These tend to be ebooks of 20-30 pages in length.You set the price and you get all on the money not 50% as is the case with most affiliate products.

My experience is that you offer one PLR product for sales and then have a pop up lightbox appear on your sales page after 10 seconds, which offers another PLR product for free.You will get many more email subscribers grabbing your free ebook than buying your paid product.BUT you will be growing your list.

This will in time become your most valuable asset.

In the meantime grab Tony Shepperd’s freebie“Quit Your Job in 90 days” ebook.It’s what got me started.

Best Wishes
Andrew Collinson

PS I’ve now sold two PLR ebooks,not many I know but all the greats started here.

Email list Building

“The money is in the list”

That being so I have started to build said list.I have bought some PLR products from the guru I am following.Cost was $97 for 12 products.They are well put together and relate to the make money on line niche.

I have used one to sell through Paypal and then added a free ebook via a pop-up webform.

So far no one has bought the main product but quite a few are grabbing the ebook  which gets me their email address.

So now the list is starting to build.I have 16 people on the list as I write this.Not many I agree but it is a start.

The important thing to remember is not to use every email you send out as a product pitch.You will get substantial opt outs if you do that.

The process is build a list,build a relationship with that list and then market to that list.

It’s the middle bit most people leave out.They so want to pitch products and make money they forget about building a relationship.The reader will just think “this person does not care about what I want they just want to sell me stuff”.

So give REAL content and give it free.You can introduce affiliate products from time to time but ensure they tie in with what you blog or websites is about.

Have your emails 4 days apart which is the default setting on Aweber the autoresponder I use.

After about 7 emails spread any subsequent emails out to seven days apart.

Follow this strategy and your own list will grow.

Best wishes

Andrew Collinson

Building a list

All internet marketers will tell you that the way to make money is to build a list.

You offer a free ebook or some other information product in return the reader gives you their email address.Then you start to market products which they have to pay for and you earn money off.

Well I am please to say my list is starting to build.

I now have three information products for sale now and two free ebooks.

So far no sales of the paid products but I have a total of 15 subscribers over three lists.None of them have unsubscribed yet which is good news.

I am now busy writing follow up messages and offering a mix of affiliate products and helpful content.

If you do this,mix up the offers with helpful advice.It will keep the unsubscribe rate down.

Time now to launch the fourth product on SEO.I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Best Wishes

Andrew