Some bloggers and website owners earn six-figure incomes through their online ventures. But more than half of web admins rake in less than $5000 a year. The harsh reality is that making money online requires substantial effort, like investing in a good SEO company to build up a well-performing, SEO-optimized site.

Factors that will Help Monetize Your Website Faster.

Before leaping into how you can make money online, it is necessary to understand the factors that distinguish your website from the millions of other websites on the internet. SEO To make money online, the first thing you need to do is convince search engines like Google and Bing to show your website on the search engine results pages (SERP) against any query related to your website domain or industry. And for this to happen, your website needs to be SEO-optimized. If you are a first-time website owner, investing in a good SEO company is wise to ensure that your website ranks higher on SERPs. Audience It will help advance your journey a long way if you already have a fan following or an audience for your content. For instance, if you are blogging or writing about travel, having a popular Instagram account on the same subject will drive a significant amount of traffic towards your website from your Instagram account.  Marketing Strategy Say you don’t have an already existing audience. In that case, what you require is a content marketing strategy to grow your audience. A content marketing strategy can show people the value of your content or product and services. Whatever plan you choose to implement, always strive to be authentic. When you have tuned your website to excel in these three categories, you will be ready to implement the following ways to earn money off it. Paid Memberships  If you are confident about your content and have a substantial audience, charging for your creations might be the easiest way to earn money. It is especially applicable to you if what you create is of high quality and demand in the market, for instance, studies related to current statistics about a particular location. You will find this type of revenue system in significant news publishers like The New York Times, which offer only a few free articles per month. Instead, create exclusive content for your audience and put it behind a paywall.

Affiliate Marketing

But there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. It is always good practice to be upfront with your viewers and readers about any potential affiliate link in the content. Here are some other points to remember: 

Recommend products that solve problems for your audience by focusing on the value a product or service brings to them.Do not spam your content by over-promoting the referral links, as it will surely disrupt your audiences’ interest in your content. Always try to promote products and services that you have yourself tried first and found helpful.

Sponsored content focuses on promoting a brand and its products and services. The brands approaching you or vice versa will usually be directly related to your domain or industry. For example, if you write about books, you can promote a new book for a publishing house or create something that benefits the publishing house itself. You can create sponsored content in many forms – videos, blog posts, infographics, podcasts, sales announcements, etc. But before taking on a project, you should consider the following things:

The degree of your online influence (website visitors and social media followers)Number of sponsored posts required per month and the time needed to create them

Display Ads You must have seen advertisements on almost every website that you had ever visited. These advertisements are called display ads. They are one of the most common ways to make money off your website if you have a steady flow of visitors. For example, the Google Display Network reaches 90 percent of all internet users around the world!  When you get into a contract with an advertising network like Google Display Network, it means you are allowing advertisements to be placed on your website. But it is imperative to refrain from overcrowding the website with too many promotions, as it will negatively impact the user experience. The user experience is a critical factor to consider as it is directly related to a website’s bounce rate. Products Selling products online through your website is a great way to earn some passive income. Some bloggers bring home handsome figures every month by just selling printables that they have created. The idea is to create something once and sell it to your audience through the website. You can sell whatever you prefer as long as you’re sure that your audience will be interested in them. Here are two popular items that individual website owners sell: 

Audiobooks and Ebooks – If you have extensive knowledge and expertise on a subject, consider creating an ebook and selling it for a price. A significant advantage of the digital era is that you can sell an e-book in various formats without printing a single word.

Alternatively, you can also create audiobooks from the ebook itself or afresh. Audiobooks are very popular as people can listen to them while driving, walking, working out, before going to sleep, etc.

Building apps and extensions – Even if you are not a professional software developer, you can consult with one and build an app that corresponds with your industry. The focus of the app should be to solve a problem that might be prevalent among your audience. For instance, if you have a recipes website, you can commission the creation of an app that would help your audience to save, share, and track their favorite recipes.

There are tons of other ways to make money online. But the fundamental thing to focus on is your audience. Always make sure to conduct your business with authenticity and integrity. A bad reputation can hurt your earnings in the long run just as well in the online sphere as it might offline.