Unless you’re running a website for the sake of it or for fun, you’ll want it to have a decent return on the investment you put into it. Because let’s face it, putting up and maintaining a site requires a lot of effort, commitment, and even monetary capital if it is to turn successful.

The good news though is that no matter the type of site you run today, whether it’s a personal blog or a business site, there are tons of ways you can make an income off it. At the very least, it should be able to sustain its basic expenses including domain registration, hosting, and content costs.

So, in what ways can you monetize your website and make money from it? We take a look at the five simplest ways to do it.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is probably the least involving method to make money online today. It involves promoting a product or service that you like and would recommend to other people. In return, the creator of that product gives you commissions for every paid customer you refer to them. To track your commissions, you’ll be given a unique affiliate link that helps the product creator identify the source of the traffic being driven to their affiliate offer.

The commission rates can vary depending on your influence, the source you’re working with, and the market behavior of the item. Either way, your responsibility is to increase the visibility of the given product to the audience that the creator is targeting.

Amazon, Clickbank, and ShareASale are examples of platforms that offer opportunities for affiliate marketing.

Creating a Business Website

Today, businesses don’t necessarily have to set up a physical premise for them to be functional. And for those that operate on land, having an online presence can significantly boost sales.

If you’re a product manufacturer or an expert with amazing skills like content development, you can use websites to get your brand name out there. In case you have no idea how to build a business website, MangoMatter Media recently created a comprehensive guide on the same so be sure to check it out.

Having a website for your business provides a platform through which potential customers can interact directly with you and learn more about your products or services. And while it requires a ton of resources and web skills to acquire a solid online customer base, the hassle involved is often well worth it in the end. Like any other form of business, the secret to success online is to be more persuasive, authoritative, and competent than your competition.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Essentially, pay per click (PPC) advertising is all about advertising the content of other websites on your own web properties. Put otherwise, other content providers use your website to market their products or services. A good example of a company that offers this moneymaking method is Google with its AdSense service.

Google AdSense facilitates the placement of ads relevant to your kind of audience on your site on behalf of other advertisers. These can be product manufacturers, education institutions, service experts, and corporates looking to build an online presence. For example, if your website is about cars, AdSense shows your visitors ads for car spares, vehicle manufacturers, etc. You can then make money for every click on the ads on your site.

Content Sponsoring

If you’ve used social media platforms long enough, chances are high that you’ve seen this monetization method in action. Facebook, for example, allows businesses to advertise products and services for a small fee on its website. Similarly, you can offer your website as a marketing front for companies looking to expand their reach and attract customers. Below is a simple illustration of how to go about it.

Get a company with decent content and authentic products or services and offer to advertise its offerings on your site. While at it, it’s important that you familiarize yourself with its content beforehand to ensure your opinions and reviews are genuine. It’s even better when you’re an active consumer of that company’s products/services. Either way, ensure that your recommendations won’t come back to haunt you.

Lead Generation

If you own an authoritative website with decent traffic numbers, it’s highly likely that you’ve already gathered a ton of valuable information about your visitors. Today, there are lots of companies that are always hunting for such information to promote their brands and products. You can share the data with them for a fee as long as you don’t breach your visitor’s privacy and the agreement you have with them.

In this scenario, your website acts as the matchmaker that connects a producer and a potential consumer. Unlike affiliate marketing where your audience has to commit monetarily, this method pays whether the leads you share purchase or not.

How are you monetizing your website and is the method working for you? We’d love to hear your feedback.