subject: How To Create A Website That Makes Money [print this page] While it can be fun to build a website to maintain as a hobby, it is a lot more enjoyable if you learn how to create a website that makes money online. Making money through your website provides you with a sense of accomplishment and can allow you to enjoy your hobby that much more. Also, once you learn how to make a website that generates revenue, you will be able to duplicate the process and make even more money online, possibly turning your hobby into a career.
Drive Traffic to your Site
Assuming you have already created a website, the next step you will want to take is driving traffic to your site. If your website does not receive any visitors, it is as if your website does not even exist. There are several different methods you can use to drive traffic to your website, including search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, and social media marketing. Using a combination of all three traffic sources is the best way to make sure your website makes money.
Find Ways to Monetize your Site
Now that your website is receiving a healthy amount of traffic you are ready to start monetizing your website. The most common ways to monetize a website are banner ads, Adsense, and affiliate programs. Determining which method is the best one for your website will depend on what your website is about. If you have created a niche website discussing a specific product, you can find an affiliate program where you will receive a percentage of the revenue you generate for a company based off of the referrals from your site.
If your website is about a broader topic such as the health benefits of running, you could sell banner ads on your website to local businesses or throw up some Adsense ads to monetize your traffic. Both methods would be a good way to monetize your site.
Optimize your Site
In order to make the most money possible from your website, you will want to track all of the data concerning your site that you can. Installing a web analytics program on your site will allow you to see where your traffic is coming from, which pages are generating the most revenue, and which keywords are generating the most conversions. Once you start to collect data about your website's traffic, you can then start to make subtle changes to your site with the hopes of increasing the amount of revenue you make.
When optimizing your website, it is important that you remember to run a split test anytime you test something on your site. If you want to know whether banner ads or an affiliate program would generate more revenue, you will want to collect data for each monetization method. Once you have collected enough data to come to a conclusion, you can then make your decision on which method will make you the most money.
Creating a website that makes money online is a great way to increase the amount of enjoyment you get from your hobby. Driving traffic to your website through various methods, seeking out all of the possible monetization methods, and optimizing your website to ensure the highest revenue possible is the best way to create a website that makes money online.
