Welcome to Day 4!
Today I'm going to cover two different topics. Firstly, I want to cover how to shape the idea for your website. There are three different examples I'll go through below, from super specific to a more broad approach. In general, more specific is easier for newbies to tackle so I recommend option #1 or option #2.
I've included links to my own websites so you can see what those look like as well!
Below that, I want to show you some ways to make money from your website. There are tons of ways to monetize traffic. Once you have traffic to your website, you're basically sitting on a digital gold mine!
3 Website Style Options
Option #1: Niche-Products
This style of website is basically where you build your site around a product, or a group of products that are very specific. Here are some examples
- big screen 3D TVs
- bluetooth speaker headphones
- pellet smokers
- pre-workout supplements
- running shoes for women
- bass boats
- RVs
- bulletproof backpacks
- tablets for kids
- walkie talkies
- hummingbird feeders
Your site will be built up of a couple main types of content.
- Product Reviews
- Product Tutorials
- Product Troubleshooting
- Question & Answers
- Industry News
Example content ideas using the niches from above could be:
- how to wall mount a 60-inch 3D TV
- which workout supplement does not contain beta alanine
- what's the best bass boat for newbies
- which tablets for kids have wifi
- C4 Pre-Workout review
- Traeger Wifi Enabled Smoker review
Example website I built: motionsensorsprinkler.com
Product Focus: motion sensor sprinklers and items to get rid of critters in your yard.
Option #2: Build an Authority Site
This a more long term plan. Rather than focus on one small set of products, you have a group of people in mind, and what those people care about. You are writing for a type of person, and you can promote anything within that mindset. This is the type of website you could build for decades!
Here are some examples ideas:
- how to lose weight for men over 40
- traveling with kids
- single dads making money online
- make your house more energy efficient
- natural disaster preparation
You don't want to go too general though! Something like, “All Things Tech” is way too broad. You'll never have enough time to write all that content or become an authority in the tech space. Plus, it's kind of confusing. Are you talking about an electric kitchen mixer with wifi or antivirus software. Are you talking to someone who likes Apple products because they're simple, or someone who wants to customize their smartphone by hacking it?
A more focused audience in the tech space could be “parents who want to teach their kids how to surf the internet responsibly”.
The same goes with the health and wellness industry. Lots of newbies pick topics like “how to be healthier and enjoy life” or “how to be get fit. Again, this is too broad.
You could narrow that could be “vegan non-competing bodybuilders”. We ignore the broad group of vegans, as well as the diverse group of bodybuilders. Instead, we combine them and make our website for a group of people with specific needs that differ from the other groups. They want to eat a vegan diet, but that often means they lack the necessary protein to build bulky muscles. This also means they can't take the usual supplements that normal bodybuilders do, because they contain animal products like whey.
See how we're looking at a group of people?
Example website I built: xbrewx.com
Target audience: homebrewers trying to seriously improve their craft beer making skills
Option #3 Lifestyle Blog
This one is a little harder to pull off, but can be done. Do you have an amazing life? Do you do something that you think other people wish they could do? Do you have a magnetic personality?
You can start a lifestyle blog.
A lifestyle blog is too broad for my tastes, but I've seen a lot of people have success with this. Essentially, the product is YOU. You can write about your life, your adventures, your fashion sense, and whatever else you do. This could include a wide variety of product and service reviews, all of which include affiliate links or are sponsored posts.
Examples could be if you have a job that allows you to take 4-day weekends and you travel a lot. You can be a travel blogger! Take amazing photos from around the world and promote things like discount flights, hotel bookings, luggage, and other travel gear.
Are you a fitness coach? Share your daily routines, client successes, and seminars you attend/run. Show people how to be fit and happy by living a fit an happy lifestyle.
Do you want to travel the country in an RV? Share your RV adventures with the world through a YouTube channel and a blog, showing everyone how to do repairs, how to stay safe on the road, and what you can do to your RV to make this lifestyle more comfortable.
I don't have a lifestyle blog, but you can follow me on Instagram where I'm trying to create a lifestyle social media presence there. The idea is to show what a realistic lifestyle is for an internet marketer, instead of the typical millionaire guru traveling the world throwing money in the air.
