FACT: The dream of the Web 2.0 generation is to be able to make money with a website. In reality, it may not be so much of a dream. Steady income online could come true for you. Just read along and find a compilation of the most effective techniques that may earn you money with little effort. Just add a dash of creativity and you should be on your way to online entrepreneurship!
1. Build a Niche
First, you need to know exactly what you want to promote, sell, or do online. Once you figure it out, create a website with the look, feel, smell and taste of the affinity group that you want to attract. This is your first step to make money with a website because this niche will be the “headquarters” where you will offer all your other goods and services.
Join sites that offer services- You can sell creative items through Fiverr, answer questions via Chacha or JustAnswer.com, and even offer homework help via sites such as Studypool, Homework Market, Enotes, and Course Hero.
- Pros: When you have a legit profile with any of these websites, you are allowed to get free buttons to add to your blog or site. The buttons are primarily to promote the website where you will offer the service. However, you are also promoting yourself using a legit “dot com” that has your professional information. It is a way to show others that a third party has seen your work and has used it successfully.
- Cons: Keep in mind that your service should be as good as you say, so be careful not to wander into a territory where you will fail.
2. Make a “Gift Shop” for your Niche
Platforms such as Spreadshirt, Etsy and Zazzle (just to name a few) allow you to create and market products at no cost to you. All you have to do is create your “brand” and design products based on your niche and affinity group. Add the link of the online store to your website. Name it a “Gift Shop”, and not a “store”. Make them realize that they cannot leave your page without a “memento”!
- Pros: You can start legitimizing what your niche is about and making your brand and your website more visible.
- Cons: If you lose the focus of your niche, you will end up just selling random stuff for no reason and people will not get the context of why you wish to sell in the first place. However, if you are fine with this, sell away!
3. AdSense
Google allows you to do affiliate marketing by paying you per click when people visit your site.
- Pros: Why not? All people need to do is click.
- Cons: This is not a “get rich quick” scheme and if you are caught clicking your own links you will be terminated from the program. This service is for companies to sponsor their products or services on your site and for you to get some revenue from the visits.
4. Sell Reviews
This is becoming a booming market because people know that some companies pay people to lie about reviews. As a result, good, honest individuals have made it a habit of writing reviews following a unique style and format. Then, they offer the service to new companies and promoters and they get paid for writing the reviews. Submit samples of your reviews to affiliates and companies. Then, upload your reviews with pictures and present it as a professional portfolio. Put your reviewing jobs on a separate webpage and add its link to your main page. Title the link “professional review services” and promote yourself everywhere you visit by sharing your link.
- Pros: You can build credibility and a nice base if you work hard at becoming known and promoting your web address.
- Cons: You have to go to the people. You have to do a good job. You must show that you are influential and, most importantly, you must have a unique way to engage the audience.
5. Become an Affiliate
Find products that you can promote on your site. You can sign up to be a re-seller of a product that you can write about and consistently refer people to sharing its link. Once you sign up, they will get you an affiliate link to put on your website to direct people toward it to get the product. Since you will have a unique code, your commissions will go straight to you.
- Pro: Passive earnings based on traffic are easy money makers.
- Cons: Not a good idea to mix an affiliate domain with your niche domain. Keep them separated. For you to create your brand, you should remain loyal to the “essence” of your niche. However, if you are OK with it and want to go for the money, then mix both!
By the time you add the links to all the goods and services that can come out of your ONE website, you would have built a one-stop little empire. It is all about the focus and the appeal of the site. It is also about promoting it anywhere you can: forums, focus groups, as e-mail signatures, making bumper stickers of it. The sky is the limit as to how to make the money. Your creativity and initiative will determine it all in the end.
Do not forget that, if you do not keep the links updated, forget to share your web address, and do not keep up with your page, your stats will collapse. There is no way to make money with a website that is allowed to go obsolete. Go out there and explore money making online! The whole world is out there waiting for you.