Website Building 101: Make Money With Your Site

About a month after I got my first connection to the internet I decided I wanted to build a website. I had no burning ambition to share information, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Bearing in mind I have the technical capabilities of your average goldfish and things weren't so easy back then, I found it difficult but eventually I did it.

Of course, being somebody who can turn shopping into an Olympic sport, I wanted to make some money from the website. Now, that was really difficult! In those dim and distant days (about 10 years ago), there were very few opportunities, the main one was Amazon and then it was only Amazon.com. Now the picture is completely different. There are thousands of affiliate opportunities with all kinds of companies so, today, there is no reason why anybody who has a reasonably popular website, getting a couple of thousand visitors a week, shouldn't make at least enough from their site to go shopping. Some people are so good at monetising their site or sites, they have made a career from it and have been able to give up the day job.

So how can you make money from your website?

Content and Search Engines
First of all, the most important part of making money from your site is to have one that people can find and want to visit. Start off with good content and use search engine optimisation techniques (a whole other subject!) so that your site comes up high in search engine results and visitors find your site interesting enough to hang around and see your affiliate advertisements and maybe click on some of them.

Choosing Your Subject With Money in Mind
Another factor is that some subjects are more commercial than others. For example, Ancient Russian Pottery (don't look for the site, I just made it up) is obviously not a hugely commercial subject whereas a site on popular subject like football or Lord of the Rings or some aspect of travel probably would be more profitable. For a start, there are a huge number of specific items and services for sale on these topics. If you want to earn money from your website, this is something you need to consider.

Think Laterally
With less mainstream subjects, you have to think laterally. OK, Ancient Russian Pottery won't attract a lot of visitors because it is so specialised but you would need to make the best of those who do come. Books on pottery of all kinds could be offered, travel to Russia is another possibility, perhaps even a language course might be available. So just because your site might not have obvious opportunities for monetising, try thinking outside the box and you might be surprised at what you can find.

Position Ads to Get a Sale
When you put ads on your website, think about how YOU use the internet. Don't assume that you are the only person that won't scroll down to look at ads - most people won't. You need to put your advertisements high up on the page so that people see them (sometimes called 'above the fold') even if they don't read the whole article. If you mention a book, a DVD or video, or any other product, in an article, go and get a text link to it and use the relevant words in the article as the link. You'll be surprised at how many you can sell and, don't forget, this will go on working for you long after you wrote the article. This isn't an invitation to drag the names of all kinds of products into articles because that will be a turn-off to many visitors, but rather to capitalise on natural opportunities.

Book, Movie and Other Reviews
These are interesting for visitors and a natural way for you to put in links to products. Put a link to the item reviewed right at the top of the article and then again at the bottom. If it's a book, don't forget to link to Amazon in any countries where it is available. Once your site is well established, you can email the marketing department of publishers and ask for review copies. It is best if you do a few reviews first (use your own books or those from the library) so that you can include a link or two to them in your email to show you are serious.