![8 Ways To Monetize Your Website [Infographic]](https://www.websearchsocial.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/monetize-website-featured.jpg)
I don’t know about you but I don’t have a website for the sheer joy of it – I want to make money. The question arises, then: how do we do that?
Well, of course there are our product and service offerings. And there’s the inevitable eBook or the email course or the consulting session. But these are more about doing business and less about getting our websites to generate money for us. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could tap into that coveted passive income and get our websites doing some of the work for us?
Thanks to Patrick O’Keefe and his recently published free eBook Monetizing Online Forums you can get a good jump start on learning how to monetize your site. Don’t let the word “forum” scare you – you can use these same principles on your site or blog.
If you’ve recently read our interview with Patrick then you already have some background on this amazingly inspiring guy and the story behind the book. If not, be sure to check it out!
And thanks to Skimlinks, who collaborated with Patrick to get the book published, you can get a nice overview of the type of monetization that may work best for you – along with the pros and cons – in the visual below.
Check out this infographic produced by Skimlinks then go download the free eBook if you’re serious about monetizing your website.
Reprinted with permission from Skimlinks and ‘Monetizing Online Forums’ author Patrick O’Keefe.
*Click image to enlarge
Since I’m guessing you’re not Richard Branson (if you are, I’ve got some great ideas that could use funding…) then there’s no reason you couldn’t start monetizing your site right now. Check out Patrick’s eBook for a lot of great ideas to get you started and see if Skimlinks is right for your business model.
So many great ways to monetize and make money. But, I think the best way to make money is to make a product (yeah, it isn’t really monetization through ads, but it still makes you money). It takes time and effort to make a good product, but in the end, it not only makes you money, but also makes you a professional person, in the field.
Great Post, Carol.
Thank you for the infographic!
Product sales are a great way to generate revenue. That method is actually included in the book, but not every method made it into this infographic (just most of them). Thank you for bringing it up.
Thanks,
Patrick
I agree, too, Jeevan. If you create an awesome product then people will keep buying it. There’s definitely some overhead in doing that and of course it’s important to keep your product current. I like the idea of doing both – generating some ad/affiliate revenue and also providing value through products. Glad you liked the infographic and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hi Carol,
Thanks for this one 🙂 I’ve been searching about ways of monetization without interfering user experience. Different ways of income doesn’t pose a threat, nah? Currently I’m using In-Text ads and Skimlinks is a great choice too. Anyway trying out monetization options to see what’s best 🙂
Cheers…
You’ve got the right attitude about monetization, which is don’t interfere with your visitor’s experience. I want you to go shout that from a tall mountain so everyone can hear it 🙂 Blogs with ads everywhere, blinking, popping up, in the text, on the side… drives me nuts. Most times I leave those blogs before I bother reading anything at all. It’s a great idea to test and see what works for you and your audience. have you tried Skimlinks? I would like to try it myself now that I’ve heard so many good things about it.
Ha ha 😉 I agree with you dear. If too much ads, I penalize ’em before Google or someone else does. I’ve used Skimlinks with another blog earlier 🙂 Currently on the testing phase with Infolinks and it’s quite good too. I was planning to switch to Skimlinks then and see how it performs on my blog. They need some time to crawl so still with Infolinks. Infolinks and Skimlinks are two In-Text ad services I heard many good things about 🙂
Cheers…
Great stuff, as always, Carol Lynn. Here’s my 3 cents…
[In full disclosure as I work at such a company…]
One of the keys to monetizing a website is to retain traffic on one’s sites, and most data shows all demographics share one key data point for online habits: They all play games. They all spend a lot of time gaming. They all spend money on gaming.
So if your consumers are already visiting other websites to games, why not offer a 1-stop shop to them while keeping them on YOUR website… sounds pretty attractive, eh?
But of course, you have to know your consumers, and make sure it would work for them… and you. My advice is to explore the gamification of your brand including surveying your consumers to gauge their interest level. If it could work, reach out to some companies who specialize in white-label gaming solutions, and see which is the best fit for your you and your brand.
Of course, I am a phone call away…
Good Monday, Carol!
Yes, you bet… most of us are here to make money. Thank you so much for those resources and I WILL check them out. There’s always room to improve in my book, and I can use all the tips available to me.
Take care!
I was planning to try out Skimlinks, too, Sylviane. It would be a great case study! There’s always something to learn… that’s what makes life interesting. Of course sometimes when things are too “interesting” I eat a lot of Oreos…. but that’s another story 🙂
Thank you for publishing the infographic, Carol. I appreciate it. Your continued support means a lot.
Patrick
Thanks for sharing it! Everyone loves a good visual. I got a kick out of the part with Richard Branson 🙂
🙂 That was all Skimlinks.
I love that you believe in what you do, James. And you’re right – people do spend money on games. I know Zynga isn’t having the best month right now but look at all the people who spend money on imaginary cows and trees! I think there’s definite possibility to use gaming for marketing and branding. It depends as you said on the business and audience but it’s adding a layer of entertainment that people love. So how are we going to turn Web.Search.Social into a game? 😉
Thanks for this one, Carol. There are so many ways to monetize a blog, but the best way is to create your own product. You can make more money by creating your own product, then by selling advertisements on your blog.
Fantastic post, Carol. Have a nice day.
A product is a great idea, just a little more work! If you have good, targeted advertising it’s more likely to make money than if you just have some best-guess advertising like Google AdSense. You could always try both – take advantage of every opportunity!
I am searching for ways to earn from my blog,the article above is helpful.
Great to hear, and good luck with your blog! Try something small and see how it goes.
This is good practical advice and I love the infographic. Very informative. Thanks
One best way to make more money is upgrading AdSense to Google Ad Exchange. I made so much money after implementing it! I signed up via a company called MonetizeMore. They provide access and optimize it for you. I highly recommend it!