NB BLOG

How much are consumers spending online right now?

In the US alone, Online shoppers are projected to spend $327 billion in 2016, up 45% from 2015.

Are you setup for a piece of that pie?

Having a website is a good start, as it’s downright impossible to make money online without one.

But, most websites don’t make money on their own.  

To turn your site into profits, You’ve got to give it some special juice and integrations.  Read 5 detailed suggestions for how to start or turn your existing site into income.

1.  Drive Leads for Your Own Business

Turn Your website into a phone-ringing-machine.

Many folks are missing out on the True Business Power of the Web.  See, building a website “just to have a website” gives you one thing, just a website.  People are just going to look at your website…and not do anything but leave.   People may happen to find your site, but they won’t act.

The essence of turning your website into a lead generation machine is giving and telling.

You have to give something in advance and tell them what to do.  Giving in advance is key…that can be as simple as providing a FAQ, free ebook, or helpful articles and or videos.

Then there is the telling or call to action…What should your website visitor do next.  Do you want them to call, take some information, look at a certain key area of your site, watch a video, call, bookmark your site, send you money, buy you a corvette…you need to tell people who might be interested in what you have, what to do next.

The website you are on right now is setup for leads.   It’s built on our Nichebuilder platform and has a lead generating banner on the right side of the page here.   Click that banner in the upper right and notice that goes into our sales funnel.

So, that’s a brief overview of how to turn your average portfolio site into a lead machine.

2. Drive Leads for Others

One of the most popular ways to monetize a website is by generating leads for other businesses.   You do this by promoting related and valuable products to your website audience.

Affiliate Marketing is very popular way  to cash in on driving leads.   With affiliate marketing, you get a unique tracking link for visitors you send to other websites, who have products or services already.

Affiliate products available range from dating products to business furniture.  Amazon has an affiliate program, but the margins are weak.  We stick with Clickbank for info products and Commission Junction for more hard/corporate goods.

Advertising Networks – Google Adsense and other advertising networks provide a place for other websites to to bid to advertise on your website.  Many of the networks use targeting to show relevant ads on your website.  Then, you get paid per impression or paid per click.  So everytime a user sees or clicks the ad, you get money.

Sound good?  It is, for the right situation.  I’d run Adsense if you are getting dirt cheap/free traffic.  The targeting isn’t accurate enough for most people to pay for traffic and have a +ROI on Adsense alone.  Also, prepare to have unrelated ads on your site, as the display algorithims are still behind in their search quality for display.

A more targeted approach would be to sell Ad space individually, for instance to other profitable companies and sites in your niche.  You can offer them to guest blog, post a banner ad, etc.

3.  Sell Knowledge – Digital Products

Another way you can monetize your website by adding a rich content and digital products to your website.

You can build a Membership Area, which you fill with valuable material and offer a price for access.  Other digital products to sell right on your website are eBooks, Digital Newsletter Subscriptions, Articles and Videos.

Here again, you have to give to get.   Provide valuable content up front, before you offer a membership or other digital product.

4. Turn Your Website Into an Online Shop

You can monetize your site by simply adding some products and buy buttons.

It’s fun to own an online store and it’s never been eaasier.  There are shopping integrations(like woocommerce) for most platforms(like wordpress blogs), that allow for products to be sold from your existing site.   You can add product photos, variations, shipping rates, and most importantly accept payments from any website now thanks to integrations.

You can even sync. your paypal account and use their cart for any website.

5. Sell the Farm: Sell Your Website

Websites are regularly bought and sold at Auction.   Once you have a digital asset, you can flip the website into cash.  Sites like Flippa.com allow you to buy and sell websites.  When purchasing an existing website, always verify the traffic through google analytics.

If you have a site with good content and traffic, you may want to call the other people in your niche and solicit offers for your site and traffic.  Root around and find folks that are monetizing a similar audience.

Would you like to know anything else about monetizing your website?