Perhaps you blog for a hobby, and you’d like to see some spending money. Or perhaps you’re looking to maintain a website for a living. In any event, there are several ways to make money off of your site. This site can help get you started.
What follows is an overview – but feel free to click on the links at the end for more details.
Build Traffic
You can’t generate income from your site without visitors. That means that you need to build traffic.
Of course, the first step is to get noticed…
Getting Noticed
First and foremost, provide quality content. “Getting noticed” probably won’t do you much good if the people who notice your site come away unimpressed. As with anything, first impressions count for a lot.
These first impressions can come from a number of sources. One is user-generated link aggregation sites, such as Stumbleupon. Another is the comment sections in other, higher-profile blogs. There are also various internet directories. Still another way to be “discovered” is through search engines – and there is an entire industry devoted to search engine optimization, or “SEO.”
Holding Your Audience
It’s not enough, though, to get people to click through once, or even a couple of times. In order to generate long-term revenue, you should strive to generate quality content that keeps people coming back for more. And more. And then some more…
The most successful blogs are indispensable to the point that their readers find them addictive.
Make Money
Advertising
The most popular way to make money off of a blog is through Price-Per Click, or “PPC,” advertising, with systems such as Google’s Adsense.
Adsense, and similar programs, automate the placement of advertisements on sites. They connect advertisers with appropriate websites; if a user clicks on an advertiser’s link, then that advertiser pays a pre-determined amount – and a “cut” of this fee goes to the site operator. The “cut” for any given click will be pretty small. But, with luck and skill, the clicks can add up.
Affiliate Programs
Another way to make money off of a blog is through affiliate selling programs.
Affiliate programs allow a website to serve as a “middleman” between a prospective purchaser and an online retailer. A participating site features a link to the retailer; if a user clicks through the link and makes a purchase, then the website operator takes a small cut.
Career Issues
Blogging can also be a great way to market yourself and network – in fact, there are some who argue that it’s greatest economic benefits are indirect. Of course, this can cut both ways: if you write frankly on controversial topics, anonymity might be advisable.