3 Website Monetization Strategies
Next, I want to show you a couple different ways to make money from your affiliate site. There are tons of ways to make money online, and I won't discuss all of them on this page. That would be confusing and irrelevant to what you're doing right now.
That being said, consider this: any website with traffic can make money. As you build your website bigger and grow your traffic, more doors will open up to you. There will be more ways to make money from your website. For example, if you are earning $10,000 from affiliate sales, you can start doing “sponsored posts” for an extra $700 per post. You could create your own digital infoproduct for $9.99 or $9,997.00. You could funnel traffic to an Amazon web store where you drop ship stuff from China, or a number of other things.
The examples below are affiliate-focused websites, or are easy to implement for newbies.
#1 Affiliate Links
Affiliate links are the main way to make money with your website. These have the best payoff IMO. You can make decent money with very little traffic as long as your content is good and your traffic is relevant. At one point I owned (I later sold) a website that was earning $3,000 per month from just 100 visits per day to the website.
How is that possible?
This audience was hungry for a product, and I know the product well. I was ranking on Page 1 of Google, and that's really all it takes!
Usually though, you have to work a lot harder to generate income from affiliate links. Regardless, it's still one of the best monetization strategies around, and it's why I recommend it to newbies. All you need to do is place your affiliate link within your content and if someone clicks then link then buys, you make money. There are different affiliate linking strategies which can help you optimize your income (AKA make more money), but for now, just putting a link at the end of your article is good enough!
#2 Display Ads
This is probably the simplest plan, because it doesn't take much strategy. By placing display ads on your website, you do not have to do any promotions at all. You simply blog about whatever you want (you still should be focused on a niche, in order to rank well). Write your content, and if you can get traffic to your site, you get paid by ad companies! Adsense is the most popular, but there are many others.
More traffic = more money. It's as simple as that. No promotions, No affiliate links, no product reviews.
The downside is that they pay just a few pennies per click. In other words, you need a lot of traffic to make good money with this model. Still, the simplicity of this type of business is very attractive to many people, and most of the Buzzfeed or Mommy Blogs you read online are monetized using this method.
#3 Sell Your Website
This is pretty popular because it mixes elements of quick profit and all the fun of internet marketing. You choose the topics, you make the sites, and get them started making money. Rather than wait for profits to trickle in and grow, you can ‘flip' or sell the site to someone else who wants the cash flow.
A website can often earn 20x-40x its monthly earnings, so if you can build a site to earn $500/month in six months (very possible), you could flip the site for $15,000-$20,000.
Personally, I prefer the monthly income instead of getting a big payday, but many people prefer the website starting process and dislike the drawn out process of building a substantial income after that. I'd take $500/month over $10,000 lump any day, but to each his own.
In 2018 I sold a website for $30,000! After the broker commission, it was a $24k net profit. I'd show you the website but I'm no longer the owner, so I want to respect the new owner's privacy!
Here's more about selling your website.
BONUS: More Monetization Methods!
Here are 13 ways to make money from a WordPress website and here are 8 ways to make money online. Are you seeing how many doors are opening now? There's an entire booming economy online that most people don't know about, and now you're part of it!
Tasks For Today
1. Complete Another Lesson in the Online Entrepreneur Certification course. Remember that you get a website with your Starter Membership in WA, and the training will show you how to get your first website set up. You should be working on your website by now, whether that be customizing the menus and widgets or writing articles.
2. Say hello on my profile! You've made it this far, so go ahead and introduce yourself to me. I can see that you're serious about starting an online business, and I'd like to meet you. I want to help you succeed – this way I can follow you, read your blog posts, and check in to see if you need any help.
3. Take a rest! Today was pretty intense as far as how much we learned and did. I'm sure your brain is fried 🙂 Do something fun, or just veg out in front of the TV. Pick your poison!
Tomorrow is Day 5, the last day of our course. There's no lesson to click like the past four days. All info will be contained in the email. After that, you'll start to receive daily tips on how to grow your website, get more traffic, and make money with affiliate marketing.
Got any questions? Leave 'em below!